Jan. 13, 2010

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PITTSBURGH - Kwamain Mitchell scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and Saint Louis scored the first seven points of the second overtime to extend Duquesne's losing streak to four with a 79-75 win at the Palumbo Center.

Saint Louis, which posted its first road win of the season, moved to 11-5 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

It was a school record fifth overtime game for Duquesne, which dropped to 9-8 overall and 0-3 in the Atlantic 10. DU which lost in overtime at Dayton on Saturday, tied the game at the end of regulation on a Sean Johnson drive with 35 seconds left. DU's Bill Clark forced the second overtime with a 3-pointer with 9.1 seconds remaining.

Willie Reed opened the second overtime with a dunk followed by a Kyle Cassity 3-pointer. Cody Ellis added another bucket following a Duquesne offensive foul to put SLU up 67-60. Duquesne cut it to three with 22 seconds left, but Mitchell, who had eight points at the end of regulation, hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

"We weren't ready to play at the beginning of the second overtime," said Duquesne coach Ron Everhart. "We didn't get out and guard like we needed to."

Damian Saunders posted his nation-leading 14th double-double with 23 points and 17 rebounds while playing all 50 minutes for Duquesne. Clark had his fifth career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for DU.

Cassity had 15 points and Ellis added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Saint Louis.

Duquesne, which shot 35.7 percent, turned it over 21 times and was 22-of-36 from the foul line.

Saint Louis was just the fourth team to shoot better than 40 percent against Duquesne this season, finishing at 47.0 percent.

The Billikens outscored the Dukes 28-13 in points off turnovers.

There were three ties and seven lead changes in a first half that ended with Duquesne up 27-23. Neither team led by more than four until Johnson, who finished with 10 points, gave the Dukes a brief 26-20 lead with 2:12 left.

Duquesne took a nine-point lead when B.J. Monteiro hit the Dukes' first 3-pointer of the game at the 17:31 mark, but Saint Louis answered with a 12-2 run to take a 37-36 lead on a Reed dunk less than three minutes later. Mitchell upped the lead to three before Saunders ended the drought with a three-point play with 12 minutes to go.

SLU went on a 7-0 run to take a 50-43 lead on a Femi John jumper with 4:16 to go before DU rallied to tie it on Johnson's drive. Ellis missed a contested 3-pointer at the end of regulation.

Duquesne went 8-of-16 from the foul line in the second half.

"We're playing like a young basketball team right now," said Everhart of the Dukes who are now 2-3 in overtime games. "We're not playing with maturity or poise, especially down the stretch."

Duquesne is off until Wednesday, Jan. 20 at Rhode Island. The URI game will be televised locally by PCNC.

NOTES

• Damian Saunders posted his nation-leading 14th double-double with 23 points and 17 rebounds ... his 14 double-doubles are the most by a Duquesne player since Bruce Atkins had 16 in 1981-82 ... all of Saunders' 21 career double-doubles have come in his past 48 games ... it was his eighth game this season with 15 or more rebounds.

• It was a school record fifth overtime game for the Dukes ... the previous school record was four set in 1976-77 and tied in 1990-91 and 1993-94 ... this is also the first time a Duquesne team has played three multiple overtime games in a season.

• Melquan Bolding, who missed Tuesday's practice with strep throat, played just five first-half minutes.

• Duquesne finished with 10 assists and 21 turnovers.