Dec. 18, 2010

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PITTSBURGH - Bill Clark led four players in double digits with 17 points and added a career high-tying 14 rebounds as Duquesne never trailed in defeating IUPUI 81-54 at the Palumbo Center.

Damian Saunders had 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals - the last of which tied Duquesne's career record. B.J. Monteiro and Joel Wright added 11 points each as the Dukes upped their record to 5-4.

P.J. Hubert hit five 3-pointers in leading IUPUI (5-7) with 15.

Duquesne, which assisted on 27 of 31 field goals, shot 49.2 percent. The Dukes held IUPUI to 36.4 percent shooting and outscored the Jaguars 20-0 in fast break points.

"That may have been our best effort of the year," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "I liked the way we were sharing the ball, rebounding the ball and getting out on the break. Defensively we were contesting every shot."

Duquesne, which jumped out to a 12-2 lead, took its largest lead of the half at 25-11 on a pair of Sean Johnson free throws with 3:09 left. IUPUI, which missed its first eight 3-point attempts, cut it to eight on the second of two Hubert 3-pointers with 41 seconds remaining. Clark converted a traditional three-point play with 17 seconds left to give the Dukes a 30-19 halftime lead.

IUPUI's Leroy Nobles and Alex Young, who entered the game averaging a combined 25 points per game, were a 1-of-10 with two points in the opening 20 minutes.

DU scored the first six points of the half, the last two coming on a Saunders dunk forcing IUPUI to take a timeout less than three minutes in. The Dukes continued the onslaught following the timeout, as they hit eight of their first nine shots in taking a 50-23 lead.

Saunders tied Kenya Hunter's (1993-96) school record with his 218th career steal and layup with 16:56 left.

Duquesne hit 13 of its first 16 shots in extending its lead to 64-30 with 10:35 to go.

Nobles, who entered the game averaging 16.9 ppg., finished with five. Young, who was averaging a team-high 17.8 ppg., scored 10 of his points in the second half.

"When you can hold a player the quality of Nobles to five points and six turnovers, you're doing something right," said Everhart.

All 10 players in uniform scored for Duquesne. Nine had assists and six hit at least one 3-pointer.

Duquesne hosts George Mason (8-2) on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at 8:00 (EST) in the second game of a pre-Christmas doubleheader. The George Mason game will be preceded by the Duquesne women against Saint Francis, Pa. at 5:30 p.m. The Dukes will then be idle until hosting Northwestern State on Friday, Dec. 31 at 4:00 p.m.

NOTES

• With his two steals, Damian Saunders tied the school career record of 218 set by Kenya Hunter from 1993-96 ... Saunders tied the mark on a midcourt steal at the 16:56 mark of the second half ... he converted the steal into a driving layup that put the Dukes up 41-21.

• With his 17 points, Clark passed Kieron Achara (1,240 from 2004-08) to move into the 20th spot on DU's all-time leading scorers list with 1,256 points ... Clark's double-double was the eighth of his career and second in his past four games.

• Duquesne has now won six in a row at Palumbo Center ... the streak dates back to an 84-80 loss to UMass on Feb. 11 of last season ... the Dukes have trailed just once - 2-0 to UMBC on Nov. 27 - in their three Palumbo Center home games this season.

• Freshman Joel Wright scored nine of his career high-tying 11 points in the second half ... he went 5-of-6 from the field.

• Sophomore F/C Rodrigo Peggau was not in uniform for the Dukes ... he is recovering from a concussion suffered in practice on Tuesday, Dec. 14 ... all 10 Dukes in uniform scored ... none played more than 29 minutes ... this was Duquesne's first win this season without five double-digit scorers.