March 1, 2010

Complete Game Notes

DUQUESNE (15-13, 6-8) at ST. BONAVENTURE (13-14, 6-8)
Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2010 ­• Reilly Center (5,780) • St. Bonaventure, N.Y. • 7:00 (EST)

DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
STREAMING AUDIO: redzonemedia.com or GoDuquesne.com
GAMETRACKER AND STREAMING VIDEO: GoBonnies.com

DUKES CONCLUDE A-10 ROAD SLATE AT RED HOT SBU: Duquesne (15-13, 6-8), which saw its three-game win streak snapped by a 69-59 loss at Saint Louis on Saturday, heads to Olean, N.Y. to face a St. Bonaventure (13-14, 6-8) team that is in the midst of a three-game win streak on Wednesday, March 3 at 7:00 p.m. The game is pivotal to seeding for the 2010 Atlantic 10 Championship as the Dukes and Bonnies are tied with George Washington for eighth place in the conference at 6-8. An eighth place finish would secure a home game for the Championship first round scheduled for campus sites on March 9. Duquesne, which has won six of 10 after an 0-4 conference start, won the first meeting between the two this season on Jan. 23 at the Palumbo Center. Melquan Bolding's 3-pointer from the corner with 3.4 seconds left proved to be the game-winner in DU's 70-69 win. The victory snapped a five-game Dukes losing streak. St. Bonaventure, which won its three games in a seven day span, is coming off an 81-74 home win over Rhode Island on Saturday. SBU is 8-5 at Reilly Center (3-4 in A-10 home games) this season. Duquesne, which has won four of the past five at St. Bonaventure, is 3-9 on the road, including a 2-5 mark in A-10 play. Duquesne closes out the regular season with a rare Friday afternoon home game versus Fordham on Mar. 5. The Fordham game will tip at Noon.

DUQUESNE LATELY: DU, which opened A-10 play 0-4, has won six of its past 10 ... DU has had its complete roster intact for 11 games this season, including each of the past 10 ... the Dukes are 6-4 over that current 10-game span ... junior F Damian Saunders, who topped the 1,000-point mark with 15 vs. UMass on Feb. 11 (88th g. of his career), began the week ranked 5th nationally in double-doubles (18), 1st in steals/g. (2.9), 5th in rebounds/g. (11.4) and 9th in blocks/g. (3.3) ... his 80 steals have broken the DU season record of 71 he set in 34 games last year ... fellow junior G/F Bill Clark joined Saunders in the 1,000-point club while scoring a career high 34 vs. La Salle on Feb. 14 (it was the 88th g. of his career) ... DU has played a school record six OT games (2-4) ... the NCAA record is eight, by three schools ... DU is limiting opponents to 69.4 ppg. ... it is the lowest opponent scoring average since 1985-86 (68.9 ppg.) ... DU opponents are shooting .405, which translates to DU's best field goal percentage defense since 1970-71 (.389) ... last year, Duquesne ranked 309th of 330 teams in scoring defense (74.7 ppg.) and 294th in field goal percentage defense (.462).

THE SERIES: This is the 103rd meeting between the Dukes and Bonnies in a series that dates back to Feb. 13, 1920 ... it is also the 59th consecutive season DU and SBU have met at least once on the hardwood ... Duquesne leads the overall series 55-47 ... in games played at Olean/Buffalo, St. Bonaventure leads 30-18 ... the Dukes have won nine of the past 12 meetings, including four of the past five at Reilly Center ... DU head coach Ron Everhart is 5-2 against the Bonnies (2-1 at SBU) ... last year, DU swept the regular season series (98-80 at St. Bonaventure and 74-68 at home) ... the Dukes took the first meeting this season, 70-69 on a Melquan Bolding 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left of Jan. 23 at Pittsburgh ... St. Bonaventure is one of three A-10 teams the Dukes playd twice this year along with Dayton (L/W) and Saint Louis (L/L) ... Duquesne owns more conference wins over St. Bonaventure (27) than any other A-10 school.

SBU THIS YEAR: St. Bonaventure, which is 8-5 at the Reilly Center this season, is on a three-game win streak ... it is the Bonnies first three-game streak in conference play since 2001-02 ... SBU has averaged 77.0 ppg. in consecutive wins at La Salle (77-66), at Fordham (73-68) and at home over Rhode Island (81-74) ... 6-5 senior guard Jonathan Hall led five players in double figures with 16 points in the win over URI ... Hall, who is averaging 13.4 ppg., averaged 16 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the Bonnies' three wins on the way to earning A-10 co-Player of the Week honors ... this is St. Bonaventure's final regular season home game.

NICHOLSON'S BIG NUMBERS: St. Bonaventure sophomore Andrew Nicholson, the 2009 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, is averaging 25.3 points and 9.0 rebounds on 68.9 percent shooting in three career games against Duquesne. The 6-9 Canadian has scored 29 in each of his two games at the Palumbo Center. The 6-9 Nicholson leads SBU in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (7.3) and leads the A-10 in field goal percentage (57.3%).

THE FIRST MEETING: Melquan Bolding buried a 3-pointer from the right corner with 3.4 seconds left as Duquesne ended a five-game losing streak with a 70-69 win over visiting St. Bonaventure. Damian Saunders, who found Bolding open in the corner for the winning shot, and Eric Evans led four Duquesne players in double figures with 15 points each. Bolding finished with 14 and Bill Clark added 10. Andrew Nicholson led St. Bonaventure, which rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit, with 29 points.

SAINT LOUIS LEFTOVERS: Duquesne led 45-42 with under 10 minutes left only to see Saint Louis go on a 20-5 run to pull away for a 69-59 win at Chaifetz Arena ... there were five ties and six lead changes in the game before Kwamain Mitchell put SLU up for good on a three-point play with 9:16 to go ... DU, which had three more field goals than SLU, was outscored 18-6 from the foul line ... the Dukes went 5-of-14 from the 3-point arc (0-of-5 in the second half) ... Bill Clark led DU in scoring for the second time in the past four games with 17 points ... B.J. Monteiro added 15 ... leading scorer Damian Saunders had nine points, five rebounds and four steals in 24 foul-plagued minutes ... the loss snapped a three-game Duquesne win streak ... DU's 59 points were its fewest since an 86-50 loss at Xavier on Jan. 28.

NOTES FROM THE DUKES CLIPBOARD

• Duquesne returns four starters from last year's 21-13 NIT team. DU's 21 wins last season were the most since the 1971 NCAA team went 21-4.

• One of the key returnees, 6-3 sophomore Melquan Bolding, missed seven weeks of practice (13 games) with a fractured wrist suffered in the opener vs. Nicholls State. Bolding, who had a team-high 25 points vs. Nicholls, had surgery on his right (shooting) wrist Nov. 17 and had a hard cast removed on Dec. 1. He was cleared to resume practice on Jan. 5. The Dukes were 8-5 without Bolding.

• DU, which has gone 10-19, 17-13 & 21-13 in three seasons under head coach Ron Everhart, is looking for its third consecutive winning campaign. The last time that happened on the Bluff was from 1968-73 when Red Manning's Dukes finished above .500 six straight times. Duquesne was coming off a 3-24 season, and had finished above .500 once (1994) in the 21 years prior to Everhart taking over in 2006-07.

• Juniors Damian Saunders (second team) and Bill Clark (third team), both preseason All-Atlantic 10 picks, have led the way for the Dukes so far. Saunders is averaging 14.8 ppg., 11.4 rpg., 2.9 spg. and 3.3 bpg. Saunders' 18 double-doubles began the week ranked fifth in the nation. Clark is averaging 14.0 ppg. & 6.0 rpg. (with 42 3-pointers). Saunders topped the 1,000-point mark on Feb. 11 vs. UMass and Clark did it on Feb. 14 vs. La Salle. Both topped 1,000 in their 88th game.

• DU has held second half leads in 23 of 28 games ... the Dukes have led at the half 16 times and managed a double-digit lead in 13 games.

• DU has played a school record six overtime games (2-4), including a school record three multiple-overtime games (all double OT). The NCAA record for OT games in a season is eight done by Western Kentucky in 1978, Portland in 1984 and Valparaiso in 1993.

• Duquesne has held 16 of 28 teams under 40 percent from the field. In the first three seasons under Ron Everhart (93 games), DU held a total of 17 teams under 40 percent.

• DU opponents are shooting .405 and averaging 69.4 ppg. The opponent field goal percentage is the lowest caused by a Duquesne team since 1970-71 (.389). The 69.4 opponent points per game are the lowest since 1985-86 (68.9 ppg.).

• Five players have scored 20 or more in a game: Damian Saunders (six times), Bill Clark (four times), Melquan Bolding (three times), B.J. Monteiro (twice) and Eric Evans (once). In addition, six players have led the Dukes in scoring at least once. DU and La Salle are the only A-10 schools to have five 20-point scorers this season.

• Damian Saunders (36.7 min/g) has played 40 or more minutes eight times including 50 vs. Canisius & Saint Louis. He is averaging 37.4 min./g. in A-10 play.

• Damian Saunders was the first Duquesne player in 39 years to open a season with six-straight double-doubles. He added a second in-season streak of nine more in a row. His 18 double-doubles are the most by a DU player since Bruce Atkins' 22 in 1980-81.

• Saunders' 11.4 rebounds per game average - in addition to being tied for the ninth-best average in Atlantic 10 history - is the best by a Duquesne player since Bruce Atkins averaged 11.7 rpg. in 1980-81 ... his 319 total rebounds are the most by a DU player since Atkins had 352 in 1980-81.

• Saunders (213 career blks), who rejected a career-high nine at Old Dominion on Dec. 30 (third highest total in school history), ranks second on DU's all-time blocked shot list. He trails only Derrick Alston (229 from 1991-94).

• Saunders needs six steals to pass current Washington Wizards guard Mike James (201 from 1995-98) and move into the No. 3 spot in DU's career list ... his 80 steals have already broken the school single-season record of 71 he set last year in 34 games.

• DU is 51-8 (13-3 this season) when leading with 5:00 minutes left and 9-0 (5-0 this season) when holding opponents under 60 points under Ron Everhart ... the Dukes are 5-0 this year in games decided by three or fewer points.

• Duquesne is 8-1 in afternoon games (tip prior to 7:00 p.m.), with the lone loss coming in overtime at Dayton.

• Duquesne has opened with at least four consecutive wins in each of the past three seasons (4-0 this season, 4-0 last year and 6-0 in 2007-08). The 2007-08 start was the school's best in 28 years. The last time Duquesne put together three consecutive seasons with 4-0 (or better starts) was from 1961 through 1963 (4-0, 7-0 & 5-0).

• Duquesne faced an Atlantic 10-tying high five NCAA tournament teams in non-conference play in Binghamton (W, 70-52, neutral), Pitt (L, 67-58 in 2OT at Mellon Arena), Radford (W, 71-63, home), Robert Morris (W, 59-54, home) and at No. 6 (AP) West Virginia (L, 68-39). La Salle is the only other conference school that played as many 2008-09 NCAA tournament teams in non-league play.

• According to research compiled by the University of Central Florida sports information department, only nine Division I schools have more underclassmen than Duquesne's 10.

• Ron Everhart's Dukes have scored 100 or more points seven times in his four seasons. Only Red Manning, who saw his DU teams score 100 or more 23 times in 16 seasons (1959-74) has coached more 100-point scoring Duquesne teams.