March 7, 2010

Complete Game Notes

2010 ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP

#9 DUQUESNE (16-14, 7-9) at #8 ST. BONAVENTURE (14-15, 7-9)
Tues., Mar. 9, 2010 ­- Reilly Center - Olean, N.Y. - 7:00 p.m. (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

2009-10 ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP: Duquesne (16-14, 7-9) heads to Olean, N.Y. for its 32nd appearance at the Atlantic 10 Championship (Tues,. campus sites; Fri.-Sun., March 12-14 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.). The ninth-seeded Dukes, who were picked to finish tied for 5th in the A-10 in a preseason poll of league coaches and media, are making their fourth consecutive championship appearance under head coach Ron Everhart. The Dukes, who snapped a streak of eight consecutive opening round losses with a 79-76 win over Massachusetts in 2004 and advanced to the final game last season, take on No. 8 seed St. Bonaventure (14-15, 7-9) at 7:00 p.m. (EST) on Tuesday. This is the fifth A-10 Championship meeting between the Dukes and Bonnies (2-2).

THE BRACKET: The winner of the Duquesne at St. Bonaventure game will face top-seeded Temple (26-5, 14-2) at Noon (EST) Friday at Atlantic City, N.J. Temple has a first round bye. Duquesne is 2-5 this season against the five other teams in its side of the bracket (1-1 vs. St. Bonaventure, 0-1 vs. Temple, 0-2 vs. Saint Louis, 0-1 vs. Rhode Island & 1-0 vs. Saint Joseph's).

DUQUESNE LATELY: This is DU's fourth straight A-10 Championship appearance under Ron Everhart ... DU, which won one Championship game in the 11 seasons prior to Everhart's arrival (1996 through 2006) is 3-3 in the A-10s under Everhart ... last year, the seventh seeded Dukes defeated No. 10 seed UMass, No. 2 Rhode Island and No. 3 Dayton to advance to the title game before losing 69-64 to No. 4 Temple ... DU is looking to win back-to-back first round games for the first time since 1994 & 1995 ... Duquesne, which was averaging 67.5 ppg. entering the Feb. 14 game vs. La Salle, has topped 100 twice in averaging 84.8 ppg. in its past six ... 6-7 junior forward Damian Saunders has ranked among the nation's leaders in steals/g. all season ... no one over 6-6 has ever led NCAA Division I in steals ... Saunders' 84 steals have shattered the DU season record of 71 he set in 34 games last year ... fellow junior G/F Bill Clark is averaging 19.5 ppg. in his past six games ... Saunders and Clark both topped the 1,000-point mark in their 88th game (Saunders 2/11 vs. UMass and Clark 2/14 vs. La Salle) ... DU has played a school record six overtime games (2-4) ... the NCAA record is eight, by three schools.

LEAGUE FINISH: Duquesne finished the regular season in a tie for 8th in the Atlantic 10 with a 7-9 record. The Dukes went 5-3 at home and 2-6 on the road in conference play.

THE SEED: This is the second time Duquesne has entered the Championship as a No. 9 seed. In 1990, the No. 9 Dukes, behind 44 points from senior Mark Stevenson, defeated No. 8 Saint Joseph's 96-70 at Philadelphia's Palestra. DU then dropped a 61-50 decision to top-seeded Temple in the second round.

AT CAMPUS SITES: Atlantic 10 Championship first round games have been played at campus sites eight times (2003, 1987, 1986, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980 & 1979). The last time Duquesne played a Championship game at a campus site was in 2003 when Danny Nee's West No. 6 seed Dukes traveled to Kingston, R.I. to face East No. 3 Rhode Island. Like this year, it was also a quick turnaround as the Dukes dropped a 76-71 decision to the Rams at the Palumbo Center on March 8 before falling at URI 75-73 on March 10.

AT OLEAN: Duquesne is 2-0 against St. Bonaventure in A-10 Championship games played at campus sites. On Feb. 27, 1987 No. 7 DU defeated No. 10 SBU 82-65 at the Civic Arena. The previous sesason, on Feb. 27, 1986, the No. 5 Dukes defeated the No. 4 Bonnies 71-67 at Reilly Center.

THE SERIES:This is the 104th 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 55-48 ... in games played at Olean/Buffalo, St. Bonaventure leads 31-18 ... the Dukes have won nine of the past 13 meetings, including four of the past six at Reilly Center ... DU head coach Ron Everhart is 5-3 against the Bonnies (2-2 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 and the Bonnies returned the favor with a 92-80 win at Olean, N.Y. on March 3 ... Duquesne owns more conference wins over St. Bonaventure (27) than any other A-10 school.

ST. BONAVENTURE LATELY: St. Bonaventure, which is 9-5 at the Reilly Center this season, has won four of its past five ... SBU averaged 80.8 ppg. in consecutive wins at La Salle (77-66), at Fordham (73-68) and at home over Rhode Island (81-74) and Duquesne (92-80) before dropping the regular season finale at Xavier 93-72 ... Andrew Nicholson led four Bonnies in double figures with 21 points ... SBU shot 49 percent and hit 6-of-13 3-pointers at Xavier.

NICHOLSON'S NUMBERS: St. Bonaventure sophomore Andrew Nicholson, the 2009 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, is averaging 24.3 points and 8.5 rebounds on nearly 70 percent shooting in four 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 (16.2) and rebounding (7.1) and leads the A-10 in field goal percentage (57.8%).

POSTSEASON HONORS

FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE - Damian Saunders
Saunders is the second junior in school history to earn first team all-conference joining Bruce Atkins (1981). It is the second consecutive season Duquesne has had a first team All-Atlantic 10 pick (Aaron Jackson was a first team pick last season). It marks just the second time in school history that DU has had two different first team all-conference selections in back-to-back years (B.B. Flenory in 1980 and Atkins in 1981).

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Damian Saunders
Saunders, who leads the A-10 in steals and blocks and is second in rebounds per game, is the first player in school history to earn conference Defensive Player of the Year honors.

ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM - Jason Duty
Senior Jason Duty was named to the A-10 All-Academic Team for the second consecutive season ... it marks the ninth time in the past 10 years DU has had an All-Academic Team member ... Duty, who is also a two-time ESPN The Magazine All-District 2 academic pick is Duquesne's fourth multiple A-10 academic team member joining Kieron Achara (2005, 2007 & 2008), Jimmy Tricco (2003 & 2004) and Jon Pawlak (2002 & 2004).

PLAYER NOTES

#25 Damian Saunders
Junior Damian Saunders currently ranks among Duquesne's Top 10 in four career statistical categories: 2nd in blocks (215), 4th in steals (200), 7th in rebounds (755) and 8th in career FG% (.512) ... he became the 33rd member of the Duquesne 1,000-point club with a steal and layup with 17:30 left vs. UMass on Feb. 11 (his 88th career game) ... has already shattered the school record for steals in a season with 84 (he set the mark with 71 in 34 games last season) ... he needs two steals to pass nine-year NBA veteran guard Mike James (201) to move into the No. 3 spot ... he is 15 blocks shy of breaking Derrick Alston's school career record of 229 ... Saunders, the first DU player in 39 years to open a season with six consecutive double-doubles, has posted 19 double-doubles, including streaks of six (to open the season) and nine in a row ... the 19 double-doubles are the most by a DU player since Bruce Atkins had 22 in 1980-81 ... Saunders hasn't gone more than three games without a double-double this season ... the 6-7 Connecticut native has set new career highs for points (27 at George Washington), rebounds (19 vs. Nicholls State) and blocks (9 at Old Dominion) and tied his career-best for steals (6 at Iowa & vs. Richmond) and assists (6 at Temple) in 2010 ... his current 11.4 rebounds per game average is the best since Atkins averaged 11.7 rpg. in 1980-81 and his 2.8 steals per game average is the best in school history ... his 341 rebounds are the most since Bruce Atkins had 352 in 1980-81 ... Saunders has pulled down 15 or more boards in a game nine times ... his career high entering this season was 14 ... came within a disputed first half goaltend of posting the second triple-double in Duquesne history at Old Dominion (11-10-9) ... the nine blocks tied ODU's Constant Center arena record set by former Duke Shawn James ... James set the mark in 2006 while at Northeastern prior to his transfer to Duquesne ... had seven blocks vs. Canisius and Saint Joseph's ... Saunders leads the Dukes with 55 dunks, bringing his career total to 115 ... his 100th dunk came off a spectacular fast break alley-oop pass from former high school teammate B.J. Monteiro at George Washington ... Saunders, who was named one of the nation's top 10 "Stat Sheet Stuffers" by Rivals.com in October, also flirted with a triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks vs. Canisius ... he has posted six steals in a game twice this season (at Iowa and vs. Richmond) ... with DU down 50-40 and just over 17 minutes left, he ignited a 16-1 run with a steal and dunk followed by a second steal and assist in DU's 83-77 win at Charlotte ... finished the game with four assists and six blocks ... scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to key DU's 73-71 win over Dayton (he was scoreless until the 2:04 mark of the first half) ... has struggled from the 3-point arc where he is shooting .202 (18-of-89) ... he has never shot under 34 percent from arc (.348 as a freshman and .343 as a sophomore) ... Saunders has more career assists (199), steals (200) and blocks (215) than turnovers (192).

#30 Bill Clark
Junior Bill Clark (14.3 ppg.) leads the team with 59 career double-digit scoring games, including 22 this season ... topped the 1,000-point mark with a career-high 34 vs. La Salle on Feb. 14 ... hit 11-of-14 shots from the field and 4-of-7 from the arc vs. the Explorers ... ranks 4th on DU's all time list for 3-pointers made (151) and 4th in all-time attempts (455) ... opened the season with seven consecutive double-digit scoring games, including 20 or more three times: career-high 25 at Western Carolina, 23 vs. Pitt and 20 at Iowa ... was averaging 19.0 ppg. and shooting .464 (20-of-60 from 3-point) over those first seven games ... averaged 10.3 ppg. on .318 shooting over a span of 16 g. (10-of-66 from 3-point) prior to the scoring outburst vs. La Salle on Feb. 14 ... followed the La Salle game with 18 points (4-of-8 from 3-point) at Charlotte to earn A-10 co-Player of the Week honors (Feb. 21) ... has posted three double-doubles this season (17-14 vs. Canisius, 14-11 vs. Saint Louis and 20-10 vs. Fordham) ... added five assists, three blocks and three steals in 50 minutes in the double overtime win over Canisius ... his 3-pointer with 9.1 seconds left in overtime forced the second OT session vs. Saint Louis ... hit a career-high six from the arc (on 14 attempts) vs. Pitt (23 points) ... went 10-of-66 from the arc and failed to make a 3-pointer in nine of his next 16 games before hitting 4-of-7 from the arc against La Salle (34 points) ... Clark, who entered the season a .361 career 3-point shooter, is shooting .280 from the arc ... he is shooting .548 (85-of-155) on his two-point attempts ... despite his mid-season struggles, Clark leads the Dukes with 45 3-pointers ... his 3-pointer from the left wing with 11.7 seconds left proved to be the game-winner in DU's 52-50 win at Iowa on Nov. 17 ... the win was Duquesne's first ever in a Big 10 arena ... Clark's shot was ranked No. 4 on ESPN's Top 10 Plays that evening ... the 6-5 Californian has grabbed at least nine rebounds six times ... he leads the team in charges taken (20 this year and 44 career) and free throw makes (109) and attempts (147) ... he has made more free throws than all but Damian Saunders has attempted ... the 6-5 Clark is Duquesne's second-leading rebounder at 6.1 rpg. ... saw a streak of 81 consecutive games played (every game of his career) and 51 starts snapped when he missed the game at Rhode Island due to a secondary NCAA rules infraction ... handed out a season-high six assists vs. Saint Joseph's ... went 2-of-5 from the arc at Temple on Feb. 3 ... it was his first game with multiple 3-pointers since he hit six vs. Pitt on Dec. 2 ... added 14 points and eight rebounds vs. UMass, before the big game vs. La Salle ... is 38-of-71 (.535) from the field and 15-of-35 .429 from 3-point in his past six games (19.5 ppg. over that span).

#23 Melquan Bolding
Missed 13 games and seven weeks of practice while recovering from a fractured wrist suffered in the opener vs. Nicholls State ... returned on Jan. 6 vs. Richmond ... DU went 8-5 in the 13 games he was sidelined ... scored 25 points - one shy of his then career high - despite finishing out the Nicholls State with the wrist fracture ... underwent surgery to have a pin placed in the wrist on Nov. 17 ... was cleared to rejoin practice the day before the Richmond game ... had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists in his second game back, at Dayton before coming down with strep throat the day before the Jan. 13 Saint Louis game ... played just five first-half minutes vs. the Billikens ... made his second start of the season at Rhode Island (six points, five rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes) ... his 3-pointer from the corner with 3.4 seconds left helped the Dukes snap a five-game losing streak with a 70-69 win over St. Bonaventure ... had 14 points (3-of-6 from 3-point) and four assists vs. the Bonnies ... added a team-high 14 points at Xavier before hitting three 3-pointers on his way to 24 points in the win over Saint Joseph's ... scored 17 in 15 first-half minutes against the Hawks ... added 14 points and nine rebounds at GW ... posted career highs for assists (5) and steals (4) vs. UMass ... went 13-of-15 from the line in scoring 24 points in 29 minutes vs. La Salle ... handed out a new career high six assists at Saint Louis and topped his career steals high with five at St. Bonaventure before posting a career-high 32 points (16 in each half) vs. Fordham ... has scored in double digits in 10 of 17 games and topped the 20-point mark four times ... has a team-high eight traditional three-point plays.

#32 B.J. Monteiro
Sophomore B.J. Monteiro emerged as a pleasant surprise as a starter when Bolding was injured ... has led the Dukes in scoring six times ... scored 14 of his team-high 17 in the second half of DU's win over Robert Morris and followed that with a career-high 27 in the double-overtime victory over Canisius ... blocked Eric May's field goal attempt at the buzzer to preserve DU's 52-50 win in his first start, at Iowa on Nov. 17 ... also blocked a Chase Adams field goal attempt with two seconds left to force the Pitt game into a second overtime ... a former high school teammate of Damian Saunders, Monteiro has scored 15 or more eight times with high games of 27 vs. Canisius and 21 vs. Radford ... his career high, and only double-digit scoring game, entering the season was 12 last year at Dayton ... he has scored in double digits 15 times (seven times in A-10 play) ... pulled down a career high nine rebounds vs. Richmond and matched that total vs. Saint Louis ... added a team-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting vs. UMass and a team-high 19 on 7-of-12 shooting at Charlotte ... established new career highs with five assists vs. Dayton and three steals at St. Bonaventure.

#3 Eric Evans
Sophomore point guard Eric Evans has scored in double-digits 15 times including a career high 23 vs. Fordham ... added 10 assists against the Rams for the first double-double of his career ... is the 20th player in school history to reach triple digit assists in a season ... his 117 assists are the third-most ever by a DU sophomore ... scored 20 points (4-of-8 from 3-point) at IUPUI on Dec. 19 ... entered IUPUI game 3-of-33 from the 3-point arc ... followed that by hitting 7-of-8 from the field (including 3-of-4 from 3-point) in scoring 17 in 25 minutes vs. Saint Francis, Pa. ... leads the Dukes with 117 assists, including 10 games with five or more ... handed out a then-career high nine assists in the opening night win over Nicholls State ... added career highs for rebounds (6) and steals (6) at Old Dominion ... is one of just two Dukes with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (117-71) ... second on the team in steals (40) and third in free throws made (68) ... tied for second on the team with seven (of 15) traditional three-point plays ... had a four-point play in the second OT vs. Saint Louis ... scored all 12 of his points in the second half vs. Saint Joseph's and followed that with all 12 of his points at Temple in the first half ... 13 points, three steals and eight assists in 42 minutes of the OT loss to UMass ... had three assists in eight minutes before leaving the La Salle game with a back injury ... added 14 points and four assists versus Dayton ... had 12 points, eight assists and two turnovers at St. Bonaventure ... finished with 63 assists and 26 turnovers in A-10 play (2.4-to-1 ratio).

#13 Jason Duty
Senior guard Jason Duty (40-20) joins Evans as the other regular with a positive assist/turnover ratio ... badly jammed his right (shooting) shoulder during the Nov. 25 game at Western Carolina and shot .242 (8-of-33) overall and 5-of-26 from the 3-point arc in the ensuing six games before going 3-of-4 (3-of-3 from 3-point) in scoring all nine of his points in the first half vs. Saint Francis, Pa. ... missed the Dec. 9 WVU game with a sprained ankle suffered late in practice on Dec. 7 ... entered the season as a .364 career 3-point shooter ... is 36-of-108 (.333) from the arc this season ... hit 3-of-4 3-pointers in scoring a season-high 12 points at Dayton ... also scored in double figures on Nov. 25 at Western Carolina (11 points) ... did not try a 3-pointer on Jan. 13 vs. Saint Louis, ending a streak of 52 games with at least one 3-point attempt ... scored nine points off the bench (3-of-5 from 3-point) vs. UMass ... hit two clutch free throws with 22 seconds left to give the Dukes an 81-77 lead in an 83-77 win at Charlotte ... shoting .396 (19-of-48) from 3-point in A-10 play.

#20 Sean Johnson
True freshman Sean Johnson has scored in double digits five times ... scored a career-high 17 in 20 minutes at Old Dominion (7-of-12) ... 14 of his team-high 17 at ODU came in the second half ... had 14 in 22 minutes at Dayton and 12 in 18 vs. Richmond ... saw a streak of 22-straight games played snapped at George Washington on Feb. 6 ... had nine points, three assists and a pair of steals in 25 minutes vs. La Salle and added seven points in 15 minutes at Charlotte.

#5 Morakinyo Williams
Seven-foot Kentucky transfer Morakinyo Williams, who played a total of 28 minutes in six non-conference appearances, averaged 12.9 minutes per game in conference play ... has played 20 or more minutes four times with a high of 28 vs. Saint Louis ... had six rebounds and a pair of assists at Dayton ... added five rebounds vs. SLU and four points in five minutes (2-of-3 from the field) vs. Saint Joseph's ... had his breakout game with eight points (4-of-5 from the field) and nine rebounds in 22 minutes at Charlotte ... helped hold the 49ers Shamari Spears to seven points on 1-of-8 second half shooting as DU erased a 10-point deficit to pull away for an 83-77 win ... Spears had 13 points at the break ... followed that with six points and four boards in 17 minutes in his first career start, versus Dayton on Feb. 21 ... started again at Saint Louis and had six points and four boards in 20 minutes ... had eight turnovers in 193 minutes of A-10 play (15 g.).

#33 Rodrigo Peggau
Redshirt freshman Rodrigo Peggau has played in 26 games with three starts ... is coming off knee surgery that limited him to four games last season ... his last full season of basketball was in 2006-07 at The Calverton School (Md.) ... missed the 2007-08 season at The Patterson School (N.C.) due to a torn meniscus in his right knee ... had a streak of 14 straight games played snapped on Jan. 31 vs. Saint Joseph's ... had nine points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes vs. Pitt and added eight points and seven boards in 15 minutes vs. Robert Morris ... he is 13-of-25 (.520) on two-point attempts and 0-of-6 from the 3-point arc .... he has played 20 or more minutes in a game three times ... played a total of 69 minutes in 15 A-10 games.

Others
Sophomore #2 Chase Robinson has played in 10 games ... scored a season-high four points and added a career-best four rebounds in nine minutes vs. Saint Francis, Pa. ... played a career-high 13 minutes at IUPUI ... saw five minutes of action in conference play ... six-nine , 255-pound sophomore #54 Oliver Lewinson has played in 12 games ... had two points, five rebounds and two steals in a career-high 22 minutes at No. 6 (AP) West Virginia ... he added three boards in five minutes vs. Canisius ... played in four conference games ... freshman #3 Andre Marhold has come off the bench in 17 games ... grabbed four rebounds and blocked two shots in a season-high 16 minutes at WVU ... has played double-digit minutes four times ... saw his first conference action at Xavier (one block in two minutes) ... added another block at Temple ... had three points and an assist, block and steal in seven minutes vs. La Salle.