April 16, 2010

Complete 2009-10 Season Review

PITTSBURGH - Duquesne (16-16, 7-9) finished tied for eighth in the Atlantic 10 on its was to earning its second postseason appearance in four years under head coach Ron Everhart.

The Dukes, who lost in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship at St. Bonaventure, appeared in the College Basketball Invitational, dropping a season-ending decision in the first round at Princeton. It marked the first time Duquesne made back-to-back postseason appearances since 1980 & 1981 (both NIT).

Everhart's Dukes, which posted the school's first winning season in 14 years in 2008 (17-13) and followed that with a 21-13 NIT season in 2009, added 16 more victories this season marking the first time since 1968-73 that the program posted 15 or more wins in three consecutive seasons.

DU opened with four straight wins and entered Atlantic 10 play with a 9-5 record. The Dukes opened league play with four consecutive losses, including two in overtime, before winning seven of their final 12 A-10 games.

One of DU's key returnees - sophomore G/F Melquan Bolding - suffered a wrist fracture in the opening game and missed 13 games and seven weeks of practice. Bolding returned to play the final 18 games of the season.

The Dukes were led by 6-7 forward Damian Saunders, who became just the second junior in school history to earn first team All-Atlantic 10 honors as well as the first Duke to be named A-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Saunders averaged 15.0 points, 11.3 steals, 2.9 blocks and 2.8 steals per game. His 20 double-doubles were the most by a DU player since 1981.

Junior Bill Clark (14.1 ppg.) and sophomores Bolding (11.8 ppg.), B.J. Monteiro (11.1 ppg.) and Eric Evans (10.0 ppg.) all averaged in double figures for the Dukes. DU went 11-4 at home, 3-12 on the road and 2-0 at neutral sites.