Jan. 30, 2011

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PITTSBURGH - Damian Saunders scored 19 points and Bill Clark added 17 as Duquesne extended its win streak to 10 with an 82-64 win over Dayton at CONSOL Energy Center. The win kept the Dukes tied with Xavier atop the Atlantic 10 with a 7-0 record.

T.J. McConnell and B.J. Monteiro added 15 points each for the Dukes (15-5, 7-0) who are off to their best 20-game start since the 1971-72 team opened 16-4.

The win upped Duquesne's school record Atlantic 10 winning streak to seven.

Chris Johnson led Dayton (15-7, 3-4) with 13 points.

Duquesne, which led 39-36 at the half, opened the second half with a 19-8 run to go up 58-44 on a Saunders dunk - one of his four on the afternoon - with 13:44 left.

Saunders and Clark - who hit two of his three 3-pointers during the run - combined for 14 of the 19 points.

Dayton never got closer than 10 the rest of the way as the DU lead ballooned to as many as 20 with over five minutes left.

The 18-point margin of victory was DU's largest over the Flyers since a 91-67 win on January 19, 1976.

"I thought the kids played a great second half," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "Passing the ball and guarding the ball is getting contagious. We contested every shot in the second half."

Dayton - which hit four of its first five 3-point attempts - took a 22-16 lead on a Paul Williams layup before the Dukes went on 15-4 run to go up 31-26 on a Sean Johnson 3-pointer with 4:47 left. Five players scored during the run with McConnell netting five.

Dayton then scored eight in a row to go up three before DU closed out the half with six in a row to take a 39-36 lead at intermission.

Saunders, who went 8-of-12 from the field, added eight rebounds, a team-high five assists, four steals and three blocks. Clark had four steals and McConnell had two steals and four assists to bring his Atlantic 10 assist-to-turnover ratio to 34-to-3.

Dayton, which shot 57.1 percent in the first half, was held to 33.3 percent in the second to finish at 44.3 percent. Duquesne shot over 50 percent in each half to finish at 50.8 percent. The Dukes are just the second team to shoot over 50 percent against the Flyers this season.

DU outrebounded UD 42-34.

Duquesne returns to action versus George Washington (11-10, 4-3) on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Palumbo Center.

NOTES

• the 18-point margin of victory was DU's largest over Dayton since a 91-67 win on Jan. 19, 1976 ... Duquesne, which had lost 18 of the 19 previous meetings with Dayton prior to Ron Everhart's arrival, is now 5-3 against the Flyers under the fifth-year head coach.

• The 10-game win streak is Duquesne's longest since the 1970-71 NCAA Tournament Dukes (21-4) won 15 straight ... DU also completed the school's first undefeated month of January (9-0) since `71 (7-0) ... the `71 Dukes went 14-0 to start the New Year (they won their final game in December, went 7-0 in January and won their first seven in February for a total win streak of 15 games).

• DU's 15-5 record is the school's best 20-game mark since the 1971-72 team (20-5) opened 16-4.

• This is first time a Duquesne team has won seven consecutive conference games ... the high before this season was five (in 1980-81 & 2006-07) ... DU upped its all-time best conference start to 7-0 ... the best previous start by any DU team was 3-0 in 2008-09.

• All 15 of Duquesne's wins have come by double-digit margins.

• With his 19 points senior Damian Saunders passed Brian Shanahan (1,355 from 1986-89) to move into the No. 17 spot on DU's all-time scoring list ... Saunders, who has 1,365 points, needs 18 to pass No. 16 B.B. Flenory (1,382 from 1977-80).

• Bill Clark (1,454 points) needs six points to pass Rick Suder (1,459 from 1983-86) to move into the No. 11 spot on the all-time scoring list.