Feb. 16, 2011

Box Score / Box Score (.pdf)

AMHERST, MASS. - Bill Clark led five players in double figures with 16 points and Damian Saunders added his 33rd career double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds as Duquesne never trailed in defeating Massachusetts 81-63 at Amherst, Mass.

Freshmen T.J. McConnell and Mike Talley hit three 3-pointers each in adding 15 and 13 points respectively for Duquesne. B.J. Monteiro had 12 points and six rebounds for the Dukes (17-7, 9-2) who will enter this weekend's action in third place in the Atlantic 10.

Saunders and McConnell (five each) combined for 10 of DU's school record-tying 17 steals. It was the third time this season the Dukes have tied the school mark. With his five steals, McConnell broke the DU freshman record for steals in a season (70) set by Clayton Adams in 32 games in 1988. McConnell has 72 steals in 24 games.

Jesse Morgan led UMass (13-11, 5-6), which has lost four in a row, with 14 points.

The 18-point margin of victory tied the fourth-largest in a conference road game DU history. It also tied the Minutemen's ninth-largest margin of defeat at Mullins Center.

The Dukes raced out to a 26-6 lead in holding UMass to three field goals over the first 12:39. Monteiro, Clark and McConnell combined for 19 of the 26, while McConnell posted four steals in the game's first eight minutes.

DU increased its lead to 32-10 before UMass went on a 15-6 run to cut it to 38-25 at the half.

"We talked about the first five minutes for the past two days," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart, who emphasized the need for a quick start following back-to-back losses to St. Bonaventure and Xavier. "I told our guys, `you don't judge a man by his failure, you judge him on how he responds to it.'"

The Minutemen pulled within nine on a Morgan bucket with 13:39 to go before Clark answered with the third of his four 3-pointers from the corner and followed that with a dunk off an Eric Evans steal to push the lead to 14 at 51-37.

UMass cut it to 51-41 a minute later, but this time it was Saunders who responded with a layup and 3-pointer to up the lead to 15. The two Saunders scores ignited a 14-1 run that put the game out of reach at 65-42 with 9:53 left.

The Minutemen would get no closer than 16 the rest of the way.

"We responded real well," said Everhart referring to Sunday's 71-63 loss to Xavier. "We had the kind of motor I don't know that we've had the last couple of games."

Duquesne, which shot 44.8 percent, assisted on 24 of 30 field goals and forced 23 UMass turnovers - including 15 from the starting backcourt of Anthony Gurley and Gary Correia.

Gurley, who entered the game averaging a team-high 19.3 ppg., finished with nine points on 3-of-13 shooting.

UMass, which went 3-of-14 from the 3-point arc, shot 35.9 percent overall.

Duquesne plays the second of back-to-back road games at Dayton (18-9, 6-6) on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 12:00 p.m. (CBS College Sports syndicated TV).

NOTES

• With the win, the Dukes tied the school record for road conference victories with four (4-1) ... DU also posted four conference road wins in 1981 (4-3) and 2009 (4-4) ... Duquesne has three A-10 road games remaining (at Dayton, at Saint Louis and at Richmond).

• The victory also clinched the fifth winning conference record in school history (1980, 1981, 1991 & 2009 are the others).

• The Dukes need one win to tie the school record for conference wins in a season (10-3 in 1981 & 10-8 in 1991).

• The 18-point margin of victory tied DU's fourth-largest in an Atlantic 10 road game ... it was also tied for the ninth-worst margin of defeat suffered by UMass at Mullins Center ... DU defeated the Minutemen by 17 (94-77) in its previous trip to Amherst in 2009.

• With his 14 points (1,416), Damian Saunders passed eight-year NBA veteran Mike James (1,411 from 1995-98) to move into 14th on DU's all-time scoring list ... Saunders needs 13 points to pass former teammate - and fellow Connecticut native - Aaron Jackson (1,428 from 2006-09) to take over the No. 13 spot.

• The double-double (14-13) was the 33rd of Saunders' career and sixth this season ... the 33 double-doubles rank third on DU's all-time list (from available records) ... Saunders, who played in his 119th game, is one shy of tying the school record for games played (120 by Aaron Jackson and Tony Petrarca).

• Bill Clark upped his career point total to 1,522 ... Clark, who ranks 10th on DU's all-time scoring list, needs 12 to pass No. 9 Bruce Atkins (1,533 from 1979-82).

• DU also had a school record 17 steals earlier this season at Houston Baptist and at La Salle.

• With his five steals, T.J. McConnell broke the DU freshman record for steals in a season (70 set by Clayton Adams in 32 games in 1988) ... McConnell now has 72 steals in 24 games.

• Duquesne is 14-0 when scoring 80 or more points this season.