Feb. 19, 2011

Box Score

DAYTON, OHIO - Juwan Staten scored five points in the final 1:24 and Chris Wright came up with a key steal with three seconds left to lead Dayton to a 64-63 win over Duquesne at UD Arena.

Chris Johnson and Devin Searcy led the Flyers (19-9, 7-6) with 14 points each and Staten, whose driving layup at the 1:24 mark put UD up for good, finished with 13.

Bill Clark hit a season high-tying five 3-pointers in leading Duquesne (17-8, 9-3) with 17 points. Sean Johnson, who hit a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to pull the Dukes within one, scored 14. Damian Saunders added 13 points and three blocked shots for DU.

There were six ties and 15 lead changes in the game.

Duquesne took its largest lead when Mike Talley converted a three-point play and Saunders scored on a layup off a Talley steal to make it 58-52 with 4:32 left. Saunders, who was fouled on the play, missed the free throw that would have put the Dukes up seven.

Johnson ended a 2:23 scoring drought with a jumper and followed with a 3-pointer to ignite the crowd of 13,110 and pull the Flyers within one with 3:21 to go.

Duquesne got back-to-back stops, but was unable to increase its lead as Monteiro missed a 3-pointer and Saunders missed a highly-contested shot in the lane.

Staten made the Dukes pay by turning the corner for a driving layup that gave the Flyers a 59-58 lead they would not surrender.

Monteiro had a layup roll off the rim with just over one minute left, before Paul Williams hit a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game.

Clark missed a top of the key jumper from well beyond the arc and Staten followed by hitting one of two free throws to make it 62-58.

Johnson quickly nailed his 3-pointer before Staten was fouled and converted both.

T.J. McConnell scored on a layup with six seconds left and DU regained possession when Wright fumbled a floor-length pass out of bounds with 3.8 seconds on the clock.

Duquesne inbounded from under its own basket, but Wright picked off a Johnson pass intended for Saunders on the UD side of midcourt to clinch the win. "We made some bad decisions," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "We had two turnovers and took three bad shots in the last two minutes ... you can't win games like that. Despite that, we had ourselves in position to win. We've got to make that last play."

Dayton jumped out to a 22-14 lead before Duquesne closed the half with a 23-12 run to take a 37-34 lead at intermission. Clark, who hit four 3-pointers in the first half, hit a 30-footer at the shot clock buzzer that pulled the Dukes within two at 24-22. Clark cut it to 28-27 with another 3-pointer at the 3:03 mark. A Johnson floater with nine seconds left gave DU its three-point halftime advantage.

Duquesne, which was outrebounded 48-22, was outscored 20-2 in second-chance points. The Dukes returned the favor by outscoring the Flyers 25-6 off 19 UD turnovers.

Other than the rebounding and turnover discrepancies, the teams were nearly equal in the other statistical categories. Dayton shot 42.3 percent to 41.2 for Duquesne. The Dukes hit five more 3-pointers, while Dayton converted four more free throws.

Duquesne finished with 12 assists on 21 field goals and 11 turnovers.

The Dukes return home to face Rhode Island (16-10, 7-5) on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m.

NOTES

• Duquesne's 17-8 record is its best 25-game mark since 1980-81 (also 17-8 on its way to a 20-10 NIT finish).

• Duquesne (9-3) is one win shy of the school record for conference victories (10-3 in 1981 & 10-8 in 1991).

• With his 13 points (1,429), Damian Saunders passed former teammate - and fellow Connecticut native - Aaron Jackson (1,428 from 2006-09) to take over the No. 13 spot on Duquesne's all-time leading scorers' list ... with his appearance today, Saunders tied Tony Petrarca and Jackson for the school record for games played with 120.

• Bill Clark (1,539 points) passed Bruce Atkins (1,533 from 1979-82) to take over the No. 9 spot on DU's all-time scoring list ... he needs eight to pass No. 8 Bryant McAllister (1,546 from 2003-06).

• It was the fifth time Clark has hit five 3-pointers in a game this season and first since a 5-of-9 effort at Penn State on December 4 ... all five of of the five 3-point games have come away from the Palumbo Center (5-12 at Robert Morris, 5-7 at Bowling Green, 5-10 vs. Pitt at CONSOL Energy Center, 5-9 at Penn State and 5-12 at Dayton).

• With his two steals, T.J. McConnell upped his DU freshman record for steals in a season to 74 in 25 games (the old mark of 70 was set by Clayton Adams in 32 games in 1988) ... McConnell is 16 shy of breaking the school record of 89 set by Saunders in 32 games last season ... McConnell, who ranks third nationally, has had two or more steals in 22 of 25 games this season.

• This was Duquesne's first loss when Sean Johnson (14 points) scored in double figures (now 10-1).