Feb. 23, 2011

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PITTSBURGH - Marquis Jones' layup with 9.3 seconds left rallied Rhode Island from a five-point deficit with 3:15 left to a 77-76 win over Duquesne at the Palumbo Center.

The win pulled the Rams (17-10, 8-5) to within one game of the fourth-place Dukes (17-9, 9-4) who have dropped four of five following an 8-0 Atlantic 10 start.

Sean Johnson came off the bench to lead Duquesne with 18 points. T.J. McConnell added 13 and B.J. Monteiro had 12 for the Dukes.

The game was tied at 70-70 when Damian Saunders threaded the needle on a 60-foot pass to a streaking McConnell for a layup. McConnell then added a 3-pointer to put the Dukes up 75-71 with 3:37 to go. Eric Evans, who scored all eight of his points in the second half, added a free throw 22 seconds later to put DU up five. It was the last point Duquesne would score.

URI cut it to three when Jones found Will Martell for a bucket. Delroy James, who scored all 14 of his points in the second half, stole the ensuing inbounds pass and hit a pair of free throws with 1:05 left to pull the Rams within one.

Evans missed a 3-point attempt from the right wing with 33 seconds left to set up Jones' game-winner.

Jones, who also scored 14, had a driving shot blocked out of bounds by Monteiro with 16 seconds left before hitting the game-deciding shot.

Following a timeout, McConnell drove down the left side toward the baseline and into a pair of Rams. Nikola Milesevic - who led URI with 16 points - blocked McConnell's shot and was fouled with 1.6 seconds left. He missed the first attempt, and following a DU timeout, missed the second on purpose. Duquesne rebounded and called timeout with 1.2 on the clock, but Bill Clark was unable to get off a shot from near midcourt as time expired.

"This was a tough one to swallow," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "We're not playing real well right now at the end of games."

Rhode Island, which went 1-of-19 from 3-point in a 66-60 loss to UMass on Saturday, hit 7-of-14 from the arc - led by a 3-of-5 effort from Milesevic.

DU went 4-of-18 from 3-point and 16-of-28 from the foul line - including 1-of-4 in the final 4:37.

"We're a good team that's not playing real well right now," said Everhart. "We're leaving points at the free throw line and we can't keep doing that."

Duquesne's leading scorers, Clark and Saunders, combined for 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting.

Duquesne opened the game with a 7-0 run that was matched by the Rams who tied it at the 15:21 mark. From that point on, neither team led by more than three until Johnson briefly put the Dukes up 27-22 with five minutes left. Mike Talley added a free throw, steal and bucket to make it 30-24 before URI answered with an 8-1 run to take a 32-31 lead on a Ben Eaves 3-pointer with 1:48 left. DU scored four in the final 16 seconds on a Monteiro layup and floor length pass from Talley to Joel Wright for a dunk at the horn to make it 39-34 at the half.

Rhode Island outscored Duquesne 10-5 in the first three minutes of the second half to tie it. URI took a seven-point lead on a James jumper with 9:24 left before DU rallied to take a 69-68 lead on an Evans 3-pointer with 6:01 left.

The Dukes hit the road to face Saint Louis (10-17, 4-9) on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 8:00 p.m. (EST).

NOTES

• Tonight's game was the 121st of Damian Saunders' career, breaking the school record of 120 which was held by Tony Petrarca and Aaron Jackson (120) ... it was also Saunders' 110th career start, leaving him one shy of tying the school mark of 111 shared by Bruce Atkins and Dick Ricketts.

• Bill Clark played in his 120th career game, tying him for second on the all-time list ... Clark went 0-of-3 from the 3-point arc ... it was just the fourth time this season he failed to make a 3-pointer.

• With his one steal, T.J. McConnell upped his DU freshman record for steals in a season to 75 in 26 games (the old mark of 70 was set by Clayton Adams in 32 games in 1988) ... McConnell is 12 shy of the Atlantic 10 freshman record (86 by Temple's Pepe Sanchez in 31 games in 1996-97) and 15 short of breaking the Duquesne school record of 89 set by Saunders in 32 games last season ... this was just the fourth time in 26 games that McConnell did not have two or more steals.

• Sean Johnson's 18 points (on 7-of-11 shooting) were one shy of his career high set earlier this season vs. Norfolk State.