Feb. 27, 2011

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Freshman guards Mike McCall and Jordair Jett scored 18 and 14 points respectively as Saint Louis held Duquesne to a season-low 51 points in a 62-51 win over the Dukes at Chaifetz Arena.

The win was the third in a row for the Billikens (11-17, 5-9) who avenged a 67-45 loss to DU at Pittsburgh on January 12. The loss was the fifth in six games for the Dukes (17-10, 9-5), who are now tied with Rhode Island for fourth in the Atlantic 10.

Damian Saunders scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half for Duquesne. Bill Clark (11 points) and B.J. Monteiro (10 points) were the only others in double figures as the Dukes shot a season-low 32.8 percent, including 2-of-14 from the 3-point arc.

"We could never get in a rhythm," said Duquesne coach Ron Everhart. "We couldn't get a long rebound. We seemed like we were a step slow."

"Saint Louis played very well tonight, you've got to give them all the credit in the world. What is upsetting from my perspective is they didn't do one thing differently than they did a month ago. We just didn't guard them very well."

Duquesne, which only led for a brief 20 second span of the first half, cut the Saint Louis lead to 38-37 when Sean Johnson hit one of two free throws with 11:59 left. The Dukes were down 43-40 following a Saunders three-point play, but turned it over three times and missed a pair of shots as SLU built its lead back to seven.

"We had four or five stops in a row and the game was right there in the balance and we just didn't make it work for ourselves offensively," said Everhart.

The Dukes trailed by five with 2:51 to go before McCall hit a 3-pointer from the deep corner to make it 55-47. DU would get not closer than six the rest of the way.

McCall and Jett scored 15 of the Billikens' final 19 points.

Brian Conklin scored all of his 11 points in the first half in helping the Billikens build a 29-23 lead. DU shot 26.7 percent in posting its lowest point total in any half this season.

Saint Louis won despite going 3-of-13 from the 3-point arc and 11-of-21 from the foul line. The Billikens, who continually beat the Dukes to the bucket off the dribble, converted 21-of-40 two-point attempts in shooting 45.3 percent.

"I keep reminding them we're the same team that reeled off 11 in a row and is a pretty good basketball team," said Everhart. "And still, after tonight, I have a lot of confidence in this team. We'll bounce back."

Duquesne returns for its final regular season home game against St. Bonaventure (15-11, 7-6) on Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. It will be the final regular season home game for seniors David Theis, Bill Clark and Damian Saunders.

NOTES

• Duquesne's 51 points, 23 first half points, 32.8 field goal percentage (19-of-58), two 3-pointers made, 14.3 3-point percentage (2-of-14) and 10 assists were all season lows ... the 19 field goals tied the season low ... DU's previous low point total was 61 in a 64-61 loss to West Virginia at CONSOL Energy Center.

• Damian Saunders, who added to his school record by playing in his 122nd game, started for the 111th time, tying the school mark of 111 shared by Bruce Atkins and Dick Ricketts.

• With is 11 points, Bill Clark (1,555 points) passed Bryant McAllister (1,546 from 2003-06) to move into the No. 8 spot on DU's all-time scoring list ... the SLU game was the 121st of Clark's career, leaving him alone in second on the all-time list.

• With his two steals, T.J. McConnell upped his DU freshman record for steals in a season to 77 in 27 games (the old mark of 70 was set by Clayton Adams in 32 games in 1988) ... McConnell is 10 shy of the Atlantic 10 freshman record (86 by Temple's Pepe Sanchez in 31 games in 1996-97) and 13 short of breaking the Duquesne school record of 89 set by Saunders in 32 games last season ... this was the 23rd time in 27 games that McConnell has had two or more steals.

• Sean Johnson's seven rebounds - all of which came in the first half - were a career high.

• It was Duquesne's second double-digit loss of the season and first since a 14-point loss to then-No. 3 (AP) Pitt on Dec. 1 (80-66) at CONSOL Energy Center ... it was also the first time DU did not hold at least a four point lead at some point in a game this season.