Akron Holds Off Duquesne, 87-74

Duquesne, down by as many as 18 points in the first half and 15 in the second, fought back to get within one but was unable to move ahead as Akron won 87-74 Monday night in a non-conference game at the Palumbo Center.

Box Score

Junior Kieron Achara led five Dukes in double-digits with 18 points and three blocks. Freshman Scott Grote added 13 points (to go along with three steals), sophomore Phillip Fayne 12, junior Gary Tucker 11 and sophomore Aaron Jackson had 10 points. Jackson, a 6-foot-2 guard, led DU with nine rebounds, the 10th time the Connecticut native has topped that "post-player" stat this season. (Of course, with Almamy Thiero out for the year, Achara is the only player who legitimately plays the 4 or 5.) Jackson also had a team high five assists, the 17th time that occurred.

Duquesne's leading scorer, freshman Robert Mitchell, was averging 16.7 ppg. He scored his first, and only, point from the free throw line with 40 seconds left to play. In 18 minutes, Mitchell had six rebounds and two assists.

To say Duquesne started slow would be to greatly understate the case. There were way too many turnovers, including one where the pass hit the intended player in the rump. They were 1-12 from the floor, that one bucket a trey by Reggie Jackson at 17:45, and missed the first four free throw attempts. Fayne made DU's first FT at 9:12.

And there were some changes to both starting lineups. Freshman Stephen Wood switched lines with Fayne. Wood had been playing with DU's two returnees (A. Jackson and Achara) and two walk-ons.

Akron's starting small forward Nate Linhart broke two bones in his left (shooting) hand late in Saturday's win over Bowling Green.

With the Dukes down by 18 (21-3) at 12:53 of the first half, Head Coach Ron Everhart abandoned the full line changes for the rest of the game, bringing in Achara, A. Jackson and Jason Duty to play with Reggie Jackson and Mitchell. Fayne, Grote, and Tucker completed the eight-man rotation.

Achara's layup 14 seconds later stopped Akron's 18-0 run, and with more active defensive play, Duquesne brought the score to 23-10 (13 point deficit), 27-15 (12), then put together an 11-0 run to get within six at 27-21, and within four, 36-32, with 1:38 to go before the break. Akron repliesd by scoring the last seven points of the first half to take a 43-32 lead to the locker room.

Akron extended the lead to 15, 58-43, before the Dukes put together a 17-4 run, including 12 straight, to get back to -2 at 60-58 on Fayne's put-back layup. The Dukes got withing one twice, the last time at 66-65 on Aaron Jackson's tip-in. Akron answered with seven straight to go back up by eight. Two free throws by Achara cut it to 75-70. The Zips scored 12 to DU's four to cement the victory.

Duquesne, which had 13 turnovers in the first half, did not commit a miscue until 6:53 was left in the game. DU averaged one a minute the rest of the way for a total of 20 TOs. UA had 18.

Senior forward Romeo Travis, this week's Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week, led the 22-6 Zips with 26 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks. Nick Dials added 23. Cedrick Middleton who started in place of the injured Linhart, scored 14 and reserve Quade Milum put in 11 points. Dru Joyce, the all-time assist leader at the Ohio school, and Dials had four assists apiece. Joyce, who needed three points to hit 1,000, didn't score in his 34 minutes of play.

After being outrebounded by 22 in the St. Bonaventure game, Duquesne finished with a five-reb. advantage against Akron (42-37). Duquesne shot 40.9 percent from the three-point area (9/22) but only 52.9% from the charity stripe. more than 22 points below their A-10 leading average (.754). After the 1-12 start from the floor, Duquesne made 45.8 percent the rest of the way for a game number of .394.

Earlier this year, Duquesne's comebacks resulted in victories perhaps because their opponents did not expect as much as the Dukes believed they would deliver. In the last three games, DU has come back to within at least three but never tied or went ahead after that point. Opponents' respect is a factor as is DU's inability to get the loose ball, rebound, block or make the basket in critical parts of the game.

Duquesne is now 10-17 and on a six-game losing streak. Their 6-9 Atlantic 10 record has DU in 11th place in the league standings and guaranteed a trip to next week's 2007 Championship Tournament in Atlantic City, N.J. DU is a half-game behind Charlotte, Dayton and Temple (6-8).

The Dukes' final regular season game is this coming Saturday afternoon, March 3, 2007, at George Washington. The Colonials, 18-8 overall, are tied for fourth place with Saint Joseph's with a 9-5 conference mark. But first, GW has to play at Charlotte (13-14, 6-8) Thursday at 7:00 p.m. with the victor moving up in the A-10 standings.

Duquesne has five full days before then, the largest break since the six-day stretch prior to the UMass game when the new "10-40" or "frenzy ball" format was unveiled.

Duquesne did not have a player to honor tonight on senior night (and grad student Thiero isn't in the country). Everyone else on the team can come back. Waiting in the wings are Shawn James and Kojo Mensah will become eligible in the fall with Stuard Baldonado and, hopefully, Sam Ashaolu fully recovered from last September's shootings. The future still looks bright on the Bluff.