Achara & Mitchell Get Top Honors

PITTSBURGH - The Atlantic 10 Conference announced today that Duquesne University freshman forward Robert Mitchell has been named conference Rookie of the Year. Mitchell also earned a spot on the 2007 A-10 All-Rookie Team. In addition, junior center Kieron Achara was named conference Student-Athlete of the Year, and earned spots on the All-Defensive and All-Academic Teams.

Robert Mitchell (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Notre Dame (Mass.) Prep), who leads the Dukes with a 16.5 ppg. scoring average, is just the second Duquesne player to win the A-10's top rookie honor, joining Bruce Atkins who was the league's Rookie of the Year in 1978-79.

Mitchell, who has topped the 20-point mark a team-high 12 times, currently ranks tied for seventh nationally among the nation's top freshman scorers.

The 6-6, Brooklyn, N.Y. native was named A-10 Rookie of the Week a league high - and Duquesne school record - five times this season. He became the first Atlantic 10 freshman since George Washington's SirValiant Brown (1999-00) to be named Rookie of the Week for three consecutive weeks when he was named the league's top rookie on Nov 26, Dec. 4 & Dec. 10.

Mitchell enters the Atlantic 10 Championship challenging the Duquesne freshman scoring average record of 16.6 ppg. set by Wayne Smith in 1998-99.

Kieron Achara (Stirling, Scotland/Maine Central Institute), who missed all but three games last year due to shoulder surgery, is the first Duquesne player to be named to the Defensive Team which was instituted in 1996-97. The 6-10, Stirling, Scotland native currently ranks 10th in the A-10 in scoring (15.9 ppg.), fourth in field goal percentage (.532), tenth in free throw percentage (.796) and tenth in rebounding (7.1 rpg.). His 2.5 blocked shots per game rank second in the league and are tied for 18th nationally. All four of his double-doubles this season came in conference play.

Achara, who has a 3.61 GPA in management, is the second DU player to be named Student-Athlete of the Year (Jimmy Tricco took home the honor in 2004). This is the second time Achara has earned a spot on the A-10 All-Academic Team (he was also named in 2005). Achara was named to the 2006-07 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 2 Basketball Team last month.

The 2006-07 Dukes, who were picked to finish 13th in a preseason poll of league coaches and media, took home a school record total of nine in-season league honors including Player/Team of the Week three times and Rookie of the Week six times on the way to a 10th place Atlantic 10 finish.

Tenth-seeded Duquesne (10-18, 6-10) opens play at the 2007 Atlantic 10 Championship on Wednesday against seventh-seeded Saint Louis (18-12, 8-8). Game time is 6:30 p.m. (EST).