Box Score
Aaron Jackson
led Duquesne with 20 points. Damian Saunders
added 15 points and 10 rebounds and Bill Clark finished
with 13 points for DU.
Sergio Olmos had 14 points
and nine rebounds and Lavoy Allen added a gamehigh
14 boards for the Owls who outrebounded the
Dukes 41-30.
There were four ties and four lead
changes in a first half that ended with an 8-2 Temple
run that put the Owls up 42-37 at the break. Christmas
hit 6-of-9 high arching 3-pointers in the opening 20
minutes to pace TU.
Temple opened the second half
with a 5-0 run to take their first double-digit lead at 47-
37 at the 18:43 mark.
The Dukes pulled to within five
on a Saunders layup with 4:48 left before Ryan Brooks
hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to put Temple up
65-57. Saunders made it a two possession game with a
jumper before the Dukes missed four consecutive
shots - including three from close range - and two free
throws over the next three minutes before Christmas, who was named the tournament's outstanding player for the second straight year,
hit a pair of free throws with 51 seconds left to up
Temple’s lead to 67-59.
Temple, which shot .458, was
11-of-27 from the 3-point arc with Christmas and Brooks
accounting for all 11 field goals. Duquesne shot .431
and was 9-of-27 from the arc. TU outscored DU 19-9 in
second chance points.
NOTES
- Aaron Jackson and Melquan Bolding became
the first Dukes since 1994 to earn a spot on the
All-Championship Team
- Bolding was just the tenth
freshman in tournament history to be named All-Championship
- DU set a championship record with 40 3-
pointers made and 101 attempts easily breaking the
old marks of 33 and 77 set by Saint Joseph’s in 2006
- Jackson’s 79 points tied the second-highest point total
in Championship history
- Bill Clark’s 30 free throw
attempts were a tournament record
- Damian Saunders 13
blocks tied the second-highest in Championship history
Posted on DuquesneSports.net, 4/2/09