Saint Francis Men’s Basketball Team Falls at A-10 Foe Duquesne
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Dec. 21, 2007) – The Saint Francis men’s basketball team had no answer for Duquesne junior center Shawn James nation’s third-ranked shot blocker swatted away 7 Red Flash field goal attempts to lead the Dukes to a 99-80 victory on Friday night in front of 2,149 fans at the A.J. Palumbo Center.
Redshirt sophomore Devin Sweetney (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) led Saint Francis with a game-high 18 points to go with 3 rebounds and 1 assist. Junior Steve Profeta (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) tied his career high on 4-of-7 shooting from long distance for 14 points. Junior Chris Berry (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville) and redshirt junior Cale Nelson (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) had 11 points each, and junior Grant Surprenant (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine) had 10 points off the bench.
Duquesne (7-3) forced 18 Red Flash turnovers and had 11 takeaways, and blocked 13 field goal attempts as a team. James finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds and his 7 blocks. Aaron Jackson had a team-high 16 points and 6 rebounds, Kojo Mensah had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists, Kieron Achara had 14 points, and Damian Saunders added 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals off the bench.
The Dukes found themselves in a tight ballgame in the second half as Saint Francis was able to keep the game to single digits. Nelson hit a 3-pointer with 18:27 to go to cut a six point halftime deficit to 44-41. But Bill Clark hit a trey at the other end and Mensah made a layup to open it up to 49-41 with 17:58 to play. The Red Flash got it back down to five points at 54-49 with 16:06 to play, but that’s when Duquesne began to apply the defensive pressure. The Dukes went on a 17-6 run to make it 71-55 with exactly 10:00 to play. They would continue to pressure in the SFU backcourt and eventually built a 97-73 lead with 3:33 remaining.
The Red Flash took an early 4-0 lead in the game off a pair of free throws from junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) and then a layup by junior Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, Pa. / Greater Johnstown). But the early surge awakened the Dukes, who went on a 12-2 run to take a 12-6 lead with 15:09 to play in the first frame.
Saint Francis cut that lead to two points on a Nelson 3-pointer with 12:48 to play to make it 16-14 Duquesne. Berry’s layup with 10:54 to go make it a 21-16 Duke’s lead, and the Red Flash would then turn the ball over seven of their next eight possessions as Duquesne went on a 8-2 run to open its biggest lead, 29-18, of the first half with 5:13 remaining. Saint Francis then buckled down on its defensive end, and responded with a 9-0 run. Profeta started and ended the run with 3-pointers, while Sweetney added a traditional 3-point play to make it a 29-27 Duquesne lead with 5:33 to play. The Dukes again answered back with a 5-0 run to make it 34-27 and took a 40-34 lead into halftime.
Profeta led the Red Flash with 9 points off the bench going into the break. Berry had 6 points and 5 rebounds, while Dieng and Sweetney both had 6 points going into the break.
James had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 5 blocks at halftime for the Dukes. Saunders had a game-high 10 points at the break.