Duquesne loses to Drake 77-73

AP recap and box score

Game recap

PG article

Trib article

Duquesne drops to 6-1 on the season after their first loss.

Drake was led by super senior Leonard Houston who scored a game high 23 points, two of which were the game clinching free throws with 1.6 seconds left. #24 Klayton Korver, (pictured right), the younger brother of current Philadelphia 76er Kyle Korver, dropped 22 points and had 6 rebounds.

Duquesne shot 47% from the floor and was 13-16 from the free throw line while holding Drake to a 35% field goal percentage but still managed to lose.

Duquesne turned the ball over a season high 24 times.

"You can't win when you turn it over 24 times," said Everhart. "Our biggest achilles heel was the turnovers. That just can't happen."

Shawn James led the Dukes with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Dukes to face Drake tonight at 8:37pm

After defeating Cal State Northridge last night Duquesne advances to the Iowa Realty Tournament Championship game against host Drake. Drake advanced to the finals by defeating NC Central in the late game Friday night.

Drake is led by sophmore guard #20 Josh Young who is averaging 17.8ppg.

Senior guard Leonard Houston, (pictured below) is having a great season for the Bulldogs averaging 17.5ppg. Houston was the leading scorer in last night's game with 18 points.

Dukes win again!

Aaron Jackson had a season high 19 points

Box Score

Game Recap

PG Article

Trib Article

The Dukes defeated Cal State Northridge 97-74 to move to 6-0 on the season. The last time the Dukes started a season 6-0 was the 1980-81 season. The Dukes will face Drake on Saturday night at 8:37pm eastern time.

Cal State Northridge put up a good fight in the first half going into the half trailing 46-37. The Matadors simply couldn't keep up with the Dukes in the 2nd half as the Dukes pulled away midway through the 2nd half after successfully using their two platoon system. Duquesne was lead by #33 Kojo Mensah who scored 22 points and shot 10-10 from the line. Aaron Jackson had a season high 19 points while playing his usual tenacious defense.

Duquesne shot 50% from the field while holding Cal State Northridge below 40% shooting from the floor.

Dukes play Cal State Northridge tonight at 6pm

Here are the game previews from the two major Pittsburgh papers:

PG Preview
Trib Preview

You can hear the game in Pittsburgh on 1410am KQV
or
On the Internet at redzone media

Some other interesting tid bits and quotes regarding the Dukes and their game tonight:

"I'm familiar with them. I'm a California player and I know how California people play," said Duquesne freshman Bill Clark, a Redondo Beach native. "California players shoot 3s, they're flashy, they like to dunk and they like to run. That's pretty much how Northridge plays."

Duquesne athletic director Greg Amodio, who was planning to attend the two-day tournament, said Everhart's situation isn't anything to be alarmed about. "He's in Des Moines and he's ready to coach the team," Amodio said. "He's fine."

Head Coach Ron Everhart absent from Dukes practice this week

The Trib's Dave Mackall has the story

For the 2nd day in a row Ron Everhart has not been at Duquesne's practices at the A.J. Palumbo center. Everhart also missed his weekly radio show last night. An athletic department spokesman called it a "personal matter."

Ron Everhart is expected to accompany the team to Des Moines Iowa for their weekend games in the Iowa Realty Tournament.

Who knows what this is really about? Coach Everhart did have surgery to remove a portion of his colon in September, but we really have no way of knowing why he wasn't at practice so it isn't worth speculating. Dukes fans everywhere hope all is well with Coach Everhart.

One side note:

When Coach Everhart was sick last season he missed the team's road trip to Boston where the Dukes upset a highly ranked Boston College team.

Dukes Court header contest

I am looking to spruce up the Dukes Court header, it is kinda bland. Anyone is eligible to submit a new header picture to be used on the blog.

Something with the old english D or the new Dukes logo would be a plus.

please send submissions to dukes.court@hotmail.com

Duquesne to play Cal State Northridge Friday at 6pm

Game Story

Game Notes

Tournament Notes

Duquesne travels to the Iowa Realty Drake Tournament to play Cal State Northridge on Friday at 6pm.

The Matadors of Cal State Northridge play in the Big West Conference and are off to a 3-0 start to their season. The Matadors will travel to play Cleveland State tonight for their first game outside of California this season. The Matadors are lead by two seniors, 6'6 guard/forward Jonathan Heard and 6'8 forward Calvin Chitwood. Heard has already surpassed the career 1,000 point mark and Chitwood entered the season only needing 118 points to surpass the 1,000 point mark in his career.

#3 Jonathan Heard and #32 Calvin Chitwood

The other two teams playing in the Iowa Realty Drake Tournament are Drake and NC Central. The second round games of the tournament will be played Saturday at 5 and 7pm.

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An update:

Cal State Northridge remains unbeaten after defeating Cleveland State on Wednesday.

Cal State Northride is off to their best season-opening start since the 1983-84 campaign.