Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 3/15/09: Duquesne loses to Temple in A-10 final
Duquesne’s NCAA Tournament quest ends
By Aaron Bracy
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, March 15, 2009
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — In the end, the odds were just too long for Duquesne to overcome.
The Dukes’ dream of winning the Atlantic 10 tournament title and reaching their first NCAA Tournament in 32 years died when seventh-seeded Duquesne lost to fourth-seeded Temple, 69-64, in the championship game Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall.
“Words can’t really describe how disappointed and how empty I feel not going to The Dance,” said senior guard Aaron Jackson, who led the Dukes with 20 points while joining freshman guard Melquan Bolding on the A-10 All-Championship Team.
The Dukes (21-12), who pulled off two upsets to reach just their third A-10 title game in 31 appearances, couldn’t come up with one more that would have meant the most. Duquesne, which would’ve been the first No. 7 seed to win the tourney, will likely get an NIT bid.
Temple (22-11), the defending champs, won its tournament-record eighth A-10 title to earn the conference’s automatic bid and reach its 28th NCAA tournament.
Temple wing Dionte Christmas finished with 29 points, including 20 in the first half, while matching his career high with seven 3-pointers. He was named the tournament’s MVP.
Temple‘s Sergio Olmos, a 7-foot center who entered averaging 8.3 points, had 14 points and nine boards — including six on the offensive glass.
The Dukes, though, can be proud of what they accomplished, including their first 20-win season since 1981.
When the NIT brackets are announced tonight, they will likely receive their first postseason tournament bid since 1994. That is a huge step for a program that has had just six winning seasons since their last trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1977.
Only 13 teams entering yesterday had ever won four games in four days in a conference tournament, as the Dukes were attempting. While the Dukes came up short, they refused to hang their heads.
“I wanted to win the A-10 championship, but if you really think how far Duquesne has come, it’s something you can look back at,” Jackson said. “I’m the only senior who helped the team to the postseason. Unfortunately it wasn’t the NCAA, but we have extended play.”
Said Dukes coach Ron Everhart, “I’m not saying we didn’t want to go to the NCAA Tournament because we obviously did, but the run we’ve made here and the way we played will help our basketball team lay a tremendously solid foundation for a lot years to come.”
The Dukes got down early and had to fight back against the Owls, a position they hadn’t found themselves in much in tournament wins over No. 10 UMass, No. 2 Rhode Island and No. 3 Dayton.
Temple, which led, 42-37, at the half, scored seven of the first nine after halftime to take a 49-39 lead with 17:58 left.
Duquesne’s Bill Clark drained a 3 from the left wing to make it 49-42 before Olmos hit consecutive layups to give the Owls a 53-42 lead with 14:24 remaining.
The Owls led, 60-48, with 8:33 remaining, and the Dukes looked done. But Jackson scored seven straight, including a four-point play, during a 9-2 run that pulled the Dukes within 62-57 with 4:48 left.
Then, Ryan Brooks canned a 3 from the left wing as time expired to put the Owls up, 65-57, with 4:12 left, and the eight-point margin proved too much for the Dukes to overcome.
“That was the biggest basket of the game,” Everhart said of Brooks’ 3-pointer. “That was a play where we really needed a stop there.”
Said Temple coach Fran Dunphy, “Ryan Brooks is the best clutch shooter I’ve coached in my 20 years.”
Brooks joined Olmos with 14 points, while Damian Saunders had 15 points and 10 boards for the Dukes. Clark also reached double figures with 13 points.
The Dukes shot under 50 percent for the first time in the tournament, finishing 28 for 58 (43.1 percent). They missed 20 of 30 attempts after halftime. They entered hitting 41.9 percent from behind the arc in the tourney, but finished 9 for 27 (33.3 percent) against the Owls.
