Dec. 17, 2008
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Gerald Lee led Old Dominion's balanced offense with 15 points and the Monarchs turned a pivotal 17-3 run early in the second half into an 86-60 rout of Duquesne on Wednesday night. It was the Monarchs fourth straight win in a row.
Darius James scored 14, Keyon Carter and Ben Finney had 12 each and Kent Bazemore had 10 for the Monarchs (6-3), who shot 70.8 percent (17-of-24) while outscoring the Dukes 44-24 in the second half. Old Dominion shot 56.9 percent overall.
The Monarchs, improving to 3-0 against Atlantic 10 Conference teams, trailed 13-4 in the opening three minutes before solving Duquesne's pressure and going on a 9-0 run to tie it. An 8-0 run later in the half made it 39-31, and Duquesne (5-4) never got any closer than two points early in the second half.
Old Dominion led 46-44 before holding Duquesne to Bill Clark's 3-pointer over a nearly seven-minute stretch in which it opened a 63-47 lead.ODU again dominated the boards, 35-25 as Ben Finney hauled down eight and Kent Bazemore grabbed six.
The Monarchs dished out a season high 25 assists led by Ben Finney with a careerhigh sivenand Kent Bazemore with six. All eight Monarchs who played had atleastone assist.
Defensively, the Monarchs forced the Dukes into 16 turnovers while only committingeight. Marsharee Neely led ODU with a career high four steals.
Freshman point guard Eric Evans was Duquesne's only double figure scorer with 18 points. The Dukes lost their fourth in five games, with the previous three lossescoming against Duke, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Besides Duquesne, ODU has alsobeaten Richmond and Charlotte from the A-10.
The Monarchs return to action on Saturday when they host Winthrop at 7 p.m. inthe Ted Constant Convocation Center.