Dukes win opener over Nicholls State 85-62

PITTSBURGH - The trio of Damian Saunders, Melquan Bolding and Bill Clark rallied Duquesne from a five-point second half deficit to an 85-62 win over Nicholls State in the season opener for both schools at the Palumbo Center.

Saunders had 17 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, five assists and four steals, Bolding finished with a game-high 25 and Clark scored all 19 of his points in the second half for Duquesne.

Anatoly Bose led Nicholls State with 23 points.

Nicholls, which closed the first half with a 20-3 run to take a 36-33 lead, upped the lead to five in the opening moments of the second half. Clark tied the game at 41-41 on his first basket of the game with 16:17 to go.

Nicholls took a 48-47 lead on a Kenny Franklin 3-pointer before Clark, Bolding and Damian Saunders scored all of Duquesne’s points during a 19-0 run that made it 66-48 with 7:08 left.

Duquesne led by at least 21 for the game’s final 4:33.

“Damian Saunders was unbelievable tonight,” said Duquesne coach Ron Everhart who is now 4-0 in season opening games at Duquesne. “The energy with which he played was as good as any I’ve seen. Damian, Billy [Clark] and Mel [Bolding] just kept going up and getting the ball with two hands and getting us going.”

The starting five of Eric Evans, Jason Duty, Saunders, Bolding and Clark played the entire second half until Everhart made a mass substitution with 1:42 left.

“We just had a rhythm,” said Everhart. “Every time I asked the guys ‘are you O.K.?,’ they kept saying, ‘yeah.’ Then I’d say ‘well then let’s go out and get a stop.’”

I’m very happy with the way our guys responded in the second half. Nicholls State is a very well-coached team. They make you grind it out.”

Duquesne jumped out to a 30-16 lead with sophomores Bolding and Evans combining for 21 of the Dukes first 25 points. It was then that Nicholls State took advantage of nine Duquesne turnovers, including six in the final two minutes to take their halftime lead.

Duquesne outscored the Colonels 52-26 while turning it over just four times in the second half.

The Dukes shot 55.2 percent for the game, while holding Nicholls to 32.3 percent in the second half and 39.3 percent for the game.

Duquesne heads to Iowa City to face Iowa on Tuesday, Nov. 17 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The Iowa game, set for a 9:00 p.m. (EST) tip, will be televised by ESPNU as part of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.