Dukes sent Flash to 9th loss

PITTSBURGH - In their final game before the Christmas break, the St. Francis men's basketball team suffered an 86-56 loss at Duquesne on Tuesday night at the Palumbo Center.

Freshman Umar Shannon had a team-high 12 points, and junior Sorena Orandi added 11 points and tied a career high with six rebounds, for the Red Flash.

Damian Saunders had a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Dukes, who improved to 9-4 on the season. Eric Evans had 17 points, and Bill Clark added 16 for Duquesne.

St. Francis has now dropped four straight games to drop to 3-9 on the season. SFU has 10 days off before playing its final non-conference game of the season, against Hartford, at 3 p.m. on Jan. 2, at DeGol Arena. The Red Flash will then take their 2-0 Northeast Conference record into league play, which resumes on Jan. 7, at St. Francis, New York.

A 13-0 Duquesne run turned a 5-5 tie into an 18-5 deficit for the Red Flash with 14:03 to go in the first half. The Dukes, who came into the game shooting 25.5 percent from long distance and 57.8 percent from the free throw line, shot 43.8 percent (7-of-16) and 72.7 percent (8-of-11), respectively, in the first half.

Trailing 31-15 with 7:20 to go in the half, St. Francis went on a 9-3 run to pull within 34-24 with 3:34 to play. Orandi had a layup and Shannon hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the run. However, the Dukes answered with a 9-0 run to stop the momentum.

Duquesne took a 47-29 lead into the break on 51-percent shooting. Shannon led St. Francis with 12 points, while Orandi added nine points, five rebounds and three assists in the stanza. Eric Evans had a team-high 13 points for the Dukes.

Duquesne came out of the break to make their first five shots from the field, including a 3-pointer, to open with an 11-4 run. The Dukes then made 10 of its first 11 shots to put the game out of reach.

ST. FRANCIS (3-9): Felder 2-6 3-5 7, Latimer 2-6 0-0 5, Orandi 4-7 3-4 11, Shannon 4-9 2-2 12, Ervin 1-7 0-0 3, Sweetney 3-11 3-5 9, McFarland 0-0 0-1 0, C.Johnson 1-1 0-1 2, DeVane 0-1 0-0 0, Fowler 0-2 0-0 0, Peters 0-0 0-0 0, R.Johnson 1-1 0-1 2, Hoffman 2-3 1-2 5. Totals 20-54 12-21 56.

DUQUESNE (9-4): Saunders 6-11 5-8 18, Clark 5-9 6-8 16, Evans 7-8 0-1 17, Duty 3-4 0-0 9, Monteiro 3-7 0-0 7, Marhold 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 1-3 2-2 4, Fauras 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 2-2 0-0 4, Johnson 2-4 1-1 5, Theis 1-2 0-0 2, Peggau 1-2 2-5 4, Lewinson 0-0 0-0 0, Newton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-54 16-25 86.

Halftime-Duquesne 47-29. 3-Point Goals-St. Francis 4-20 (Shannon 2-5, Ervin 1-2, Latimer 1-3, DeVane 0-1, Felder 0-2, Fowler 0-2, Orandi 0-2, Sweetney 0-3), Duquesne 8-20 (Duty 3-3, Evans 3-4, Monteiro 1-3, Saunders 1-5, Robinson 0-1, Clark 0-4). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-St. Francis 28 (Sweetney 8), Duquesne 44 (Saunders 12). Assists-St. Francis 11 (Orandi 4), Duquesne 20 (Evans 6). Total Fouls-St. Francis 19, Duquesne 20. A-1,860.