TORONTO -- Duquesne coach Ron Everhart and his staff will spend the next six weeks concocting different combinations as they mix and match players before the Dukes are allowed under NCAA rules to begin official practice Oct. 12.

They have gotten a head start with 10 days of two-a-day practices and four games over the Labor Day weekend on the school's first foreign tour. The NCAA allows basketball programs to go on an international trip once every four years with games that don't count against a team's record or their regular-season schedule.

"When we come back to practice in October, it's not like we'll be starting new," Everhart said. "We have a better idea of who we are and what we can do. And can't do. Now we know exactly what we need to work on."

Everhart gathered reels of film on the Dukes, who raced to a 4-0 record against Canadian college competition that would be comparable to low-Division I teams.

"It won't be like this in the Atlantic 10," Everhart said. "But the tour was valuable because it's a vital part of our evaluation process. It has to be weighted to some degree, but we still have a long way to go before we know what kind of team we're going to be."

The Dukes were a fastbreaking, quick-shooting, trapping, scrambling and shot-blocking team that completed the tour with a 107-80 victory against the University of Waterloo yesterday.

KoJo Mensah led the way with 20 points, 6 assists and 4 steals, followed by Shawn James with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks, Kieron Achara with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks and Aaron Jackson with 14 points, 6 assists and 3 steals.

With Everhart's platoon substitutions every three or four minutes, the Dukes always had fresh bodies on the floor and were relentless with offensive and defensive pressure. The Canadian teams each featured some high-caliber international players and kept pace with the Dukes for a short time, but they lacked the depth, talent and height to stay close for long.

The Dukes averaged 103 points per game with a 28-point winning margin.

"I got the great effort I was looking for, but we didn't always have the execution," Everhart said. "We were very sloppy with the ball and didn't always know what we were doing on defense. But I really like our team speed, particularly in the backcourt."

The 6-foot-10 James and 6-1 Mensah, who both sat out last season after transferring, lived up to their hype as the two biggest reasons the Dukes are looking to turn around a 10-19 record and make some noise in the A-10.

James, who led Division I in blocked shots as a sophomore and was second as a freshman at Northeastern, was an intimidating force on the tour and gave the guards freedom to overplay on defense. He erased a lot of the mistakes with nearly 6.0 blocks per game. In addition to averaging 16 points, mostly on rim-rattling dunks, and 10 blocks, James threw a lot of nifty passes. There were times, however, when he lost his concentration and focus that resulted in too many turnovers to please Everhart.

Mensah, who averaged 16.6 points as a sophomore at Siena, was as good as advertised as he emerged as the team's most-proficient scorer and aggressive on-the-ball defender. Preferring to drive hard to the basket, Mensah scored 19.3 points per game and demonstrated the tenacity that helped him average a team-high 6.3 rebounds at Siena.

James and Mensah were the catalysts for the Dukes, who played without three forwards who stayed in Pittsburgh but are expected to make an impact. Freshmen Bill Clark and Damian Saunders did not make the trip because they are waiting to become eligible through the NCAA clearinghouse and Stuard Baldonado, a Colombian citizen, had passport problems.

"They'll be part of the mix," Everhart said. "I'm sure of that."

Freshman forward David Theis took advantage of their absence to get a lot of quality minutes. He showed a willingness to work hard underneath and hit a couple of long-range jumpers, but he often seemed to be a step behind on defense.

Jimmy Sherwood, a 6-2 walk-on, had a productive tour and appeared to solidify his role as a key reserve, but 6-4 sophomore Stephen Wood spent most of his time rooted on the far end of the bench. Achara, a 6-10 graduate student who averaged 15.8 points and 7.3 rebounds, struggled to find his scoring rhythm and often wasn't in the flow of the offense.

"I'm not worried about Kieron," Everhart said. "We'll continue to have great competition every day in practice and, when you have that, everybody gets better."