Melquan Bolding showed enough talent in high school to be recruited by Louisville and a few other Big East schools. It just took a little time for Bolding to show that talent at Duquesne.

Duquesne has won seven games in a row for the first time in almost three decades -- and one of the driving forces in the Dukes' recent success has been the freshman who had a lofty reputation, but struggled early in the season.

Bolding, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard/forward, has averaged 13 points and 5 rebounds a game during the winning streak. He had a season-high 26 points Wednesday against George Washington.

This is the same kid who wasn't in the starting lineup the first five games, and he certainly looks a lot different than the player who was averaging 6 points and 3 rebounds after the first six games. At that time, he was Melquan Scolding to Duquesne coach Ron Everhart.

"Coach has me running a lot," Bolding said, with a smile. "I'm in better shape now."

Duquesne would be in terrific shape tonight with another big performance from Bolding. The Dukes (12-4 overall, 3-0 Atlantic 10) have one of their toughest tests of the season when they play host to Dayton (15-2, 1-1).

Bolding might be in the spotlight more tonight because senior guard Aaron Jackson, the team's leading scorer at 17.8 points, is questionable with a bruised tailbone. Jackson was injured in the second half of the George Washington game. Even if Jackson plays, he most likely will not be 100 percent.

As for Bolding, he always thought he could be a major contributor for Duquesne, but …

"I didn't think it would come this fast, but I knew it would come eventually," he said.

Bolding attended Archbishop Stepinac High School (N.Y.) and made a verbal commitment to Louisville during his senior year. But he had some academic difficulties and eventually landed at Notre Dame Prep (Mass.) for a year. He was ranked among the top 150 players in the country by at least one scouting service and was recruited by St. John's, Cincinnati and Temple. Louisville and Bolding eventually parted ways. It helped Duquesne that former Notre Dame Prep coach Bill Barton is a Duquesne assistant.

Bolding signed with Duquesne, but, along with some of Duquesne's other freshmen, had a slow start.

"The pace of the game is much faster than high school," Bolding said. "We're just more experienced now. I remember the first game, we were a little rocky and didn't really know the offense. But we practiced harder and we're jelling a lot now."

Everhart said of Bolding: "He really struggled early with how hard you have to play to be a good player. Now you see him doing things from the effort perspective a whole lot harder than he would allow himself to give earlier in the year."

If Bolding and the Dukes were to beat Dayton, they would have their first eight-game winning streak since the 1971-72 season. But they must face a Dayton team that has a size advantage with 6-8 Chris Wright, 6-10 Kurk Huelsman and 6-6 Charles Little. But just about every team is bigger than Duquesne this season.

George Washington coach Karl Hobbs had high praise for the Dukes, saying they could be on their way to a highly successful season.

"I think Duquesne is good right now, but I think if they had a big guy who could just play in the paint a little bit, they'd be really good," said Hobbs. "But they play very well together and they can put five guys on the court who can all step out and shoot the 3-pointer. That's very hard to guard.

"I think right now their guys believe they can beat anybody. I watched a lot of tapes on them, and that's the way they play. That was us three years ago. They remind me of our program when I first got here and we were rebuilding and going step by step."

While Duquesne's winning streak has been nice, the Dukes now face a team in the upper echelon of the league. Dayton's only losses have been at Massachusetts and Creighton. The Flyers own victories against Marquette and Auburn.

"Obviously, I'm pleased with the progress our young guys are making," Everhart said. "It's a credit to them that we're 3-0 in the league right now. They've taken pride in terms of fighting as hard as they have to. In this league, we're going to have to continue to have those types of efforts."