Ron Everhart is responsible for the revival of the once-downtrodden Duquesne basketball program.

Slowly, but surely, the third-year coach has mapped out the Dukes' blueprint for success.

In his first season (2006-07), Everhart's team grabbed regular-season victories against Boston College and Xavier, two teams that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Last season, Duquesne won 17 games and finished with its first winning season in the past 14 years.

Saturday night, the Dukes (15-7, 6-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) recorded their first statement win under Everhart, holding off No. 9 Xavier, 72-68, before the second sellout crowd in 15 years at the Palumbo Center.

It was Duquesne's first home victory against a team ranked as high as Xavier in the past 35 years.

"Maybe even I don't right now understand the magnitude of a win against a Top-10 team," Everhart said. "As long as I've been coaching, that's never really happened to me."

Everhart, a 47-year-old native of Fairmont, W.Va., played for legendary high school coach Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic in the Washington, D.C., area before moving on to Virginia Tech. He was an assistant at Georgia Tech, Virginia Military Institute and Tulane before making previous head-coaching stops at McNeese State and Northeastern.

He succeeded Danny Nee as Duquesne coach in the spring of 2006. The Dukes were coming off a 3-24 season, the worst in school history, and had an embarrassing RPI ranking of 308.

Senior guard Aaron Jackson was a freshman on that dreadful 2005-06 team, and the lone holdover. He also is the last of the five players on the roster who were shot on campus following a dance in the fall of 2006.

The victory against Xavier Saturday was especially satisfying for him. It's a sign the once-troubled program likely is back on the right path. The Dukes previously were 0-6 against ranked teams under Everhart.

"From 3-24, where you saw ranked teams and other teams come in ... and you mark it down as an automatic loss, to now, is amazing," Jackson said.

"What us players have brought back to The Bluff is something real special, and I'm really happy to be a part of it.

"You look at the schedule and you see we can beat anyone now, and it's a good feeling. ... We never got that marquee win at home in front of all our fans [before], and now we got it."

Jackson was named Atlantic 10 player of the week for the third time this season yesterday. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 25.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists last week as Duquesne earned a split against Saint Louis and Xavier. He scored 21 points and hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 31 seconds to wrap up the win against he Musketeers.

"Aaron was great," Everhart said. "He really controlled the game from the point-guard spot. He had as good a court vision as he's ever had. ... He got a lot of guys a lot of shots."

The young, but energetic Dukes, who play at Richmond Wednesday, were picked to finish 12th out of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 in a preseason poll of conference coaches and media.

But they are on the cusp of eclipsing the victory total of last season (17) and sewing up back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in the past 28 years.

The victory against Xavier also might help their case for a bid to the National Invitation Tournament if they finish strong in the final seven games.

"I just want the [kids] to understand if they work hard and come to practice every day, and they try to get better and have some success on the floor, these types of things can happen," Everhart said.