ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. -- These Dukes will drive you crazy.

Don't try to get an accurate measurement on them; don't act as if you have any semblance of a true pulse as to what is going on with these guys.

They are up, they are down.

One night, they look like they can play with anyone in the Atlantic 10 Conference; the next they look like a team fighting to stay out of the bottom of the league.

Wednesday, the Dukes (15-14, 6-9) fell flat for the second consecutive game after their most recent surge, this time getting run over in a 92-80 loss against St. Bonaventure (14-14, 7-8) on the heels of a loss against Saint Louis this past weekend.

There was, certainly, the good: Five players scored in double figures, with Damian Saunders' 17 points and 12 rebounds and Bill Clark's 16 points pacing coach Ron Everhart's team.

But the bad trumped it.

The Dukes were beaten badly inside by the Bonnies' 6-foot-9 Andrew Nicholson (21 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field) and outside by Chris Matthews, who knocked in six 3-pointers on his way to 21 points.

Duquesne also had 20 turnovers and allowed the Bonnies to shoot 9 for 18 from 3-point range as they roared to an early 16-point lead and led by double-digits most of the first half.

The crazy part? Everhart is the one person who thinks he has the Dukes figured out.

"When you turn the ball over and you shoot 58 percent from the free-throw line, you are going to lose," he said.

He was asked about the highs and lows.

For example, there was a streak recently where they won four of five games and three in a row. Those, however, were offset by a five-game skid through the heart of the schedule as well as this current two-game slide.

"Because we shoot from the free-throw line and we don't turn it over [when we win]," Everhart said.

"We get better production on the floor and we play smarter."

This wasn't one of those games.

Duquesne was awful early on, falling behind by 16 in the first eight minutes as it couldn't seem to do much right.

St. Bonaventure's shooters knocked in six of their first nine 3-pointers, while the Dukes were busy amassing 13 first-half turnovers and hitting 3 of 12 shots from deep.

Even with a surge in the last seven minutes of the first half, the Dukes trailed, 43-35, at halftime.

From there, the Dukes cut the deficit to 51-46 early in the second half, then to 81-74 with 3:25 left on a Saunders layup. They never got closer.

A win against the Bonnies last night and one in the final regular-season game Friday at home against league bottom-dweller Fordham would have assured Duquesne of a home game in the first round of the conference tournament that begins next week.

Now, the Dukes need to enter through the back door to get a home game.

They must beat Fordham, then get help from other teams.

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