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Sunday, January 09, 2000 By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
WASHINGTON -- It's only one week, two games into a long conference season. But if the Duquesne Dukes keep this up, opponents are going to begin mistaking them for a contender in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Good basketball teams find ways to win on the road, and the Dukes did that yesterday in a place where they had not won since the 1991-92 season.
Duquesne (7-6, 2-0) used a strong first-half shooting performance and a balanced scoring effort -- six players in double figures -- to beat George Washington, 94-89.
It is the first time the Dukes started the Atlantic 10 schedule 2-0 since the 1993-94 season.
"This was probably my biggest win because it was a road win," Duquesne Coach Darelle Porter said. "We're a good team at home, but we have to start carrying it on the road. Hopefully, we can use this as momentum."
The victory put a halt to a 10-game losing streak against George Washington (5-8, 0-1), which dropped its third consecutive game.
The Dukes have won four in a row and should have plenty of confidence heading into Wednesday's away game at conference foe Virginia Tech.
Six players scored at least 12 points for the Dukes' biggest scoring output since beating St. Bonaventure, 96-85, in the regular season finale in 1996-97, a span of 71 games.
Freshman Kevin Forney had his best game of his short career, going 7 for 7 from the field and finishing with 16 points.
"Kevin stepped up big," Porter said. "He came in and hit some big shots. He showed he's one of the better freshmen in this league."
Fellow freshman Devin Montgomery had 12 points, went 8 for 10 from the free-throw line, including three in the final 24 seconds. He also had seven assists and just two turnovers in his second consecutive start at point guard.
"This was a big game for both those guys," said sophomore Wayne Smith, who scored a team-high 19 points. "Everyone knows Kevin can play offense. Today, he proved just how good he can be."
Juniors Charles Stanfield (12), Courtney Wallace (14) and Shawn Tann (11) also scored in double figures.
Duquesne controlled the game for the first 25 minutes and held a 17-point lead with less than 15 minutes remaining. But the Dukes went cold and did not make a basket in a 4:05 span in the middle of the second half that allowed George Washington to get back in the game.
The Colonials took a lead, 76-74, with 8:05 left, completing a 21-2 run over a seven-minute span.
But the Dukes recovered, running off eight consecutive points to seize control again. Stanfield had two baskets to key the run.
"There's a new confidence in Duquesne basketball," Stanfield said. "We know we can come back from adversity now."
Duquesne came out blazing in the first half. The Dukes made four of their first five 3-point attempts and streaked to a 28-15 lead with 12:01 remaining in the first half.
The 3-point barrage continued later in the half when Tann made back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Dukes their biggest lead of the half, 54-38, with 2:10 left. At that point, the Dukes were 9 for 11 from 3-point range.
"We came out, played as a team and executed the offense," Smith said.
A Brad Midgley fall-away basket with three seconds left gave the Dukes a 59-46 bulge at the half.
The Dukes finished the half shooting 55.9 percent (19 for 34) from the field and 75 percent (9 for 12) from 3-point range.
Stanfield defended George Washington freshman phenom SirValiant Brown, the nation's leading scorer, for much of the game and did a good job. Brown, who scored a game-high 24 points, did not get a shot off in the first five minutes and finished shooting 8 of 23 from the field.
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