Duquesne 71, Radford 63 (early game story)

By Colin Dunlap | 4:08 p.m. Sunday

The Duquesne men's basketball team shrugged off its only loss of the season and earned a 71-63 victory against visiting Radford (2-2) today at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

The Dukes, which won their first four games before losing at Western Carolina on Wednesday, are now 5-1.

Duquesne sophomore swingman B.J. Monteiro scored a career-high 21 points and junior forward Damian Saunders had his sixth consecutive double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds, inching closer to Bruce Atkins' mark of 10 consecutive during the 1980-81 season.

Duquesne let Radford get within a point at 26-25 with 18:41 remaining, but that was as close as the Highlanders would get in the second half.  

It was obvious from the get-go just how one-dimensional and centered-around-one-guy Radford was, as almost every offensive possession went through 6-foot-11 Artsiom Parakhouski, a senior from Belarus. He finished with 26 points and 20 rebounds.

Duquesne took a 26-21 lead at halftime while Radford's only real threat over the first 20 minutes - and all game -- was Parakhouski.

Quite literally, Parakhouski was half of Radford's output in the first half, scoring 10 of the team's 21 points and grabbing 13 of the Highlanders' 26 rebounds.

The Dukes will next play the final City Game at Mellon Arena, before the building makes way for the new Consol Energy Center, as Duquesne and Pitt play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday for the final time at the historic building.