For the first time in school history, a men’s basketball player at Duquesne posted a triple-double in a regular season game. Junior forward Shawn James scored 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks as the Dukes pulled away for a decisive win over Atlantic 10 leader Saint Joseph’s.

James now ranks third all-time in career NCAA triple-doubles with five, he is one behind leaders Michael Anderson and Shaquille O’Neal.

The win gave the Dukes their first win over St. Joe’s in the last 10 years, and it was fueled by a 19-0 run going into halftime when they led 49-27. The Dukes were led by James, Kojo Mensah and his 19 points, and Aaron Jackson who had 18 points, six rebounds and six steals.

After the game Dukes coach Ray Everhart praised his team for executing the game plan, and bouncing back from two hard losses to Massachusetts and St. Bonaventure.

The Dukes lead grew to 25 points midway through the second half before the Hawks responded thanks to the shooting of senior forward Pat Calathes, who scored a game-high 23 points and brought the Hawks back to within 13. However, the rally fell short, and the Hawks dropped a game behind the A-10 leader Xavier.

GW beats buzzer

The Colonials snapped a seven-game losing streak Saturday when junior guard Wynton Witherspoon nailed a 3-point shot with 1.9 seconds left to give his team the lead and the 57-54 win over Dayton.

The win brought the Colonials out of the bottom of the standings in the A-10, improving their record in conference play to 2-7.

Junior forward Rob Diggs led the Colonials with a career-high 29 points and 11 rebounds, plus Witherspoon’s 19 points off the bench fueled the team. In addition, senior captain Maureece Rice went scoreless for the second straight game.

Dayton came out fast to open the game with a six-point lead early but quickly lost the momentum and ended the half down by five – eventually falling behind by 12. Brian Roberts led the Flyers with 20 points in the losing effort, as the Flyers dropped to 4-5 in conference play.

Xavier stays in the lead

A tip in by Derrick Brown at the buzzer is all that saved No. 12 Xavier from defeat and a tie for first place in the conference Thursday, as it left Saint Louis victorious 70-68. After cruising to an 11-point lead at halftime, Xavier almost blew the entire lead to SLU in the last minute.

In the final minute, the Billikens got 12 of a game-high 25 points from Kevin Lisch, who tied the game with 35 seconds left.

Five Musketeers scored in double figures, most notably Josh Duncan and his 15 points. Strong defense in the first half kept the Billikens shooting at 27 percent – good for the second worst output for a half in school history, only ahead of the 14.6 percent effort in their 47-20 loss against George Washington on Jan. 10.

Ugly number 20 for URI

Rhode Island managed to win its 20th game of the season in 24 tries on Sunday afternoon, the quickest the school has ever reached that mark after an incredible ending in a 65-63 win at Fordham.

Up two with just over five seconds left, URI’s inbounds pass was tipped away; after a scramble Fordham’s Bryant Dunston missed a 3-point shot as the buzzer sounded to seal the game for URI.

Rhode Island missed 10 of its first 11 3-point shots to open the game, but woke up in the second half to go on a 10-0 run leading to its first lead of the game with seven minutes left.

Senior Will Daniels led Rhode Island with 18 points in one of their sloppiest games of the year; the Rams turned the ball over 16 times.

Fordham squandered what was once a 13-point lead as it fights to stay in the A-10 Tournament, as the Rams are currently the 12th seed in the conference.

Xavier wins 20 games again

For the third season in a row, 11 times in the last 12 years and 20 times in the last 25 years, the Xavier Musketeers have won 20 or more games in a season thanks to Sunday’s 76-72 win over St. Joe’s.

Xavier blew a 14-point lead late, but came back in the last minute to seal the victory. This is the second game in a row Xavier was up big just to crash late, but in both cases the Musketeers recovered well and pulled out a win.

Sam Grossack can be reached at [email protected].