University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Duquesne
James Life Shoots Minutemen Past Scrappy Duquesne, 101-87
January 21, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2007
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AMHERST, Mass. - Senior shooting guard James Life (Fort Myers, Fla.) scored a game-high 24 points and junior Gary Forbes (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 19 as UMass defeated scrappy Duquesne, 101-87, on Sunday afternoon in the Mullins Center. Life hit two free throws with 32 seconds remaining to push the score over the century mark for the first time in Mullins Center history.
UMass improves to 14-5 overall and 4-1 in the Atlantic 10, while Duquesne falls to 5-11 overall and 1-4 in league play. UMass will face Rhode Island this Wednesday in a showdown between the only one-loss teams in the A-10.
Life scored his 24 points on the strength of six three-pointers. Forbes was a perfect 8-for-8 on the day from the free throw line as part of his 19 and added nine rebounds.
Senior Stephane Lasme (Libreville, Gabon) posted a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 17 rebounds - just one shy of the Mullins Center record. Guards Chris Lowe (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) and Ricky Harris (Baltimore, Md.) had nice games as well for UMass scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively. Lowe added six assists in the game, while Harris tied his career-high and snapped a five-game scoreless streak.
Duquesne was led by Robert Mitchell and Reggie Jackson who each scored 22 points. Kieron Achara scored 17, while Aaron Jackson tallied 11 points. Achara, Jackson, and Mitchell each had seven rebounds.
The Minutemen carried a 43-41 lead into halftime behind 17 points from Life. The Dukes came out firing holding an 8-2 lead to start the game and never trailing in the half by more than nine points.
The second half started out nip-and-tuck before UMass' depth became apparent with 10 different players scoring. The Dukes had pulled within three, 61-68, with 10:48 to play on a Achara lay-up. UMass then outscored Duquesne 40-29 from that point forward to crack the 100-point mark.
UMass shot 47 percent for the game hitting 35-of-74 shots from the floor. Duquesne hit 32-of-76 from the floor (42 percent). Duquesne, normally the best free throw shooting team in the league, hit just 11-for-22, while UMass shot 20-for-27 from the charity stripe.
The Minutemen held a decisive edge on the glass, 55-35, including 24 offensive rebounds.
This was the second time this season that UMass cracked the 100-point barrier having done so at Jacksonville State back in November, 100-69. The Minutemen are 33-2 all-time now when scoring over 100 points. This was the first time since the 1994-95 season that UMass has posted two 100-point games in the same season.
UMass will return to action on Wednesday night at Rhode Island. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m., as the game will decide the Atlantic 10's top team with both having just one league loss on the season.
