By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PITTSBURGH - The streaks are over for Xavier University following Wednesday night's 71-58 loss to Duquesne.

A four-game winning streak, a 16-game Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season winning streak and the nation's longest conference road winning streak at 10 games are all over.

For the second straight year, Xavier came into Duquesne's Palumbo Center and found itself down late in the second half. Last year, the Musketeers fought back to win in overtime. Wednesday, Xavier (9-5, 1-1 A-10) could not match Duquesne's intensity and lost its first Atlantic 10 regular-season game in more than a year and its first conference road game in 23 months.

The Musketeers failed to find an offensive rhythm and shot 38.3 percent from the field. Duquesne (6-8, 1-2) shot 53.1 percent.

"We had no energy on defense and no flow on offense," Xavier coach Thad Matta said. "We did not play well tonight in any phase of the game."

Despite Xavier's shortcomings, the Musketeers still trailed just 41-39 with 14 minutes to play. But that was as close as Xavier would get. Duquesne used a 13-0 run to build a 15-point lead. Xavier eventually cut the deficit to 61-56 with five minutes to play, but the Musketeers scored just one basket the rest of the game.

Duquesne's defensive game plan forced Xavier to hold the ball on many possessions, even when Xavier tried to push the ball up the floor.

"They did a good job of getting back and stopping our transition," said senior guard Lionel Chalmers, who finished with 18 points. "It was like fighting an uphill battle the whole game."

The loss brings Xavier back to the pack in the A-10. XU has won two straight West Division regular-season titles.

"You can't let it be a blow to your momentum," Matta said. "We have to regroup."

That process will have to take place quickly. Xavier plays host to sixth-ranked Saint Joseph's at Cintas Center on Saturday.

Saint Joseph's will be the highest-ranked team to ever visit Cintas Center and the first ranked team to play there since Xavier defeated No. 15 Creighton last season, Dec. 31, 2002.

"This is only going to make us play harder," Chalmers said. "We don't have any room for error."

Xavier could not stop Duquesne's Elijah Palmer during the first 10 minutes of the game. Palmer made his first seven shots playing against freshman Justin Doellman and senior Anthony Myles.

"They had a freshman on me," said Palmer, a senior who finished with 19 points. "He's a great player, but I felt like I could overpower him down low in a one-on-one matchup."

At one point, Duquesne led 25-13 and Palmer had 14 of the 25 points. All of Xavier's points at that juncture had come from Romain Sato and Chalmers, who combined to score Xavier's first 22 points.

Sato finished with 21 points, and moved into 10th-place on Xavier's all-time scoring list with 1,641 career points.

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com

Xavier	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Doellman	29	3	5	0	2	1	1	2	3	8
Myles	28	3	6	0	2	4	2	0	1	6
Chalmers	37	5	11	5	7	4	3	4	7	18
Sato	37	6	13	6	6	10	0	1	1	21
Finn	31	1	10	0	1	0	7	2	1	3
Cage	16	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	3	0
Jackson	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Cole	9	0	0	0	0	4	0	3	0	0
Caudle	1	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	2
Totals	200	18	47	13	20	27	13	17	16	58

Team rebounds - 4.

Duquesne	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Palmer	30	9	12	1	2	2	0	1	1	19
J.Tricco	29	1	6	1	1	1	4	0	1	3
Dokes	22	4	4	5	8	7	3	4	2	13
Osimani	26	2	2	3	4	3	5	3	3	8
McAllister	28	5	9	0	0	3	0	4	2	13
R.Tricco	16	0	0	0	1	6	1	3	1	0
Higgins	21	3	11	1	1	4	1	0	1	7
Pawlak	15	1	2	3	4	2	1	0	1	6
Achara	13	1	3	0	0	5	0	2	3	2
Totals	200	26	49	14	21	35	15	17	15	71

Team rebounds - 2.

Xavier	29	29	-58
Duquesne	32	39	-71

3-pointers - XU 9-29 (Doellman 2-3, Chalmers 3-9, Sato 3-10, Finn 1-6, Cage 0-1), D 5-12 (Palmer 0-1, J.Tricco 0-2, Osimani 1-1, McAllister 3-4, Higgins 0-3, Pawlak 1-1). Technicals - D (Dokes). Officials - Clark, Connolly, Hughes. Attendance - 4,114.