HILADELPHIA - Only a winning coach could have appreciated this game.

Lari Ketner and Mike Babul get tangled going for the rebound.

But for now, that's enough for UMass coach Bruiser Flint.

His Minutemen, needing to win at least three games in the Atlantic 10 tournament to receive some sort of postseason bid, produced a bare minimum with yesterday's 80-70 first round win over Duquesne.

Monty Mack, without whom the Minutemen wouldn't be in a position to dream this late in the season, once again saved face for everyone on the UMass side with a 27-point, 10-for-16 performance, including 6-of-8 from downtown.

But the Dukes, otherwise known as the worst team in the conference, at least hung around long enough to scare the Minutemen.

``They're like everyone else at this time of year,'' said Flint, whose team will play Xavier in today's second round game at 2 p.m. ``This is the second season for them, too.''

How does a 30-28 halftime lead by Duquesne sound? How about a 41-40 Dukes edge with 12:23 left? How about a loose cannon named Courtney Wallace, who took the Minutemen off the dribble all afternoon, and scored 26 points on 11-of-23 shooting?

How about a freshman named Wayne Smith, who scored 10 of his 19 points in the last 1:15, including a four-point play after Winston Smith hacked the Duquesne forward in the process of draining a trey?

The Minutemen were forced to survive all of these horrors, and more. Charlton Clarke, who has played for almost a month with a stress fracture in his right foot, was finally so hobbled by the injury that Flint pulled the point guard for good only six minutes into the second half.

``I didn't play him (in the second half) because he couldn't help me,'' said Flint. ``He couldn't guard anyone out there. . . . He said his foot was hurting him, so I didn't put him back out there in the second half. Hey, we have to play without him. Just win the game without him. His foot is hurting him? OK. We play without him.''

UMass was then forced to survive with the white-knuckled combination of Rafael Cruz and Jonathan DePina at the wheel.

But the Minutemen did something else right, for a change, to make up the difference. UMass went into the game as the worst free throw shooting team in the Atlantic 10 with a .608 (191-314) percentage, and converted like they have at few other points this season.

Shots like this didn't contribute to Kirkland's 12 point total, most came from the stripe.

Chris Kirkland scored 10 of his 12 points from the line on 10-of-12 free throw shooting. Lari Ketner went 4-for-6 from the line as part of his 18-point, 11-rebound, four-block afternoon. Cruz was 5-for-6 from the line.

And overall, the Minutemen shot 11-for-14 from the line over the last four minutes.

They may not have put the Dukes away decisively, but the Minutemen at least held onto their cushion once Mack buried a deep trey for a 58-53 lead with 5:53 left. By the time Winston Smith dropped the jaw of every teammate by beating the shot clock buzzer with a 3-pointer for a 66-56 lead with 3:07 left, the Dukes appeared to be reeling. Even the forward's incredible case of bad judgment two minutes later, when he grabbed the trey-hitting Wayne Smith, wasn't enough to derail the effort.

``In the second half we played to win,'' said Flint. ``This tournament is about there not being a tomorrow if you lose, and I think we understand that. Not only did we shoot 37 foul shots, but we also did a great job once we got to the free throw line.''

HILADELPHIA - The season of uncertainty marches on, but not without another perplexing turn.

The University of Massachusetts shook off occasional sluggishness and beat scrappy Duquesne, 80-70, yesterday in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. The Minutemen played some of their best ball in the second half with starting point guard Charlton Clarke on the bench after he aggravated the stress fracture in his right foot.

With the Minutemen (14-15) facing defending A-10 tournament champ Xavier (20-9) in the quarterfinal round today at 2:30 p.m., Clarke's status becomes crucial. After yesterday's game, Clarke said he would spend the night icing the foot and would play today.

Lari Ketner recorded a solid game with 18 points, 11 boards.

Reserve point guard Rafael Cruz (5 points) overcame four turnovers to help stabilize the UMass offense and the Minutemen got quality outside shooting from Monty Mack (27 points) and a post presence from Lari Ketner (18 points, 11 rebounds) to hold off the Dukes (5-23). Duquesne outplayed the Minutemen through much of the first half and led, 30-28, at halftime.

''It was the second season for them, so you knew [Duquesne] was going to come out and play hard,'' said UMass coach Bruiser Flint. ''That's what playoff basketball is all about. They kept battling, and we just pushed it up and made some big plays. In the second half, we played to win. In the first half, we played not to lose and we were tentative.''

Led by Courtney Wallace (27 points) and Wayne Smith (19 points, 9 rebounds), Duquesne rendered a gallant attempt to keep its season alive. The Dukes withstood a 9-0 UMass run at the start of the second half and trailed, 55-53, with 6:12 left.

But that's when UMass's depth and size took over and the Minutemen all but put the game away with a 16-5 run. Backup forward Winston Smith keyed the surge, forcing a tie-up on a loose ball after teammate Chris Kirkland missed the second of two free throws with 4:31 remaining.

UMass got the ball back, and Kirkland sank two free throws with 4:09 left to give UMass a 63-54 lead. Then Smith sank a trey for a 66-56 lead with 3:05 to go.

Said Duquesne coach Darrelle Porter: ''We played a great first half, but in the second half they outplayed us.''

Still, Duquesne is no Xavier. The Musketeers, which earned a first-round bye, feature arguably the league's best backcourt in seniors Gary Lumpkin and Lenny Brown. Even with Clarke, the Minutemen will need an exceptional effort to match its double-overtime win over Xavier Feb. 20.

''I really don't know what his staus is,'' Flint said of Clarke. ''He said his foot was hurting so we didn't put him back in in the second half. If he's hurt, we have to play without him. Whether he plays is up to him, but we haven't addressed it yet.''

''We didn't play him in the second half because he couldn't help me. He couldn't guard anybody, so I said, `You might as well sit down.'''

Clarke's stress fracture, on his fourth metatarsil, was revealed after an X-ray four weeks ago. He said he aggravated the injury in the second half yesterday.

Clarke, who said he has not taken any pain killers and anti-inflammatories, said he does expect it to be a factor today. ''I have the whole night and day to ice it as much as I can and we'll see what happens after that,'' he said. ''I will be out there because this is do-or-die time.''

Clarke said he considered asking Flint to put him back in yesterday, ''but Cruz was giving us good minutes and so was Jonathan DePina, so I know that will boost their confidence.''

Flint seems prepared to go with Cruz, a sophomore known as much for his turnovers as his outside shooting. Flint said that everyone must help in the backcourt against Xavier's pressure. ''I thought he did a good job and the thing he does is make fouls shots when he gets fouled,'' Flint said of Cruz.

HILADELPHIA - For the longest, scariest time, it looked as though Duquesne, inspired by Courtney Wallace's sensational day, had a date with destiny.

Rafael Cruz saw more minutes because of Charlton Clarke's injured foot.

It was the Dukes' opening game in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, and they were banging bruise-for-bruise with beefy Massachusetts, a club that had handled them pretty easily earlier in the season. This time, though, it was anybody's game, and that in itself was a quantum leap for the Dukes in this forlorn season.

But finally, the seams in the Dukes' fragile dream began to rip apart under the impact of the 3-point haymakers and a game-high 27 points thrown in by Monty Mack, a slender 6-foot-3 junior guard, and the Minutemen pulled away over the final 10 minutes for an 80-70 victory at the Spectrum yesterday.

Someone asked Mack where his team would be without him?

"It would still be a great team," Mack insisted gallantly, despite figures that prove otherwise.

The Minutemen, nationally ranked before the season started, are 14-15, and they play Xavier, the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic 10 West, at 2:30 this afternoon.

The Dukes, unable to capitalize on Wallace's dazzling all-around game and career-high 26 points, finished their worst season ever at 5-23. They haven't won an Atlantic 10 tournament game since 1995, and they're 0 for their past 12 games in Philadelphia.

Before Mack took over down the stretch, Wallace was lighting up the Spectrum with a performance that would be all-tournament if the Dukes had stuck around. He had 15 points in the first half.

"I just took what the defense gave me," Wallace said.

The defense didn't give Wallace much. He took. He produced the Dukes' last 12 points of the first half for a 30-28 lead at intermission.

Kirkland takes one for the team.

Wallace's effectiveness pretty much ended with 4:09 to play in the game, when he peeled the ball from Chris Kirkland's hands on an attempted shot, then was hit by a late foul call by official Glenn Mayborg. It was Wallace's fourth personal. He made one bucket after that, and fouled out with 1:45 to play.

It helped the Minutemen win this one at the free throw line. The Dukes led in field goals, 27-24, but went 11 of 20 at the line to the Minutemen's 24 of 37.

The Massachusetts defense was concentrating on Duquesne freshman star Wayne Smith, principally in the person of Mike Babul, the Atlantic 10 defensive player of the year. Smith got 19 points, about three points over his average, but most of them after Babul had foul trouble in the second half.

"He's a great defender," Smith said. "So I was just trying to feed Courtney. He was on, so it didn't matter what Babul was doing to me. Courtney was carrying us."

The game turned on a strategy move by Massachusetts Coach Bruiser Flint for the second half. The Dukes didn't have the manpower to counter it, and it was just a matter of time.

"I wanted to get Monty and Lari on the same side," Flint said. "Then when they'd double-down on Lari, he could kick it back out to Monty."

So whatever Lari Ketner, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound center, didn't muscle in, Mack made from outside. Ketner scored 18 points and took down a game-high 11 rebounds - his best performance in weeks.

Rafael Cruz gets a lift from Dukes' coach Darelle Porter.

"They did a great job with that adjustment," Porter said. "Mack was making great shots, and Ketner was muscling us."

Mack, who leads the Minutemen with a 17.8 scoring average, got 18 of his 27 in the second half, when his team needed him most. He went 6 for 8 in 3-pointers - 5 for 5 in the second half that sank the Dukes.

The Dukes led by as much as five points in the first half, and regained a one-point lead twice in the second, on Aaron Lovelace's layup, then his free throw. The game was tied eight times, the last at 43-43 on Shawn Tann's layup with 11:22 to play.

Then Mack broke it open with a 3-pointer at 10:16. That was the third of his five in the second half. Time had run out on the Dukes.

NOTES - Mack's 6-for-8 shooting in 3-pointers tied a tournament record shared by Duquesne assistant coach Kenya Hunter, who got his with the Dukes in 1995 ... Porter didn't stick around for the rest of the tournament. "There's recruiting to do," he said ... Spotted in the stands behind the Duquesne bench: Kevin Forney, 6-4 guard from Philadelphia Christian, sought by Massachusetts, Providence, Villanova, among others ... School spirit: WDUQ, Duquesne's school station, which carries Dukes games, rejected this one, put it on tape delay, to stay with a National Public Radio program ... Massachusetts led in rebounding, 41-37.

HILADELPHIA - Before the word frustrating is used to describe the season that the Massachusetts men's basketball team is having, one might first look at the season of the Duquesne Dukes as a reference point.

After recording an 11-19 overall record in the 1997-98 season, UMass' opening round opponent in the Atlantic 10 tournament spent this season collecting only five victories.

That's how the Dukes entered the conference championships, a tourney where records are discarded and anyone involved has a fair shot at winning the title and a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Despite all of their hard work in heroic antics, particularly on the part of sophomore guard Courtney Wallace, who scored 26 acrobatic points, Duquesne still watched Massachusetts advance to the second round with an 80-70 victory.

"We came to the tournament to win the tournament," Dukes coach Darelle Porter said. "We're disappointed because we gave the effort just like we had all season, but some of our shots didn't fall and we couldn't score enough points to win."

The Minutemen, who have been blasted and criticized for what has been viewed as a sub par 13-15 season, needed a strong second half to pick up the victory.

Having ended the first half on an electrifying Wallace lay- in which gave Duquesne a 30-28 lead, the underdog Dukes were welcomed into the second period by a 9-0 UMass run to rip that advantage away.

The Dukes faught back, however, capitilizing on a stretch of time during which UMass senior point guard Charlton Clarke went to the bench after reaggravating a stress fracture in his foot. From there, the Dukes scored an eight straight to take a 38-37 lead.

"They're just like everyone else here," Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint said. "This is a second season for them, so we knew they were going to play hard."

The two teams traded shots to tie the score 43-43, before UMass guard Monty Mack went on one of several offensive tears - this time hitting a three-pointer to initiate a 7-0 UMass run that included five points by the junior.

Mack, a second team All-Conference performer who would bury six shots from behind the arc on his way to a game-high 27 points, also neutralized Wallace's play in the process.

While Mack controlled the perimeter, senior center Lari Ketner dominated the paint. Ketner easily outmuscled the Duquesne post players for 18 points and 11 rebounds on the afternoon.

Still, while Flint can emphasize with the plight of the Dukes, there is a sense of urgency as he will lead his team into a second-round matchup with Xavier with Clarke's status questionable.

If Clarke misses today's game, he will be replaced by a young duo of Rafael Cruz and Jonathan DePina. Clarke's loss would create problems against Xavier, whose aggressive defense, led by recently annointed A-10 Defensive Player of the Year James Posey, could terrorize the somewhat inexperineced guards. Regardless, Flint will be prepared.

"We just played them [Xavier] two weeks ago, so we know what Xavier is going to do," Flint said. "They're going to press you all over the floor, and they're going to do those types of things."

In their only game against the Musketeers this season, UMass took Xavier into double overtime before winning 78- 77. Now they must face their rivals, complete with All- Conference performers Posey and Lenny Brown, in the tournament, where adrenaline will be running high.

If the Minutemen can oust Xavier, they will take on the winner of the matchup between Eastern Division champion Temple and Virginia Tech on Friday night.

HILADELPHIA - It was only a matter of time before Charlton Clarke's broken foot gave out on him. He had been fighting severe pain for the past 10 games, but in yesterday's win 80-70 over Duquesne, the pain won the battle.

With UMass ahead by seven points near the beginning of the second half, Clarke pivoted awkwardly on his injured foot, aggravating the stress fracture so badly that he did not return for the remainder of the game.

Immediately after his exit, the Dukes responded with an 8- 0 run, stealing the lead, 38-37.

"Yeah, I guess [he's hurt pretty bad]," Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint said of Clarke. "If he's not here, we've got to play without him."

After Clarke's departure junior Monty Mack carried the Minutemen in the closing frame. The South Boston native scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to help UMass extend its season for at least one more game.

"We just had to go out there and play hard [after Clarke's departure]," Mack said. "I've got confidence in all our backcourt players. We've just got to come in and play our game like we know how to play."

As for Clarke, his status is now very uncertain. He grimaced in pain when he hobbled off the court for perhaps the final time. And with Xavier as its next opponent, UMass can ill-afford to deal with an injury of this magnitude.

As a team that utilizes a full-court press almost the entire game, the Musketeers will provide a tempo to which a hampered Clarke will have trouble adjusting. Nevertheless, the senior captain still believes that he can attempt at playing in the quarterfinals today.

"I have a bone stimulator that I put on my foot that's supposed to be helping me out, but everything else has to come from guts," Clarke said. "That's a game [today's game] that you should want to live for. It's to advance - if you lose, you go home."

Despite the severity of the pain, this was not the only occasion in which Clarke has aggravated the foot. Three weeks ago at George Washington, the senior guard collided with a Colonial player and sat out the second half. Yesterday's incident was somewhat similar.

"I took a bad turn today and I aggravated it in a big way," Clarke said. "It was just a bad cut, a bad pivot."

Clarke could not speculate on whether or not he will be able to play in any capacity today. He did, however, express confidence in the ability of the younger Minutemen reserves. Sharing the point guard duties yesterday were sophomores Rafel Cruz and Jonathan DePina, who were to handle to the Dukes pressure and help UMass pull away to the 10-point victory.

"Guys came off the bench and gave us a good spark, like Jonathan, Rafael and even Winston [Smith]," Clarke said.

Even Flint admitted that Clarke's playing status may be in serious jeopardy for today's quarterfinal game against the Musketeers.

Although aware of his captain's high threshold for pain, Flint realized that Clarke's presence likely hurt his team more than it would help it.

"That's why he didn't play in the second half. I didn't play him because he couldn't guard and couldn't help anybody," Flint said.

In addition, the third-year coach hopes that Clarke's absence from yesterday's game prevented even further injury to the foot, and may allow him to play again before the tournament ends.

"It's very tough to sit on the sideline and watch everything go down," Clarke said. "I'm usually out there directing. It might be a gametime decision tomorrow."

Even after the game it was evident that Clarke was in obvious discomfort. But as the captain of his team, he attempted to deflect attention to his injury. Instead, he tried to focus his team's mindset on tomorrow's game and who might replace him.

Although DePina saw extended minutes in the second half, Flint will likely use Cruz in Clarke's absence. The sophomore guard finished with five points. Flint was also impressed with his 5-for-6 performance from the free-throw line.

assachusetts center Lari Ketner got the ball down low yesterday and spun around a Duquesne defender to put in a layup. In the stands, veteran NBA scout Stan Novak noted the move: He liked it, but he wanted to see more of them.

Duquesne's lack of size couldn't keep Ketner out of the paint.

Ketner, the 6-foot-10 senior center from Roman Catholic High, scored 18 points in Massachusetts' 80-70 victory over the Dukes in the first round of the Atlantic Ten tournament at the First Union Spectrum. UMass guard Monty Mack made the biggest difference, scoring 27 points, making 6 of 8 three-pointers, hitting the big shots down the stretch, while the Minutemen (14-15) pulled away late in the second half, overcoming an energetic effort by Duquesne point guard Courtney Wallace (26 points).

One reason the Dukes (5-23) stayed in it: They committed only five turnovers.

Before yesterday, Novak had watched Ketner play three times in Philadelphia, and he recently filed this report to the Utah Jazz: free agent. In other words, Novak's advice was not to draft Ketner.

"He lacked intensity, he didn't rebound. Especially against La Salle, he didn't play post defense against [ K'Zell ] Wesson," Novak said.

That's how Ketner dropped from all-Atlantic Ten first team right off the conference all-star team, not even making the third team. On Sunday, Temple coach John Chaney said: "He doesn't look like the kid who played here last year and the year before."

Ketner has addressed his troubles this year. In an interview in January, he said he had read that he was supposed to be a lottery pick and carry UMass. He said he put so much pressure on himself and started playing so badly that he eventually thought about quitting. During one early-season game, he sat on the bench and cried.

Novak, the scout, recognized this crisis of confidence. Yesterday was the first time he thought he saw Ketner coming out of it. UMass coach Bruiser Flint saw the same thing.

"He took the ball to the basket," Flint said. "He wasn't settling for the fadeaway."

On Sunday, against Temple, he wasn't a big part of the offense, taking only six shots, but he had 13 rebounds and four blocks.

"That's two games in a row now," Flint said after yesterday's game.

Novak said he expected that Ketner would be drafted in the second round, and that if he went to the NBA predraft camps in Phoenix and Chicago and looked as aggressive as he did yesterday, playing against stronger competition, he would have a chance to be drafted late in the first round.

But even yesterday, Novak saw things he wasn't happy with. When Ketner blocked a shot in the second half, Novak liked the block, but thought Ketner should have gone after the rebound first, instead of letting a Duquesne player grab the ball and then going for the block.

Every move Ketner makes is being dissected right now. Along with other scouts, Novak will be back today to see how Ketner responds against Xavier's frenzied defense.

HILADELPHIA -- In a season already riddled with questions, a large one stands out: Where would the University of Massachusetts basketball team be without Monty Mack?

Mike Babul rocks the house.

Right now? Probably back on the New Jersey Turnpike heading north toward Amherst.

Without Mack's explosive 18-point second-half performance, including five of five three-point shooting, UMass would have been sent packing by a tenacious Duquesne University team that nearly pulled off an opening-round upset in the Atlantic 10 Tournament at the Spectrum. But Mack (27 points) and an inspired Lari Ketner (18 points, 11 rebounds) held together a UMass team that wasn't hitting on all cylinders to defeat a spunky Duquesne team, 80-70.

The Minutemen (14-15) now advance to Thursday's quarterfinal game against defending A-10 tournament chamption Xavier at 2:30 p.m. On Feb. 20, the Minutemen defeated the Muskateers 78-77 in double overtime.

Particularly concerning for the Minutemen is that they will face the voracious all-court Xavier defense with senior Charlton Clarke's health a question. The co-captain played only six minutes in the second half (21 total) due to a stress fracture in his right foot -- an injury that has hampered his speed and agility for about a month.

"Charlton said his foot was hurting him, so we didn't play him in the second half," said coach Bruiser Flint. "He couldn't guard anyone, so he couldn't play."

With Clarke out, Rafael Cruz (18 minutes) and Jonathan DePina (3 minutes) handled the ballhandling duties. UMass had 18 turnovers against modest Duquesne pressure. "We weren't playing our best, but I knew we would eventually get it going. It was a good sign that the guys came in off the bench and showed great poise," said Clarke.

Leading up to the A-10 Tournament, Flint said Duquesne would play like a team with everything to gain and nothing to lose. And the Dukes did, especially sophomore guard Courtney Wallace, who scored a career-high 26 points. Wallace kept Duquesne in the game, scoring 12-straight points during a 16-7 first-half run that gave the Dukes a 30-28 haltime lead. Wallace had 15 points at intermission -- five more than his season's average.

Trailing at the half, Flint made adjustments that led to the Minutemen's 52-point second half. "We wanted to get Monty on the same side (of the court) as Lari, so when they (Duquesne) doubled down on Lari we could kick it out to Monty," Flint said.

The strategy worked as the Minutemen went on a 9-0 run after halftime to take a 37-30 lead, but the Dukes never took the hint that they should concede defeat. Trailing 37-30, Wallace keyed an 8-0 run and to give Duquesne the lead. But after Duquesne tied the game 43-43 on a Shawn Tann basket, Mack caught fire and scored the Minutemen's next five points, and almost extinguished Duquesne by himself. Almost. There was no quit in a team that won only one conference game finished the season 5-23.

UMass built several eight-point leads in the final 10 minutes, but Duquesne made one final run, cutting the margin to 55-53 on a Wayne Smith jumper. From there, Mack's shooting and better-than-normal free throw shooting by Chris Kirkland (12 points, 10 of 12 from the line) helped build a 71-60 lead. Duquesne's upset hopes dwindled further when Wallace fouled out with 1:31 to play.

The Minutemen shot a sizzling 65 percent from the field in the second half -- 54 percent for the game -- and canned 24 of 37 free throws.

Afterwards, Mack was humble about the performance. "We just stayed out there and played hard. I am just happy to be here."

Duquesne coach Darrelle Porter was more to the point. "They (UMass) did a great job making adjustments. Ketner muscled his way to the basket and Mack just made big shots. We're disappointed because we came into the tournament to win it."

Coming off its impressive 57-49 victory over Temple on Sunday, it still wasn't clear which UMass team would arrive in Philadelphia to attempt what has never been done before: Win four games in four days and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In the first half, Flint wasn't sure which team had make the trip, either.

"We were tentative in the first half, but we played to win in the second half," Flint said. "We've won two games in a row now. This tournament is about playing night by night, but we have to play better to defeat Xavier."

HILADELPHIA - It's a daunting enough task playing against Xavier University with a healthy backcourt. But without your point guard?

A hurting Charlton Clarke asked out of yesterday's Atlantic 10 tournament game against Duquesne, and although he says he'll play in today's game against the Musketeers, his coach isn't so certain.

"If he can't play, if his foot's hurting him, OK," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said after his team beat the Dukes 80-70 at the Spectrum. "We got to play without him, that's it."

Clarke has a stress fracture of the right foot, an injury that hasn't kept him out of any games but has been bothering him for the last month and has curtailed his mobility and driving.

"I'm good," said Clarke who had five points and three rebounds, as well as four fouls, in 21 minutes. "I took a bad turn on it in the first half."

Clarke said chances were 50-50 on whether he could have returned to the floor yesterday. He was replaced by Rafael Cruz and Jonathan DePina, and if Clarke can't go today, Cruz and DePina again will try to fill the void.

Xavier, the second seed from the West Division, had a first-round bye and will be well rested for the Minutemen. The Musketeers rank third in the league in turnover margin (plus-3.03) and fourth in steals (9.24) with most of the turnovers coming off its full-court pressure.

Bruiser will need to pull out all the stops against Xavier.

"They're going to press you all over the floor," Flint said.

While Clarke was never particularly fast, he is a strong ballhandler and has experience breaking backcourt pressure. DePina and Cruz are not that strong with the ball and are inexperienced.

"We lose, we go home," Flint said. "So guys got to be ready to play. Guys got to suck it up."

KIRKLAND VS. OLIVARES: The two top candidates for the Chris Daniels Award as the Atlantic 10's most improved player both played yesterday, but neither performed particularly well.

Kirkland, the UMass junior forward who finished second in the voting to Olivares, attempted only four field goals in the Minutemen's win over Duquesne. He did hit 10 of 12 free throws and finished with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Olivares, a sophomore forward for Fordham, was 4 for 13 for 12 points in the Rams' 74-63 loss to Virginia Tech. Olivares had four rebounds, an assist and one steal.

WALLACE WORLD: Duquesne sophomore guard Courtney Wallace turned in a career performance against the Minutemen, scoring 26 points before fouling out with 1:31 left.

Wallace scored Duquesne's final 12 points of the first half and had half of his team's 30 points in the first 20 minutes.

CRUZ-ING: Cruz scored a career-high 16 points when UMass and Duquesne met in the regular season, and although he didn't have as strong a performance yesterday, he didn't play badly.

"When he got fouled, he made his foul shots, and that was big," Flint said.

Cruz hit 5 of 6 free throws for his scoring, but he also had five rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. He committed four turnovers.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Minutemen had 18 turnovers, 11 on steals by the Dukes, who only turned the ball over five times. Duquesne entered the game averaging 16 turnovers .�.�. The Minutemen's 54.5 field goal percentage for the game is a season high. They shot 65 percent (13 for 20) in the second half .�.�. UMass' 44 field goals attempted were only two more than their season low of 42 vs. Detroit. The 24 free throws made were one short of a season-best set against Niagara .�.�. The 27 points by junior Monty Mack were the most scored by a UMass player at a neutral site since Marcus Camby scored 25 in the team's 81-74 loss to Kentucky in a 1996 NCAA tournament semifinal .�.�. Lari Ketner had 18 points and 11 rebounds, giving him 10 double-doubles this season.

HILADELPHIA - Can we open our eyes now?

Yes, Minutemen fans. We can all stop holding our breath, and for that matter, our noses. In artistic terms, yesterday's 80-70 University of Massachusetts win over Duquesne did to basketball what painting sideburns on the Mona Lisa would do to classic art.

It was ugly, but it was victoriously ugly. And for a team that began the season figuring to go to a regional, but sometimes doesn't look like it could beat Hampshire Regional, this is no time to be fussy.

Kit Rhymer only logged two minutes, but sent back a Duquesne shot here.

And say this for the Minutemen: they'll need their bench to win four Atlantic 10 Conference tournament games in four days, and yesterday at the Spectrum, the bench came through. Sort of.

"I was going to kill him, but it went in," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said of Winston Smith's 3-point basket that made it 66-56 with 3:07 left and doomed the Dukes. The shot clock was running down when Smith launched his bomb from the right wing, and son of a gun, he made it.

"I didn't want to look at Bruiser after that one," said Smith, who is now 3 for 8 lifetime from behind the arc - a statistic Flint would like to see remain unchanged forever, since changing it would mean Smith would have to take more.

Smith's season has been as peculiar as his team's. In one nine-game stretch, he played a total of three minutes. Then Ajmal Basit got kicked off the team, and suddenly, there was Smith in the middle of everything, guarding Lamar Odom and Shawnta Rogers, fouling James Posey at midcourt with 2 seconds left in a two-point game.

He committed two late fouls yesterday, too, when UMass did not want the clock stopped. One resulted in a four-point play. But he also gave UMass 12 reasonably good minutes, six points, and a chance to play Xavier today.

That's all Flint asks of his bench. You don't have to win the game, just don't lose it.

His backup point guard is Rafael Cruz, who scored five points with five rebounds and two late steals yesterday. Those no assists and four turnovers? Immaterial in the new order of scaled-down expectations.

"I just came in trying to make things happen," said Cruz, who is truly trying to play more under control, and now knows it's sometimes better when things don't happen. "It's a different mentality at the point."

Cruz played 18 minutes because Charlton Clarke reinjured his right foot, which has a stress fracture in it, in the first half. The other point guard is Jonathan DePina, and even he got some praise from his coach, his three minutes of no points, two fouls and one turnover notwithstanding.

"Jonathan was fine," a remarkably benevolent Flint insisted, absolving DePina for being out there when a 37-30 lead vanished in 2:36. "I don't mind if he makes aggressive mistakes, and he was aggressive today."

Smith, Cruz and DePina are all good guys. They all try very hard. You have to like them and root for them, but liking and rooting for them is much easier than watching them handle the ball in a game with season-ending ramifications.

Even so, yesterday the bench contributed 35 minutes, 11 points, nine rebounds, five turnovers and one assist to a team with injury and foul problems. If only because the roof didn't cave in, that was good enough.

For UMass, there is a tomorrow. Today.

"It was a good sign," said Clarke, the world's eternal optimist, when asked about the bench. "Those guys showed great poise."

If he says so. We could have three more days of this. Just tell us when we can look.

HILADELPHIA - The heavily favored University of Massachusetts Minutemen couldn't produce a knockout against Duquesne, but escaped with a win by decision, 80-70, Wednesday in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament in front of 5,527 fans at the Philadelphia Spectrum. The win sets up a quarterfinal matchup with Xavier at 2:30 p.m. today.

Winston Smith battles for the rock.

The Dukes hung around until the end. With 6:11 remaining, the scattering of Duquesne fans that had trekked across the Keystone State were getting louder. Their Dukes trailed the Minutemen by just two points, 55-53, and they were smelling an upset.

At the other end of the floor, UMass guard Monty Mack had other ideas. Loosely guarded by Courtney Wallace, Mack pulled up and calmly drained a 3-pointer. It launched an 11-3 run that pushed the Minutemen (14-15) over the top.

"In the second half we played to win," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said. "In the first half we played not to lose, so we were tentative and lost balls off our feet and we didn't catch balls. We'll have to have a better performance to try to beat Xavier."

While the Minutemen advanced, it didn't come without a price. Senior point guard Charlton Clarke aggravated a stress fracture in his right foot and played only six minutes in the second half.

"He told us his foot was hurting, so we didn't put him back out there," said Flint, who wasn't sure what Clarke's status would be for today's game. "If he can't play, we have to try to win it without him."

Clarke was more confident.

"It's sore right now," Clarke said. "But I'll be ready to go tomorrow. I took a bad turn today and aggravated it in a big way. I have a bone stimulator that I put on my foot. That's about it though, everything else will have to be guts.

Rafael Cruz chipped in 5 points and 5 boards.

In Clarke's absence, Rafael Cruz was pressed into action. In 18 minutes of play, he scored five points, all from the free-throw line. Cruz turned the ball over four times, but both his ball handling and defense improved as the game progressed.

"I thought he did a good job out there," Flint said. "He still drives me nuts sometimes out there, but when he got fouled, he made foul shots, which is big. I've been on him about defense and turnovers and I thought he did a good job with those tonight." Mack led all scorers with 27 points, including 6-of-8 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. Lari Ketner added 18 points and 11 rebounds. He was effective putting the ball on the floor and going to the basket strong and finishing dunks.

"That's been the game plan all year," Ketner said. "I'm just starting to get really comfortable doing it. I'm just trying to be more aggressive in the tournament."

Flint was particularly pleased with Ketner's effort.

"He had a tough matchup tonight because they were real small," Flint said. "He got roughed up a bit under there. He did a great job. If he is a presence, we're a different team. That's why we won tonight."

Chris Kirkland scored 12 points, including 10 from the foul line down the stretch.

Courtney Wallace paced Duquesne (5-23) with a career-high 26 points.

Any hopes the Minutemen had of getting a big lead early and cruising the rest of the way were quickly dashed by Wallace. The sophomore point guard scored 15 points before intermission to give the underdog Dukes a 30-28 lead at the break.

"He's a good player," Mack said. "He uses the body a lot. He bumps you and you bump him back and that's when they call the foul."

Minutemen sophomore point guard Jonathan DePina's struggles were exposed right away in the second half. With its starters in the lineup, UMass scored the first nine points of the second half to take a 37-30 lead with 16:33 left in the game. DePina checked in 22 seconds later and the Minutemen offense went cold while the Dukes answered with a 8-0 run to retake the lead, 38-37. The teams went back and forth until the score was tied 43-43 with 11:22 to go.

Mack started the surge with a 3-pointer from the corner. At the other end, a Ketner rejection of Smith started a break that finished with Mack being fouled while laying the ball in. He missed the free throw, but Ketner grabbed the rebound and laid it back in. Kirkland completed the 8-0 run by making one of two free throws to make it 51-43 with 8:47 remaining.

Duquesne expended most of its energy cutting the UMass lead to 55-53, before Mack delivered the dagger.

Winston Smith turned in a productive 12 minutes in Wednesday's game. In the midst of UMass' game-clinching 11-3 run, Smith dove on a rebound to maintain possession for the Minutemen and then drained a 3-pointer that gave UMass its first double-digit lead of the game. He finished with six points and three rebounds ... Monty Mack's 27 points gave him 524 for the season and 967 for his career. It also marked the third time this season that he has scored more than 25 points. He needs just 33 points to become the school's 34th 1,000-point scorer.

DUQUESNE (70)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Smith           32  7-18   2-4   3-9  1  3   19
Rackley-mann    20   0-0   0-2   0-1  0  3    0
Davis           16   2-8   0-0   2-3  0  4    4
Wallace         38 11-23   3-6   1-7  2  5   26
Tann            36   2-9   0-0   0-2  1  1    5
Stephenson      15   2-4   0-0   3-4  1  5    4
Radkowski        1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Barker           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Richards         1   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Kegerreis        1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Stanfield       11   0-2   0-0   1-1  0  4    0
Lovelace        28   3-8   6-8   5-7  1  2   12
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-73 11-20 15-34  6 27   70
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.370, FT-.550. 3-Point Goals:
5-18, .278 (Smith 3-8, Davis 0-1, Wallace 1-4,
Tann 1-4, Richards 0-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 2 (Davis, Lovelace). Turnovers: 5
(Wallace 3, Smith 2). Steals: 11 (Smith 3,
Wallace 3, Lovelace 2, Stanfield 2, Davis).

MASSACHUSETTS (80)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Kirkland        39   1-4 10-12   1-5  4  2   12
Babul           28   2-2   3-8   2-7  3  4    7
Ketner          38  7-10   4-6  2-11  3  1   18
Clarke          21   2-5   0-0   0-3  2  4    5
M Mack          39 10-16   1-3   0-2  3  3   27
Depina           3   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  2    0
Cruz            18   0-2   5-6   0-5  0  1    5
Smith           12   2-3   1-2   1-3  1  2    6
Rhymer           2   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-44 24-37  6-37 16 19   80
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.545, FT-.649. 3-Point Goals:
8-15, .533 (Clarke 1-4, M Mack 6-8, Cruz 0-1,
Smith 1-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 8
(Ketner 4, Kirkland, Babul, Cruz, Rhymer).
Turnovers: 18 (Cruz 4, Babul 3, Ketner 3, M Mack
3, Clarke 2, Kirkland 2, Depina). Steals: 4 (Cruz
2, Kirkland 2).
__________________________________
Duquesne           30   40  -   70
Massachusetts      28   52  -   80
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 5,527. Officials: John
Moreau, Glenn Mayborg, Mark Distrola.