THE CITY GAME IS ONCE AGAIN UNCOMPELLING

PITT (8-0) 78
DUQUESNE (4-2) 51

I enjoyed the PG's feature on Wednesday that looked back at The City Game (Pitt vs. Duquesne, for those of you somehow not familiar with that moniker) and how it has morphed from a competitive rivalry to a Steelers-Browns, hammer vs. nail style "rivalry" over the past 30 years. Despite my admiration of sports history, especially of a local variety, I never realized that the teams would meet up two, even three times in a season.

But those days are long gone, with Duquesne largely relegated to an afterthought in the college hoops world and Pitt becoming a part of the sport's truly elite. Even with the recent improvement brought by coach Ron Everhart, the Dukes had the deck highly stacked against them for this year's edition. And the results were pretty much what you would have expected: Pitt 78, Duquesne 51, just three points away from matching Pitt's largest margin of victory in the series (30, in 2004).

The game was relatively close for much of the first half, with Pitt clinging to a 24-20 lead as late as 15 minutes into the game. The Panthers would lead at the break by a 36-28 count, but that would gradually expand as the contest rolled on. The second half played out like you would've imagined, with Pitt outscoring the Dukes by a 42-23 count.

Sam Young led the charge for Pitt with 23 points, four of them coming on dunks. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's in line for a high-scoring season. Dejuan Blair, one of the few local players involved in the game, tossed in 14, and freshman guard Jermaine Dixon added 10. Duquesne's high man was Damian Saunders with 15; he was the only Duke that reached double figures. I'd give you more details, but since the game was not broadcast on TV, this was the best I could do.

The Dukes, having ended their murderer's row portion of the schedule (at Duke and Pitt in succession), resume in a week against Radford College, which should be a more winnable game. Pitt picks up on Saturday at home (where else?) against the Vermont Catamounts, 4-2 out of the America East Conference.

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