ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. -- There were no answers, only a bitter and stern reality.

With a tad more than two minutes left, Duquesne coach Ron Everhart looked up at the ceiling, then down at the floor in what was transforming into an inevitable defeat Tuesday night.

Duquesne's march through March wasn't going to happen: St. Bonaventure's sharpshooting guard, Chris Matthews, and its sinewy big man, Andrew Nicholson, made sure of as much.

The Dukes (16-15) couldn't withstand that inside-outside tandem and fell, 83-71, to the Bonnies (15-15) in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at the Reilly Center.

Matthews buried 6 of 8 3-point attempts and finished with 28 points, while Nicholson was brutish down low, scoring 25. Duquesne, which had its season rubbed out by a 14-0 St. Bonaventure run in the heart of the second half, was paced by Damian Saunders, who scored 18.

For Duquesne, what happened looked similar to its next-to-last regular-season game at this same venue, when Nicholson and Matthews torched the Dukes for 21 points each.

"I was being patient, and whatever they gave me I was going to take," Matthews said.

What he took, again, were early jumpers in transition that were wide open. Then, when the Dukes tightened up, he simply stepped back and hit deeper shots.

"Obviously, Chris was the difference tonight," Everhart said of Matthews, a senior. "And we didn't guard him very well."

Same thing for Nicholson, who made 8 of his 13 shots and got hacked so much that he went to the free-throw line three fewer times (11) than Duquesne's entire team (14).

Nicholson, a sophomore, has already turned into one of the most feared Duquesne opponents since Bob Huggins dropped that elbow on B.B. Flenory in the 1970s. In five career games against Duquesne, Nicholson has scored 20 or more points four times.

Of the Dukes-killer moniker he has earned, Nicholson offered, "They are a little chippy, and it brings everything out in me."

Everhart understood that.

"He's been terrific every time we've played against him," the coach said.

Duquesne was more than lucky to be down by just four points at halftime, 34-30, considering a few factors.

First, there was that can't-keep-my-hands-off-you defense Duquesne played in the first half that led to 17 fouls being whistled against the Dukes. That forced three of Duquesne's stars to spend long stretches on the bench, as Bill Clark and B.J. Monteiro had three fouls apiece and Melquan Bolding two.

Compounding the foul trouble was an inability to shoot, with Duquesne connecting only once on 12 3-point attempts in the first 20 minutes. The Dukes finished 5 for 21 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Still, soon after halftime, the score was tied at 45-45. From there, it all fell apart, and in a stretch of 4:17, St. Bonaventure made it 59-45 on that 14-0 run.

Duquesne might extend its season with an invitation to the CBI tournament or CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament.

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