The Associated Press

Xavier coach Thad Matta said Lionel Chalmers will play in small does when he returns from his broken foot. Chalmers has started running on a treadmill and shooting and could be playing in another week.

"When Lionel comes back, he's not going to be able to go full-tilt," Matta said. "We're going to have to watch when we're playing him, how much we're playing him."

Without Chalmers since Dec. 31, the rest of the Musketeers have played through injuries and fatigue. On Tuesday, they had to overcome David West's sore hand.

West smacked his right hand on the rim during a drill in practice Monday, and came out with the index finger and hand heavily taped. During the team's light practice earlier Tuesday, West failed to even hit the rim on four of his first five shots.

"I thought he wasn't going to play a lot," Romain Sato said. "David can be hurt, but at game time he's ready to play."

Using his left hand as much as possible, West went 6-of-12 from the field and helped Xavier dominate in rebounds.

"What can you say about the kid?" Matta said. "In our shoot-around, four of his first five shots were air balls. He's got basically one hand, and he gets another double-double. He did a great job of leading this team."

Duquesne couldn't keep up with the quicker Musketeers and wound up fouling frequently. Xavier went to its trapping defense and closed the first half with a 13-2 run, then held Duquesne without a field goal for the first 5:38 of the second half.

"I know they're a little short-handed, but they're really good from top to bottom," Duquesne coach Danny Nee said. "They're playing well. They just turned up the juice a little bit."