5 college basketball players shot

PITTSBURGH -- Five Duquesne University basketball players, all but one of them new players who enrolled only this month, were shot early Sunday morning during an apparent act of random violence on campus. Two players were in critical condition at a hospital.\nPittsburgh police were searching for a man believed to have committed the shootings and were investigating whether anyone else was involved. The shootings occurred at about 2:15 a.m. as several players were returning from an on-campus party at the student union and others were sitting on benches outside Vickroy Hall, the dormitory where the shootings took place.\nThe players most badly injured were 6-foot-7 forward Sam Ashaolu, a transfer from Lake Region State College and a cousin of former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon, and Stuard Baldonado, a 6-7 transfer from Miami Dade College who was considered the Dukes' best recruit.\nAshaolu is from Toronto, and his parents were traveling to Pittsburgh on Sunday to be with their son.\nTreated and released from Mercy Hospital were 6-10 Shawn James, the nation's leading shot blocker last season at Northeastern University before transferring to Duquesne; Kojo Mensah, a guard who averaged nearly 17 points last season at Siena before transferring, and Aaron Jackson, a guard who is one of only two returning players from Duquesne's 3-24 team of last season.\nNew Duquesne coach Ron Everhart, formerly at Northeastern, had rebuilt the Duquesne program almost from scratch after being hired in March by bringing in 10 new recruits -- one of the most sweeping upheavals of any Division I program in recent years.\nAccording to police, two players were returning from a social function on campus when they encountered a man who apparently had been disruptive at the party. After the players tried to calm down the man, they began walking away, only to be shot. Several other players who were nearby rushed to their aid, also to be shot.