Quinnipiac torches nets, handles Marist to move into MAAC quarters

Jacob Rigoni’s seven 3-pointers shot Quinnipiac past Marist and into quarterfinals of MAAC tournament. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — After his Quinnipiac team’s regular season concluded with a loss to Iona that was the Bobcats’ sixth straight and ninth in ten games, Baker Dunleavy remained hopeful that a reversal of fortune would manifest itself against whomever he would lead his team into battle against in the opening round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. 

In a backdrop famed for rolls of the dice and taking chances, Quinnipiac got exactly the payoff its head coach was hoping for.

Taking on an offensively potent Marist team, the Bobcats flipped the script Tuesday, lighting up the scoreboard with 17 3-point field goals and burying the Red Foxes in a 77-52 barrage in the last of three opening-round games at Boardwalk Hall. In addition, the victory was a complete 180-degree turn from the only other time Quinnipiac and Marist faced each other in the MAAC tournament, in 2015, when it was the Red Foxes — then seeded 11th like Quinnipiac was on Tuesday — who proved lethal and triumphant with their long-range marksmanship.

“I just thought it was good timing,” Dunleavy remarked as the Bobcats took 58 percent of their shots from beyond the arc and saw 65 percent of their makes come from long range. “Certainly our best shooting performance of the year, but I really feel like it’s a product of our best defensive effort. Our defense, our rebounding, and our toughness kind of set the tone for us. It gave us confidence, and I think that’s why we were able to have an offensive explosion of sorts.”

As it stood, the Bobcats (13-16) held Marist under 40 percent shooting, limiting the Red Foxes to just 2-of-17 from deep and rendering likely MAAC Rookie of the Year Jao Ituka into a non-factor with just eight points on the evening as Jacob Rigoni, Dezi Jones and Matt Balanc accounted for 15 of the 17 treys to turn the torrid shooting into an avalanche.

“I don’t think we turned on a switch,” said Rigoni, who paced Quinnipiac with 26 points and was responsible for seven triples off his own hands. “We just approach each game, we look at what went wrong, what went right. We don’t let a win or a loss define how we feel. Teams can break apart when they lose or stop trusting the process, but we’re sticking to it and when we play that way, we’re a tough team to go against.”

The Bobcats move on to face Siena in the quarterfinals Thursday, and get a day off before meeting a third-seeded Saints squad that received a bitter pill before Tuesday’s action began when it was announced senior forward Anthony Gaines would miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL suffered in Saturday’s regular season finale at Canisius. Regardless, the rationale for a group who may have been overlooked on paper is one of simply staying true to itself and allowing it to translate to success on the floor.

“I think our mentality is just like, go to each game and do what we do as a team, trust each other, believe in each other and go hard each and every second that we’ve got with each other,” said Dezi Jones, who fell two assists shy of a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight helpers. “If we just keep hammering at that stone, we’re going to break it eventually.”

“I’m really impressed with this group and their ability to keep a positive mindset, and not a BS one,” Dunleavy echoed. “You can say it as a coach, but these guys do it. We kept our heads up and we were able to go back to work and prepare for this game. And now, having some success tonight, winning a game and playing a good brand of basketball, we can’t let that stop us from preparing well for the next one.”