Quinnipiac loses composure, collapses at home against Manhattan

Quinnipiac’s struggles in second halves have become a concern Baker Dunleavy must address. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)

HAMDEN, Conn. — M&T Bank Arena was full of life in the last minute of action Sunday afternoon between tQuinnipiac and the visiting Manhattan Jaspers. But unlike the energy from the crowd in the first half, when the Bobcats led by as much as 21, the rising volume in the building reeked of desperation and nervous anticipation after the Bobcats were on the wrong side of a 26-6 run by Manhattan, who stole a 72-70 victory on Anthony Nelson’s floater as the buzzer sounded on the end of regulation.

It came down to getting one final stop with the Jaspers inbounding the ball under their own basket with 14 seconds left. Tyrese Williams got the assignment on Nelson, and he stayed close to him while Nelson slowly planned out his execution. But Nelson was too quick, shifting to his right and then going to his left to freeze Williams before unleashing his dagger at the horn. That was all the time and space he needed to make Quinnipiac pay and send the Bobcats, and their fans, home dejected. 

Quinnipiac got outscored 46-30 in the second half, continuing the theme of late-game struggles this season. This latest blunder comes after giving up 51 points at home to Canisius in the second half, getting outscored 49-39 by Mount St. Mary’s over the final 20 minutes, and blowing a 17-point halftime lead at Iona to eventually lose by six. 

“It’s a trend,” Baker Dunleavy said. “It’s not one guy. It’s been a collective deal where we've been better in the first half for whatever reason. I don’t think it’s complacency or lack of care, but I don’t think we can expect to do the same things for 40 minutes, so we have to adjust.” 

The Bobcats fell flat on their faces defensively in the second half after such a promising start, which included forcing Nelson to miss five of his first six shots. The missed assignments in the second half included Logan Padgett and Raziel Hayun, the latter of whom had nine points on three huge threes for Manhattan to supplement Nelson’s 21 points that were enhanced by eight rebounds and five assists. 

“They put together a second-half game plan to counter some of things we were doing in the first half defensively,” Dunleavy said. “Ant Nelson causes you to come off shooters at times because of the pressure he puts on you.”

In the first half, Quinnipiac turned defense into offense a couple times, finding confidence by beating the Jasper defense down the court for easy layups. The ball movement in the half-court was crisp, too, as the Bobcats found open shooters to the tune of 46 from the trio of Dezi Jones, Matt Balanc and Williams, with eight threes split between them. 

The guard play was a strong point, just as it has been all season. But when the pace slowed and Quinnipiac began to settle too much with its shot, two noticeable absences from the offense stuck out from the rest. The Bobcats just didn’t get nearly enough from their normally tantalizing front court duo of Ike Nweke and Paul Otieno, who only combined for 10 points. Otieno did add eight rebounds, but as a team, Quinnipiac failed to take advantage of most of its second-chance opportunities. 

“(Josh) Roberts does a good job at the rim and made it hard for them to have a huge impact offensively,” Dunleavy said of his bigs. “We need to get back to getting more force from them, which they've done all year.” 

It looked like the Bobcats would escape with a win when Jones finished through contact for an and-one with 2:18 left, before the ensuing free throw put Quinnipiac back on top, 68-66. However, Nelson turned it on and scored the last six points for Manhattan to spoil the senior day festivities. Quinnipiac had chances in the final minute too, but Luis Kortright and Balanc both missed threes.

“It’s tough to watch them struggle right now after a loss because they deserved to go out the right way,” Dunleavy said of the crushing home finale and watching his four seniors get honored. “They’re high character guys who love being part of this community.”

Heading into the final two games of the regular season, Quinnipiac can still finish anywhere between second and sixth place in the final standings before the Bobcats descend upon Atlantic City for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. The Bobcats will visit Fairfield Thursday and Marist on Saturday to round out the regular season, and can clinch a first-round bye in the MAAC tournament with a win in either of those games, plus a Niagara loss on Saturday at Canisius.