By Ethan Hurwitz (@HurwitzSports)
HAMDEN, Conn. — Late in the second half, the Quinnipiac Bobcats were playing defense that was on pace to rewrite the program’s 21st century record books.
In a blink of an eye, Maine turned around a 14-0 run to pull within one, before a floater from graduate guard Savion Lewis ultimately gave the Bobcats their first Division I win of the young season, a gritty 58-55 decision over the Black Bears.
“It was ugly, but it doesn't matter,” head coach Tom Pecora remarked. “Good teams find a way to win. We’re gonna take this win, we’re going to take tomorrow off and get ourselves healthy.”
One of the main reasons why the Bobcats were able to gut out the win was junior forward Amarri Monroe, who started the game after leaving Saturday’s loss against St. John’s early with back spasms.
“Felt great, especially how bad I’ve been shooting the ball, so just seeing the ball go through the rim felt good,” Monroe—who racked up 21 points and seven rebounds in a game-high 36 minutes—said. “I think we’ll be really good.”
Pecora stressed often postgame that the season is still very early—“Four games into this, we're going to get better every day”—but the Bobcats’ 2-2 record did not come easy.
After leading the Black Bears by 15 points with under four minutes to play, Quinnipiac’s defense got sloppy. It stopped fighting for fouls, struggled to grab defensive rebounds and allowed Maine’s three-point shooting to catch fire.
The 15-point lead instantly dwindled down to just one, as Maine senior guard AJ Lopez (18 points) and junior guard Jaden Clayton (12 points, seven rebounds) got big buckets to bring the once-insurmountable lead down to just a single tally in the box score.
“I’d like to play Spence (Wewe) and Richie (Springs) more,” Pecora said. “We did a little bit with Spence, but that’s when they dug into our lead, not because of him, but because they went small.”
In the end, the Bobcats edged out a win where starters Ryan Mabrey and Paul Otieno didn’t contribute much on the offensive end. Mabrey, who scored a season-high 17 points on Saturday, only played 18 minutes tonight.
But who helped stop the late bleeding? The other veterans in the starting lineup—Monroe, Lewis and senior Alexis Reyes—who led Quinnipiac in all facets of the game. They combined for 31 points, 16 rebounds and nine steals, with the final two points coming off the right hand of Lewis, his only points of the night.
“The veterans mean everything, like they're all leaders in practice, they’re all vocal,” freshman guard Jaden Zimmerman said. “Outside of practice, they're still talking to us, communicating, whether it's basketball or anything. (Lewis) takes nothing for granted. If he’s playing bad, he’s still gonna be a leader, still be Savion.”
The sloppy second half was just the lasting taste of an overall really strong defensive performance by the Bobcats, the part of their game that they take the most pride in.
“I think we were dialed in on defense,” Monroe said. “That's where we want to be our best at. So we can rebound and get out and run, transition is where we’re really good. So if we get stops and we're able to run, then it'll be tough for teams to guard us.”
Quinnipiac will now have a few days of rest, including a day off tomorrow, before heading down to Annapolis to face off against Navy on Tuesday for the second-straight year.
“You play the academies, it's hand and combat, no pun intended,” Pecora said. “They're going to hold, they're going to grab, they're going to be physical, and you've got to be tough enough to play through it. So with that in mind, we knew that (tonight) would be a good game leading into the next one.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.