What went wrong for Quinnipiac after halftime lead turns into loss at St. John’s

Alexis Reyes of Quinnipiac defends St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor. Bobcats led Red Storm at halftime before Johnnies scored 61 points in second half. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John’s Athletics)

By Ethan Hurwitz (@HurwitzSports)

NEW YORK — It was a defensive slugfest for the first 20 minutes at Carnesecca Arena. In the 20 minutes that followed, St. John’s got double-digit scoring performances from four players and knocked off Quinnipiac Saturday afternoon, 96-73. 

“Sometimes you get what you deserve,” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said. “Quinnipiac made us not play well, so you gotta give credit to them. They moved the ball, they shot the ball well, we had a difficult time in the beginning.”

So after a first half that had the underdog Bobcats surprisingly up by two possessions, what happened in the second that gave the Red Storm their second win?

“They ran a couple different things against the zone, and I thought they played with much quicker tempo,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora said. “In the second half, they really paid attention to (junior guard Ryan Mabrey) to make sure he couldn’t get another look.”

Mabrey came out firing on every possible cylinder a human can have. After scoring just 11 points in the team’s first two games, the Belmar, New Jersey, native went 5-for-7 from deep to help give Quinnipiac a surprising lead. At one point, the lead ballooned up to 10, with Mabrey’s 3-point shooting giving graduate student forward Paul Otieno the space to maneuver in front (when he wasn’t on the bench in foul trouble).

Otieno’s towering presence in the paint (6-foot-8, 225 pounds) was replaced by Spence Wewe, the skinnier and slimmer freshman. While he did have a few key rebounds on both ends of the floor, his inexperience at the collegiate level helped give St. John’s 14 total offensive boards. However, in his coach’s eyes, it was a good showing from the England native, who scored his first career bucket in the losing effort. 

“I thought Spence did a wonderful job,” Pecora said. “He’s definitely playing better than I thought he would be this early in the season. I thought he was a force at times and did some really good things.”

At halftime, the Bobcats led, 39-35, even with Otieno and junior forward Amarri Monroe being limited in the scoring department. Monroe—the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year—was held to just four points, all of them coming from the free throw line. He missed all nine shots he took from the field before exiting the game with an apparent back injury.

“I’m not even sure what it is, to be quite honest,” Pecora said when asked about Monroe’s status. “We’ll see.”

The other Bobcats that typically contribute offensively—graduate guard Savion Lewis and senior forward Alexis Reyes—combined for just 11 points in a game where Lewis played all but eight minutes. Just across the court was St. John’s sophomore forward Brady Dunlap, who scored a career-high 20 points, 15 of those coming from beyond the arc.

“Obviously it feels good from an individual standpoint, but last year, I had a couple good games and got too high,” Dunlap said. “This year I've just got to stay level headed.”

“He's very important—Brady is the best shooter on the team,” junior guard RJ Luis added. “When we play against teams that play zone, it's good to have him on the court.”

Quinnipiac’s 2-3 zone—which Pitino said he knew would be coming—was able to force the Red Storm into some tricky shot opportunities in the first half. Right out of the locker rooms, St. John’s busted through the Bobcats’ zone defense and lit the scoreboard up for 61 second-half points. Underclassman guards Jaden Zimmerman (11 points) and Khaden Bennett (six points, three rebounds) both contributed off the bench, but they got the majority of their minutes when the lead was well out of reach.

For Pitino’s squad, it was a game the Red Storm won this season, but their coach said would have lost a year ago.

“I think last year at this time, we would have lost this game,” Pitino said. “But this team did the right things to win this game.”

On the bright side for Quinnipiac, the visitors broke out a new, baby blue alternate uniform that the Bobcats unveiled for the national audience. Unfortunately, their second-half performance was just as cold as the new threads. 

“We competed our asses off for 20 minutes,” Pecora lamented. “Now we gotta learn how to do it for 30 and then 40.”

The Bobcats hope to find their first win against a Division I opponent when they welcome the Maine Black Bears to Hamden on Friday. Before then, Pecora’s squad hopes to get healthy and rested after playing three games in six days.

“As we move forward now with Maine coming on Friday, we have time to get ourselves healthy, hopefully, and get ourselves organized and adjusted,” Pecora said.