By Ethan Hurwitz (@HurwitzSports)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Amarri Monroe really wanted the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year award. It’s been his goal since returning to Quinnipiac for his second season.
And following a heart-to-heart with associate head coach Shaun Morris, the junior forward realized there’s a bigger trophy at stake. It’s what fueled him and the Bobcats to their 78-64 quarterfinal victory over the Rider Broncs to advance in the MAAC tournament Wednesday night.
“(Morris) let me know that, being that I didn't get the award, come to the tournament and have that kind of chip on my shoulder, and show them why I should have gotten Defensive Player of the Year,” Monroe said. “And I'm willing to do just that because at the end of the day, I know that's what's going to help my team win.”
The chip on his shoulder was evident. It was clearly on the shoulders of all the Bobcats. They walked into the arena as locked in as they’ve been all season. Sure, they joked around on the bus ride down to Atlantic City, but once it was time to lace them up, it was all business.
“One through 15, we all understand what the mission is and what the goal is, and I don't think anyone's taking it for granted,” graduate guard Savion Lewis said. “We're all well aware of what's at stake, and everyone was locked in, for sure.”
And the memories of last season’s heartbreaking end in this same building also helped focus both the players and the coaching staff.
“I thought it was a pretty business-like outing for us,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora said. “That's what we talked about, staying steady, staying strong, understanding what we needed to do, one possession to the next.”
The 2025 postseason debut for these Bobcats was similar to their quarterfinal win from a year ago. A semi-slow start on the glass immediately flipped, as the team’s forwards — Monroe and graduate student Paul Otieno — outbodied the Broncs to close the first half and race out to a 20-point lead in the second.
Strong offensive performances from sophomore Khaden Bennett and junior Ryan Mabrey helped alleviate the starting rotation, and when you add on 14 points from Lewis, the Quinnipiac backcourt played a critical role in the win.
“(Monroe and Lewis) play well (together), but they shared the ball. They made some tough shots,” Rider head coach Kevin Baggett said. Now they were flipping in some shots there that, you know, they were tough, they weren't easy shots. But again, we did not play. We didn't share the ball. We were taking too quick, quicker shots. We didn't find the open guys enough. We didn't move enough.”
It was one of Bennett’s strongest games in his Bobcats tenure, dropping 13 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc. When it wasn’t one of the team’s captains doing the heavy lifting, the undersized sophomore turned a corner and helped push the MAAC’s top seed over the hump.
The 3-point shooting had struggled all regular season, and Wednesday, was off to a bad start. The Bobcats started 0-for-7 from deep, and it forced the team to push the ball into the paint. Once the Broncs had to respect the interior game and offensive rebounding, it was Bennett’s time to fire some shots at the rim.
“They see me putting in the work every day,” Bennett said on what it means to get the green light from deep. “We all do it together. Just having the confidence in me all year no matter what, and believing in me and telling me to shoot the ball is what I needed tonight.”
Rider — coming off a thrilling first-round win over No. 9 Siena less than 24 hours before — struggled to keep up with a clearly rested Bobcat squad. The trio of Monroe, Lewis and Otieno had five days of rest between games. Easy shots didn’t seem to find the bottom of the net, and a frontcourt that usually bullies opponents couldn't muster the same strength that Quinnipiac had.
“I feel like they were hitting us first, especially when we were on defense going for rebounds,” graduate guard TJ Weeks, Jr. said. “I feel like we could have picked it up in that aspect.”
Now the Bobcats will get a day off, awaiting the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal battle between No. 4 Iona and No. 5 Manhattan. While both teams got swept by Quinnipiac in the regular season, overlooking an opponent could be tournament suicide.
It’s obvious Pecora feels the same.
“You've got to play every possession like it's your last, and that's how teams win championships,” Pecora said. “We're one step there. We still got a lot of work to do on Friday night, and then hopefully Saturday as well.”
That message will trickle down to the captains, the same ones that Pecora said run the locker room.
“This year, we're just not going to take no possessions off, regardless of what the score is or what time is left,” Lewis said.
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