It was senior day at the TD Bank Sports Center today but it was juniors Shaq Shannon and Ike Azotam who led the Bobcats to their sixth straight victory.
Azotam tallied nine rebounds and four assists to go along with his game-high tying 16 points. Shannon added 16 points off the bench, Ousmane Drame had 13 points and nine rebounds, and one highlight worthy, behind-the-back assist to Azotam.
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The Bobcats shot 44 percent from the floor and held the Bulldogs to 40 percent from the field including 22 percent from beyond the arc.
Defense was a major key for the Bobcats in the victory. In the last meeting between these two teams Bryant scored 103 points and shot 61 percent from the field.
Bryant’s top two scorers Alex Francis, and Dyami Starks were held in check throughout the game. Francis had 14 points and six rebounds on 5 of13 shooting. He was also in foul trouble early in the second half after picking up a personal foul, quickly followed by a technical foul.
Starks, Bryant’s leading scorer at 18 points per game, was held to 11 points on 4-13 from the field.
Quinnipiac led for the majority of the game, and had breathing room almost the entire time. There was one point when Bryant cut the lead to 48-45 but Quinnipiac answered back with two straight triples. One from Shannon.
Shannon was very complimentary of his teammates and coaching staff after the game giving them a lot of credit.
“My coaches have been pushing me in practice to just keep getting better,” Shannon said. “I am very humble and hungry, and my confidence is at an all-time high.”
With this six-game winning streak, Quinnipiac now has a chance of hosting the NEC tournament if they win out and get some help as well. As of right now the Bobcats are in a three-way tie for second place in the conference with their 10-5 record in the NEC.
“The teams confidence is as high as its been all year,” head coach Tom Moore said. “My job is to balance that and make sure we know we still have a lot to earn. We should be proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish with all of our improvement but there is still more that we have got to earn as a team.”
Quinnipiac hits the road for its last three games of the regular season, the first of which comes on Monday at Central Connecticut State.
