NEW HAVEN —- The Battle of Whitney Ave. hit the hardwood Monday night when Quinnipiac men’s basketball visited Yale.
The Bulldogs outmatched the Bobcats in every facet of the game — specifically rebounding and shooting —, falling to Yale 88-62.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, but I don’t think that was the glaring weakness,” head coach Tom Pecora said. “I thought once again, that our inability to control the backboards is very concerning. I think there was more of just a toughness to them. After the first 10 minutes, they took the game.”
Let’s talk about those first 10 minutes.
Yale opened the scoring when junior forward Nick Townsend found senior guard Bez Mbeng to give the hosts the early lead. The Bobcats answered back with a jumper by junior forward Amarri Monroe and a three-pointer by junior guard Ryan Mabrey — his only basket of the game — that put the visitors up 5-2 for their only lead of the night.
From there, Yale went on a 14-0 run over four minutes and never looked back.
“We just continued to rebound,” Yale head coach James Jones said. “I think that was key for us. Even through the turnovers we had, we continued to rebound the ball. And we did a great job defensively tonight. That connectivity that we had tonight was really good, and that was the difference for us.”
That lead grew to 12 at halftime and the Bulldogs’ dominance didn’t stop there, pulling out a 10-4 run to start the second half which stretched to a 20-point lead.
A bright spot for the Bobcats was Preseason MAAC Player of the Year, Monroe. The Newburgh, New York native was 9-22 from the field, Monroe finished the day with a game-high 23 points along with three rebounds and four steals.
Monroe wasn’t the only Bobcat in double figures, with senior forward Alexis Reyes adding 12 on the night. Monroe and Reyes amassed 35 points as a tandem while the rest of the team scored 27 points, 14 coming off the bench.
“We’re not good enough to just have Amarri go out and make buckets and carry us through an entire night,” Pecora said.
With the game becoming a blowout, Pecora looked further down his bench, subbing in senior guard Quinn Guth with three minutes left in the game.Guth was able to drill two free throws on the night for his first points since his freshman year against Western New England on Nov. 12, 2021.
“For Quinn to go in, he does a great job of playing against a couple of their walk-ons to the end of the bench guys,” Pecora said. “He deserves that, and it was good.”
Pecora was also able to get three of his five freshmen on the court in guard Jaden Zimmerman and forwards Grant Randall and Spence Wewe.
Zimmerman finished with five points, followed by Randall’s two and Wewe with zero. Wewe’s first appearance in the navy and gold was far from perfect, committing four fouls — one away from an ejection. Wewe was able to show his size, however, swatting a Townsend layup out of bounds.
“We just have to get (Wewe) minutes,” Pecora said. “He’s big and he’s raw, but he gets better every day. He’s going to be good. And this is the kind of game where you have to be patient and let a player like that go in and make some mistakes.”
The Bobcats look to bounce back against Division III opponent Worcester Polytechnic Institute for their home opener on Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.
