HAMDEN — Despite falling behind by as many as 11 points in the first half, Quinnipiac men’s basketball used a strong second half defensive performance to pull away from Rider, 75-64.
“Life in the MAAC, sometimes they aren’t pretty, but good teams win ugly too,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora said.
With the win the Bobcats moved to 8-1 in MAAC play, winning five-straight to tie with Marist for the No. 1 spot in the conference.
“We’re in a pennant race with Marist right now,” Pecora said. “We’re still searching to make sure we keep pace or they keep pace with us. You can’t just lose a game that’s very winnable for you, which this game tonight was.”
The Broncs — who went on the road to knock off No. 1 Marist last week — didn’t start the game like a team that was struggling to stay afloat with a 7-12 record. Instead they went toe-to-toe with the defending MAAC Regular Season Champions.
“(Rider’s) a very dangerous team,” Pecora said. “In the first half there was no rhythm, there was no flow to it.”
Rider started off hot off the back of graduate student guard T.J. Weeks Jr., who went on a scoring streak of his own. The guard hit four consecutive buckets, two of which were triples to score 12 early points and give the Broncs an early six point lead, 18-12.
“We came out flat, they were playing harder than us,” junior forward Amarri Monroe said. “Our new identity is offensive rebounding, defending, and we weren’t doing that.”
The Bobcats did their best to keep pace with the red-hot Broncs by hitting shots at a 50% clip, much to the thanks of guard Ryan Mabrey. The junior transfer hit two early triples, but Quinnipiac still couldn’t manage to slow down Rider who grew the lead to 11 midway through the first half.
“I was just playing my game,” Mabrey said. “I made some shots tonight, so I was happy about that. And I feel like that kind of helped us in the first half not get into a big deficit.”
Despite the Broncs’ hot shooting start from three, they completely went away from the deep ball, not attempting another for the rest of the half after starting the game 4-4. This allowed Quinnipiac to chip away at the lead, with Mabrey and senior guard Doug Young both hitting threes to cut at the deficit.
Monroe added in a dunk and a pair of free throws to tie the game at 32 after taking multiple hard falls through the first 20 minutes.
Coming down the stretch in the first half, Mabrey hit yet another corner three, shooting 4-5 from beyond the arc in the first half. The guard made sure to give the Rider bench a good look while he jogged back to the other end. After trailing by as many as 11, Mabrey’s shooting had the Bobcats only trailing by three as they headed to the locker room at halftime.
“That’s the Ryan Mabrey we recruited,” Pecora said. “I just keep telling them, shooters, they shoot it up. If you make them, you’re a superstar. If you miss them, you’re a bum and all the rest is bullshit.”
If the Bobcats were going to avoid an upset loss to a 10th place Rider squad they were going to have to pick up their play on the defensive side of the floor — and that’s just what they did.
“The word execution is always talked about with offense, but defensive execution is more important in my world,” Pecora said. “Because if you’re getting stops, you get easy buckets, as compared to trying to score after they score.”
Freshman guard Jaden Zimmerman began the second half surge with a lightning fast drive through the lane to throw down what initially appeared to be a dunk. Halfway up in the air, the guard changed his mind, instead saucing up a smooth layup to cut the lead to one.
Zimmerman stayed involved in the action, forcing a turnover on the other end and taking it all the way before drawing a foul and getting to the line. He went on to miss both, but his energy out of the locker room set the tone for Quinnipiac for the rest of the half.
Graduate student forward Paul Otieno continued to ramp up the intensity by enforcing his own will a few plays later, putting back his own miss to put the Bobcats up 45-43, their first lead since the opening minutes of Saturday’s matchup. Otieno had an up and down day for the Bobcats, but picked it up in the second half to finish with eight points and six boards.
“He had a tough night tonight,” Pecora said. “He was in a wrestling match in the paint all night, but he just continues to do all the little things and he’s a great leader. He’s a true warrior.”
The switch appeared to be flipped for Quinnipiac on the defensive end as the shots Rider was hitting through the first 20 minutes were no longer coming.
“I think our execution defensively was much, much better,” Pecora said. “We played with more intensity and grit and toughness.”
The Broncs went cold on the offensive end in the second half, shooting 17% from the floor. After starting 4-4 from three to begin the day, the Broncs never made another the rest of the day.
With Rider still searching for answers, the Bobcats built on their small lead, turning an 11-point deficit into a 13-point lead to put the Broncs to sleep. Monroe led the charge on the offensive end, knocking down two triples and finished with a team-high 19 points and 12 rebounds as the final buzzer sounded.
“We stress one game win streaks,” Monroe said. “So the more we keep winning, worrying about one game at a time … it’s huge for us.”
Quinnipiac returns to the court Jan. 31 against in-state rival Fairfield. Tipoff set for 7:00 p.m in Hamden.
