HAMDEN — Another installment in the fierce rivalry between Quinnipiac men’s basketball and Fairfield ended with as much fireworks as the matchup intended. The Bobcats strong second half was enough to take down the Stags by a score of 81-69 Friday night.
The Bobcats were able to continue their winning ways, improving to 9-1 in conference play and a six-game winning streak.
“Life in the MAAC, you know,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora said. “I mean, there’s not gonna be many nights we just go out there and put it on cruise control. And this is a great rivalry, and it’ll continue to be.”
Here are three takeaways from tonight’s feisty battle with the Stags.
Double trouble
Junior forward Amarri Monroe and graduate student forward Paul Otieno have amounted to gain two double-doubles in the same game before Friday night’s contest with the Stags, both amounting in wins — Hofstra on Dec. 29, 2024, and Merrimack on Jan. 16.
This game added to the total, making it 3-0 when both dropped a double-double.
“There’s a stat where every game me and Paul have a double-double we always win,” Monroe said. “We haven’t lost a single game where me and Paul had a double-double. And that’s just something me and Paul have.”
First let’s start with Monroe, who is just two weeks removed from setting a new career-high in points with 25 against Mount St. Mary’s. The Newburgh, New York, native matched that mark and beyond, dropping 27. After falling behind 5-2 early on in the first half, the junior forward scored eight of 10 points forcing Fairfield head coach Chris Casey to use a timeout.
“(Monroe) just continues to grow as a player, and that’s what we want them all to do,” Pecora said. “In season, you work on your strengths as a player. And he continues to just work and work and work.”
The junior forward was able to get through whatever the Stags threw at him, shooting 57% from the field and 4-9 from behind the arc. Monroe was a force on the glass, grabbing 10 out of the Bobcats’ 41 rebounds for his seventh double-double on the season.
The duo accounted for over half of the team’s rebounds, with Otieno grabbing 13 en route to his league-leading 10th double-double of the season. With the Nairobi, Kenya native in the top three in terms of offensive rebounds per game in the nation, it was no surprise that he grabbed four offensive rebounds.
Otieno on the offensive side was able to make space with his improved jumper that he worked on in the off-season, making two jumpers out of his four made field goals. The graduate student forward was also able to cash in seven free throws, his most in a game since Jan. 21, 2024, against Iona.
“Our front line with Paul and Amarri, when they’re going out and getting double-doubles like that, they’re beasts that they’re tough to handle for opposing teams,” Pecora said.
Feeding off the crowd
There was a fiery smell in the air as the Bobcats walked out to 2,182 fans in their matchup with the Stags, but nobody was expecting what came next.
With 4:26 left in the game, graduate student guard Savion Lewis and junior guard Deon Perry — who led the Stags in scoring with 23 points — got into a verbal altercation after fighting for a loose ball making the referees separate the two and assess them both for technical fouls.
Pecora started to get in the mix, jawing at graduate student guard Jamie Bergens while Monroe was shooting free throws. This sparked the junior forward to get the fans excited, pumping his arms up and down, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
“I know the crowd was going to get into it,” Monroe said. “I saw everybody waving their towels around and I’m like, ‘Wow, this is great.’”
The Bobcats were able to feed off the fan’s momentum all night, pushing a game that was once a two-point game at halftime into a 12-point win fueled by an 11-0 late run to give the Bobcats the game’s biggest lead at 15.
It takes all of us
The Bobcats are used to bringing in a big rotation with as many as 10 guys playing at a time, tiring out the Stags and having four players in double figures.
One player that stood out for the Bobcats was sophomore guard Khaden Bennett, who started the game 0-6 from the field but ended the game 3-4. Bennett’s second-half momentum with two massive three-pointers helped Quinnipiac get back in front after a cold streak.
“He made a couple of really big shots for us there in the second half,” Pecora said. “But he lives in a gym. He does all the little things that players need to do to become great. And he’s just a solid part of the rotation.”
Then there was senior guard Doug Young, who, along with Bennett, had two clutch threes down the stretch, which he celebrated both in front of the Fairfield bench.
“Doug is the microwave,” Pecora said. “He gives us great energy, and he has the ability to knock down those shots.”
The Bobcats are back in action Sunday afternoon as they travel to Siena. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
