Two years, two heartbreaking losses.
The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team has been bounced in the MAAC Tournament Semifinals in back-to-back years.
Last year, it was a last second tip-in against Saint Peter’s. This year, Quinnipiac spent the entire game against No. 4 Iona trying to catch up in a contest in which they never led.
So what was the difference maker that gave Iona what it needed to complete the upset?
Physicality.
Graduate student forward Paul Otieno had a great season, but the big man was no match for Iona’s post players.
The Nairobi, Kenyan native was given the tall task of guarding Iona junior forward Yaphet Moundi, who averaged 23.5 points in the MAAC Tournament coming into the matchup with Quinnipiac and dropped another 17 against the Bobcats.
“Their ability first and foremost to combine both speed and aggressive toughness put us on our heels,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora said.
At halftime, Iona had scored 28 points in the paint. Quinnipiac had just eight.
“Yaphet was a physical presence,” Iona head coach Tobin Anderson said. “You’ve seen the last couple of days, he’s just a beast (in the post). … We’re not gonna win a lot of shooting contests, that’s not gonna happen. But we can defend and rebound.”
Defend and rebound they did, Otieno recorded just four points on 1-6 shooting while the Bobcats were held to their lowest point total since March 2 against Merrimack.
Moundi in particular was a dominating two-way presence for Iona all game long. The Paris native made it difficult for Quinnipiac to gameplan for, as the Bobcats simply had no one on the roster who could defend Moundi.
The Bobcats tried to counter Iona’s physical dominance in the three-point game to cover the deficit. But the shots from downtown just weren’t falling and Quinnipiac quickly found itself in a deficit it couldn’t claw back from.
Junior forward Amarri Monroe splashed just three of 12 shots from beyond-the-arc, and sophomore guard Khaden Bennett – whose three-point heroics in the quarterfinals helped the Bobcats snatch victory – made zero of his four attempts from three-point land.
Pecora and company will look to revamp and rebuild this upcoming spring. With looming questions over Monroe’s future with the team and with graduate student guard Savion Lewis departing, there’s currently more questions than answers for the men in Hamden.
One thing is for certain, if Quinnipiac wants a chance at a MAAC title next year, the team needs to establish a more physical presence. If it doesn’t, a three-peat of heartbreak is very likely.
