HAMDEN — The latest chapter in the battle of Whitney Ave ended in a disappointing defeat Tuesday night for Quinnipiac men’s basketball at the hands of Yale, 97-60.

“That’s an ass kicking right there,” head coach Tom Pecora said. “We played well the first couple minutes and we thought it was gonna be easy. I’m not happy about it… just our lack of physicality and our lack of (maturity).”

But at the start of the game, it was looking like the underdogs in Hamden were going to do the impossible.

Senior forward Amarri Monroe set the tone early, drilling a corner three in the opening minutes and rejecting the Bulldogs on the other end with a block. Monroe took that momentum and swung it down the other side of the court, where he set up a lob for sophomore forward Grant Randall to slam down. 

However the contest remained tight at 20-19 in favor of the Bulldogs. A couple threes from Yale sophomore forward Riley Fox and a dominating post presence from senior forward Nick Townsend kept the Connecticut schools at a near deadlock by the middle of the first half. 

That dead heat would quickly blow away as the Bulldogs laid out a barrage of threes, steadily taking control of the game and the lead.

No one player particularly stood out for the Bulldogs in terms of total points, but a collective team effort on offense and on the boards kept the Bobcats at bay.

Quinnipiac just couldn’t keep up on defense, whether it was down low in the post or out in the perimeter beyond-the-arc. 

The ghosts from the St. John’s game just a few weeks ago came back to haunt Quinnipiac as well, as turnovers and poor transition defense helped contribute to the Bulldogs growing lead. 

The first half for the Bobcats got even worse. Looking to get his team back on track, Monroe drove the ball into the lane and went for a dunk, when he was fouled on his way up and took a huge hit to the ground.

A stunned crowd watched in silence as Monroe was barely able to move for minutes, the medical staff brought out a cart but after a few more moments of silence, Monroe was able to get up and walk to the locker room. 

Things cooled off as play resumed, the two teams traded misses as neither could seem to find its footing.

But just before the first half ended, Quinnipiac got a huge boost when Monroe emerged from the locker room and joined his team on the bench. Then just minutes later, the team captain checked back into the game.

Going into halftime Quinnipiac trailed Yale 52-28, a lot needed to go right in Hamden for the Bobcats to get back into the game.

Despite some heroics from freshman guard Keith McKnight, the Bobcats were unable to chip away at Yale’s growing lead. By the halfway point of the second half, the Bulldogs were up by 30.

When the game became out of reach, Monroe was back on the bench where he could do nothing but watch from the sidelines.

“I wasn’t gonna risk him in a game like that,” Pecora said.

But what went wrong? Quinnipiac got off to that hot start and seemed to take control early. It was a similar story to Quinnipiac’s last few matchups against Yale — rebounding. 

Similar to Quinnipiac’s season opener against St. John’s on Nov. 3, Yale’s defenders were just too tall and too big for the Bobcats to hang with in the long run.

It was a problem that persisted in the late stages of the second half, even as McKnight continued to put on a show with his 12 points off the bench on 85% from the field.

That efficiency was not reflective of the overall team, as Quinnipiac shot just 39% from the field and 20% from three.

“No one had a good night for us,” Pecora said. “It showed in every aspect of the game, you know, having that many turnovers (17).

By the two minute mark, Pecora officially waved the white flag, sending rotational players to the bench and letting some of the younger players gain some experience on the court.

Quinnipiac battled until the bitter end, playing full court defense until the final buzzer despite the game being well out of reach. 

The Bobcats will hit the road and travel to Orono, Maine to take on the Maine Black Bears on Nov. 16. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.