Quinnipiac men’s basketball secured its second conference win of the season Sunday afternoon, handily beating the Rider Broncos 72-58.
The ninth straight home victory for the Bobcats against Rider, the result seemed to be a forgone conclusion for a Quinnipiac squad looking to repeat as MAAC regular season champions for the third straight season.
“We feel like we’re the top dogs. There’s a lot of critics…but this year we’re so on just us,” senior forward Amarri Monroe said.
For a squad looking to prove the doubters wrong, the first half couldn’t have gone better for the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac set the tone early, with senior guard Asim Jones’ three-pointer beginning a 12-0 scoring run to bury the Broncos in the opening minutes.
Another 7-point run would put the Bobcats up 21 to four midway through the first half.
Much of the early scoring could be attributed to the Bobcats’ dominance in the paint. Quinnipiac’s front court of forwards sophomore Spence Wewe and freshman Keith McKnight kept the Broncos’ chances outside the key for the majority of the first half.
Turnovers also proved costly for the Rider side, with the Bobcats taking advantage of the 10 to six ratio throughout the game to facilitate the offense through the back court with fast breaks.
“When you get 13 to one out of your point guard position, that’s pretty damn good. It’s just a turnover ratio, so I’m happy with that,” head coach Tom Pecora said.
The dominant offensive flurry had the Quinnipiac crowd on their feet, with two huge dunks from sophomore guard Jaden Zimmerman making the fans roar and showcasing the athletic disparity between the two teams.
Although the Bobcats would be held scoreless in the final 2:41 of the first half, Quinnipiac entered the break with an 18-point lead on the Broncos, on the cusp of breaking the game open in the second half.
“A game like this, we had an opportunity to get (the lead) from 20 to 30, and then it’s a different ball game,” said Pecora.
Unfortunately, the second half wouldn’t be nearly as dominant for Quinnipiac. After switching to zone defense, Rider was able to stifle the Bobcat attack, making the game much more of a back-and-forth affair in the initial possessions.
“They went zone just to take the air out of the gym a little bit. It worked. We didn’t attack it…it just allowed them to crawl back into the game,” Pecora said.
And crawl back into the game, Rider did. Three straight three-pointers for the visiting squad cut the Bobcat lead to ten before Quinnipiac’s stars took over the latter half of the game. Monroe and Zimmerman combined to score 18 of the Bobcats’ 34 second-half points.
Although the Bobcats’ offense was stifled for much of the second frame, the 20-point cushion proved to be enough for the home squad to hold off the 1-6 Broncos and stay undefeated in MAAC play. However, improvement in playing consistently for a full contest has to be imminent for the squad to maintain conference dominance.
“When you play poorly for stretches, there’s residue of that, and it carries over to your next game,” Pecora said.
Going into a stretch of non-conference play, the Bobcats must continue to work toward a complete-game effort. But the result in conference play is ultimately the goal, and Quinnipiac can use a game like this to learn from its mistakes.
“This is just two wins we can build off of and grow,” Monroe said. “It’ll be a good week…to reflect on these past two wins and then move on.”
The Bobcats return to the court to take on the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks in Hamden on Dec. 13. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
