HAMDEN – Quinnipiac men’s basketball came into Wednesday night’s contest against the St. Peter’s Peacocks looking to capture the top spot atop the MAAC. Instead, the Bobcats slid to number four in the conference, falling to the Peacocks 74-70.
The Peacocks earned the top spot with their win, getting there due to their quickness and physicality on both sides of the ball— a fact that became apparent to Quinnipiac early in the first half.
Senior forward Zaakir Williamson would beat sophomore forward Spence Wewe to net a jump shot to open the scoring. Less than a minute later, senior guard Brent Bland would hit the first of seven Peacock three pointers.
St. Peters would ride the momentum of those buckets to the tune of a 10-1 run, giving them a seven point lead by second stoppage of the game.
“We’d have to match their intensity and we didn’t,” head coach Tom Pecora said.
But as the Bobcats came out of the second media timeout, they came out swinging.
Frontcourt contributions from senior forward Amarri Monroe and sophomore forward Grant Randall as well as a longball from Redshirt freshman Samson Riley allowed Quinnipiac to trim the Peacock lead to five by halftime.
The final 20 minutes saw the Bobcats pick up right where they left off.
Back to back longballs from Monroe and sophomore guard Jaden Zimmerman brought Quinnipiac all the way back to a tie game. A layup from senior guard Asim Jones broke the knotted score giving the Bobcats their first lead of the contest.
For a while, it seemed like Quinnipiac found the solution to the high powered and lightning fast Peacock attack. However, slowly but surely, St. Peters would climb back into the game.
“We were up six and we had a couple opportunities to go up 12,” Pecora said. “We didn’t make the buckets and we didn’t finish plays.”
In a game where the two teams are neck and neck, it’s the little things that make the difference. Today it was the free throws.
With five minutes to go in the second half, both teams got sloppy. The two squads would commit a combined eight fouls. While the Peacocks went 10-11 from the free throw line, the Bobcats would go four for seven with those Bobcat misses coming from Zimmerman and freshman guard Keith McKnight.
“There’s a reason why they call them free throws,” Pecora said. “You gotta lock in and make those shots.”
Those misses would end up being the difference maker, as the Peacocks would take an eight point lead with 90 seconds to go. Despite the deficit, the Bobcats would not go down without a fight. Layups from McKnight and Jones kept the game close, but foul trouble prevented the Bobcats from capitalizing further.
A late Quinnipiac offensive rush wouldn’t be enough, as the clock winded down and the St. Peter’s win became final.
The Bobcats will look to bounce back against the Merrimack Warriors Saturday, Jan. 17. Tip-off is scheduled from North Andover, Mass. for 3 p.m.
