HAMDEN – Fate of the universe on the line, death beam pointed at Earth you better hit it, most Quinnipiac fans would say they want senior forward Amarri Monroe. But the Preseason MAAC Player of The Year dished the ball to the corner for sophomore forward Grant Randall, who redeemed himself following a miss from the same spot against Manhattan three weeks ago.
“He rips that shot every game,” Monroe said.
Following turnovers from either side, sophomore forward Will Shortt opened Niagara’s scoring with a two handed jam. Quinnipiac quickly answered the same way they had all season, via the three.
Randall and senior guard Asim Jones connected from deep on back-to-back possessions to put the Bobcats up by four early.
Shortt and junior forward Vice Zanki responded, with a Zanki three powering Niagara back to the lead. After Monroe evened the score at the line, Shortt once more capitalized, besting his six-point season average in the first six minutes.
Following a mid-range jumper from senior forward Justin Hawkins, Monroe connected from deep for the first time, stretching the lead to six after a 6-0 Bobcat run.
Sophomore guard Jaden Zimmerman forced a Purple Eagle turnover and finished at the other end for an impressive reverse layup. A layup from redshirt freshman Braylan Ritvo pushed the Bobcat scoring run to 14-2 over an eight-minute span.
Freshman forward Keith McKnight added an exclamation point by slamming home a great feed from freshman guard Tai Turnage. With a layup on the next possession, McKnight amassed a personal 6-0 run over two minutes.
Turnage was a key piece all game long. Even while not scoring, Turnage recorded three assists on big plays as well as two rebounds.
“He doesn’t turn the ball over, and there’s not many freshmen who do that,” head coach Tom Pecora said. “He’s never not responded to the call. I know he’s going to go in and compete.”
Things got interesting late in the first half. Monroe went up for a rebound but took a hard shove from Niagara junior wing Josiah Sabino, with an exchange of pleasantries after the whistle.
Upon review, Sabino was handed a flagrant foul and ejected from the game with two minutes to play in the half. Monroe made both foul shots. Jones added a layup to bring the Bobcat lead to a first-half high of 17.
Another Shortt layup canceled out two Randall free throws as the Bobcats led 36-24 at halftime. Foul shots proved to be the difference as the Bobcats put home 11 compared to just two on four attempts for Niagara.
Coming out of the halftime break, Niagara quickly went to the foul line, with Hawkins knocking down four straight foul shots in the first two minutes.
Shortt and Zanki responded to a Monroe three as a Zanki three cut the Bobcat lead to six for the first time since early in the first half.
A dunk from junior forward Drew Larson just before the midway mark of the half brought Niagara within one possession for the first time in 25 minutes of game action. Suddenly, Niagara jumped in front with a Larson three.
After recording just two made shots from beyond the arc, Niagara opened the second half 4-4 from deep. Another Williams three extended the lead to four.
Still, Turnage and the Bobcats stayed resilient throughout and continued to make strong plays.
“I think Tai is the reason we won this game today,” Monroe said. “The last couple of minutes he made us dig on defense. He makes sure we’re guarding. If we’re not guarding hard enough he’ll let us know.”
Feeling a sense of urgency, McKnight hammered home a dunk to cut the lead in half. On the following possession, a Zimmerman three put Quinnipiac back in front. The hot-handed Zimmerman wanted a sequel, drilling another three to revive the Bobcat faithful.
“You’ve got to go to your strengths. When (Zimmerman) did that he had some more success,” Pecora said.“You have to know where your wins are coming. That’s what veterans do.”
Quinnipiac’s defense came out of a Niagara timeout fired up, forcing consecutive scoreless possessions emphasized by a Monroe layup to formalize another double-double.
Yet another Shortt layup closed the gap in the final three minutes, which was then added to by a Williams three-pointer. With 52 seconds to go, Niagara led by one.
After a strong block on the defensive end, Zimmerman came away with a steal but had the ball knocked out of bounds with 17 seconds remaining. Niagara took possession.
Following a foul on an inbound, Williams went 1-2 at the line making it 55-53 Niagara with 10 seconds left.
Following the miss on the second shot, Randall reeled in the rebound and took it up the floor, finding the sure-handed Monroe who returned the favor to Randall.
“I knew it was gonna go in after it left my hands,” Randall said.
Fate of the universe on the line, death beam pointed at Earth you better hit it, I want Grant Randall.
Ballgame. 56-55 Bobcats victorious.
Quinnipiac will hit the road to take on Siena in Loudonville, N.Y. on Friday Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.
