HAMDEN — The Quinnipiac men’s basketball season has been anything but storybook. Sunday afternoon’s senior night against Fairfield was another slog of a chapter in a frustrating read.
The Stags toppled the Bobcats with a final score of 85-79, with Quinnipiac only leading in the second half for 70 seconds.
In fact, Fairfield took the lead for the final time with a tick under seven minutes remaining. Quinnipiac’s star senior forward Amarri Monroe was called for a personal foul, bickered with the referee for a moment and then received a technical foul, giving him four and subsequently five on the afternoon, resulting in an immediate ejection from the matchup.
Monroe couldn’t believe it. Quinnipiac sophomore center Spence Wewe couldn’t believe it. Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora couldn’t believe it. The crowd couldn’t believe it.
On senior night, the most prominent athlete on campus was ejected with his Bobcats having a two point lead.
“There wasn’t (an explanation). I’m sure he said the magic word, but this is a rivalry game,” Pecora said. “There’s a lot of banter going on out there in the course of the game.”
Monroe finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three steals. It wasn’t his best game in front of the Bobcat faithful by any means.
As he walked off the floor of M&T Bank Arena for the last time, he and everyone else listened to the crowd holler “Ref, you suck” on repeat.
Graduate student guard Deuce Turner of Fairfield drilled all four free throws granted to him. As the fourth fell through the net, the Stags took a 66-65 lead.
“Outstanding,” was Pecora’s choice when asked to describe Monroe’s tenure in one word. “As the story goes on, his willingness to stay here. He turned down a lot of money from a number of schools because he loves Quinnipiac and wanted to be here for his senior year.”
The rest of the Bobcats did not let the game dwindle by without a fight. Sophomore forward Grant Randall, freshman forward Keith McKnight and senior guard Asim Jones combined for a trio of big time lobs in the second half to keep the crowd’s energy high.
“It’s a shame, we had a great crowd,” Pecora said. “I always think about that, you get the crowd to come and then (lose]). It was an exciting game but we very easily could’ve come out on top.”
Jones, although in his first year in Hamden, dazzled on senior night. The transfer from FIU led the team in minutes (36), points (16) and assists (7) in the night.
“We really needed a point guard, and coming in, he wasn’t a true point guard,” Pecora said. “He did a good job because when we talked about his future, if he’s going to go make some dough in Europe, it’s going to be as a point guard.”
“I think the future’s bright for him,” Pecora said. “Hopefully, this isn’t the end of the story, and he can do some special stuff back in his home state of New Jersey.”
The Bobcats will travel to Buffalo next weekend, taking on Niagara and Canisius in their final two games of MAAC play. They currently sit at 11-7 in the conference, good for just fifth place and a game behind the 12-6 trio of Siena, St. Peter’s and Marist.
They have already punched their ticket to Atlantic City, taking place from March 5-10 at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
Maybe that final chapter will make the turmoil of this season worth it, or maybe this book will finish the same way as its predecessors.
