By Hannah Cotter
In the last matchup between Quinnipiac and Fairfield men’s basketball teams, the Bobcats walked away from the Webster Bank Arena with a 64-59 victory and Giovanni McLean scored a career-high and a seasonal team-high 25 points.
On Saturday afternoon in Hamden, however, the game unfolded differently.
With a solid performance from sophomore forward Chaise Daniels early on, it looked as if the Bobcats could string along an easy W. Less than five minutes in, Daniels scored six of Quinnipiac’s 10 points, Andrew Robinson got a jumper adding three points from the bench, and the team was out-rebounding Fairfield 12-8.
But once Quinnipiac’s already unstable offense watered down towards the end of the first half, Fairfield took the opportunity and ran. An 11-2 run gave the Stags a 35-34 lead with less than a minute on the clock, and freshman forward Matija Milin, who scored 10 points off the bench in 13 minutes, gave the team a 38-34 lead at the half.
“We had great offensive determination in the second half and in both overtimes,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said. “But we didn’t play well offensively. I said ‘Wake up. Bring confidence offensively.’ But we were terrible on both ends in the first half.”
Quinnipiac had 15 turnovers just five minutes into the second half, and Fairfield used it to their advantage. The Stags ended up converting 31 points from turnovers- a drastic change from their last face-off with the Bobcats, in which they only converted 14.
The Bobcats had 12 turnovers in the first half and eight in the second, which was a factor for the Stags to come out with the victory. Entering the game, Quinnipiac had turned the ball over on 20.2 possessions, ranking eighth in the MAAC.
One of the most prominent problems Quinnipiac faced was Fairfield’s defense that was constantly mixing up in the first half. Despite being thrown off, Moore felt much more self-assured in the second half.
“I got a good vibe from our guys the whole second half,” Moore said. “We were much more alternative offensively.”
Quinnipiac outscored Fairfield 7-3 to start the second half and tied the game at 41 early on in the third quarter, but the constant intense fluctuation between teams simultaneously piqued both unerring concentration and serious frustration from the crowd.
A Daniel Harris layup gave the Bobcats a 43-41 lead, but Fairfield’s Marcus Gilbert followed up instantaneously with a three-pointer, putting the Stags up 44-43.
A tedious back-and-forth basket after basket made this game all too familiar to the two rivals. With less than 40 seconds to go in the game, senior forward Marcus Gilbert scored a layup giving Fairfield a five-point lead.
A Giovanni McLean layup followed by a turnover and a foul out gave Harris the chance to shoot three free-throws, which he hit all of, to tie the game up at 70.
When asked what was going through his mind when the pressure of the game rested on his shoulders, Harris laughed, “I just had to make them.” And just like that, the game went into overtime.
Harris, whose specialty is his three-pointers, was relatively quiet during the game. Going 0-7, he was playing extremely out of character. But less than a minute left in overtime, he scored, getting his first three of the night; the scoreboard read 75-74 in Quinnipiac’s favor.
Like clockwork, Fairfield matched it. Sophomore Tyler Nelson drilled a three, giving the Stags a two-point lead with less than 30 seconds left. The atmosphere in the stands was electric. All eyes flickered between the court and the clock.
Another foul, and Chaise Daniels, who had matched McLean’s previous team and career-high 25 points, went two-for-two, once again tying the game and lead the game into a second overtime.
“I went one-for-one, and then I knew I had to give my team some type of chance to cut the lead down”, Daniels said.
With the help of Abdulai Bundu’s 16 points and 10 rebounds, marking his third double-double of the season, the Bobcats trailed by one with three minutes left in the contest.
McLean drove straight to the bucket and tried to bring the Bobcats back on top, but with his miss and a plethora of personal fouls, Fairfield walked out victorious, 84-80.
Five of Fairfield’s players ended the game in double figures, led by freshman guard Curtis Cobb, and Matija Milin scored 18 points off the bench for the Stags.
The win improves Fairfield 14-11 and 8-7 in conference play, and Quinnipiac falls to 8-16 and 5-10 in the MAAC. Up next, the Bobcats play Iona on the road, followed by the team’s final two home games next week against Saint Peter’s and Manhattan.
