By: Josh Silverman
ALBANY, NEW YORK – In a rollercoaster season filled with so many close finishes, there was no reason to think that the first round of the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament would be any different.
Though the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team ended up beating the Siena Saints 67-58 on Thursday night, it was Quinnipiac not scoring a basket in the final 7:53 of the game that was cause for concern.
If it wasn’t for Quinnipiac connecting on its first eight shots of the game and getting out to a commanding 24 point halftime lead, it might not have been able to hold off Siena’s last push.
“We just had an aggressive mindset,” head coach Baker Dunleavy, explaining the reason for Siena’s late comeback. “That’s what we’ve been talking about to end the season. There’s not a lot of teams that win their last game but we want to make sure that however our season ends, it ends with us playing aggressively in the way that we talk about all the time.”
Playing in a tough environment due to Siena’s proximity to the Times Union Center, where the Tournament is being held, Quinnipiac got contributions from its usual cast of characters.
Senior guard and all-MAAC second team selection Cameron Young finished the game with 14 points and continued to lead the Bobcats with his play. Young notched his sixth double-double of the season, adding 11 rebounds to his stat line.
After not getting any minutes in last year’s tournament, Young made the most of his opportunity this year.
“For sure it feels great,” Young said. “Sitting there last year watching my team lose was tough and it feels good to get a win with my team this year.”
Each playing in their first postseason tournament game, freshman Rich Kelly and Jacob Rigoni certainly didn’t play like rookies. Both came out firing and the duo finished with a combined 35 points.
Before the game their coach wanted to make sure they understood what they meant to this team. They aren’t just freshman anymore.
“That’s what I said to these guys in the pregame speech,” Dunleavy said. “It’s reiterated all the time and it’s true. It’s not just because they’re special… They’ve played so many minutes. I’ve thrown them into the fire.”
A lot of the conversation coming into the game was the MAAC coaches voting Siena’s Prince Oduro to the all-MAAC rookie team over Rigoni.
Oduro only played 21 minutes in Thursday’s game before picking up his fifth and final foul. Meanwhile, Rigoni played 33 minutes and notched 17 points and 8 rebounds.
However that wasn’t what Rigoni was focused on.
“I knew (Oduro made the all-MAAC team) but that’s not the reason I’ve come here to play” Rigoni said. “Our goal is still ahead of us and we got a lot of work to do and it’s an exciting time of year for us.”
Quinnipiac can now enjoy its first conference tournament win since 2014. For a program trending upwards, this was a big step in the right direction.
“It’s a good thing for our program, it’s a good thing for our fans and our students,” Dunleavy said. “We take pride in being able to come in and get a win here but I think for our team, more than anything, just being able to say we played one of our best games right now at the end of the year…I do feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now.”
Up next for Quinnipiac is the number two seed Canisius Golden Griffins Friday night at 9:30 p.m in the quarterfinal round.
Canisius swept Quinnipiac in the regular season, winning both games by a combined 15 points.
