Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Dylan Fearon
One thing that makes the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference so interesting is the undeniable parity within the league. With only a couple of exceptions, teams have a coin-flip chance of winning their conference games. Give a slight edge to the home team, but that’s about it. Gamblers should stay very far away from the MAAC.
The parity this year has been a lot more noticeable. Monmouth is good, but hasn’t shown its giant-killing ability much this season, losing to Saint Peter’s and Rider already this season. Iona, the defending MAAC Tournament champions, is 5-4 in league play. Siena, which hosts the tournament this year in Albany, was expected to make a lot of noise at the top of league. But the Saints are also 5-4 in conference play, and are only two games out of first place Monmouth.
The depth of the MAAC continued to show it is alive and well Friday night, as Quinnipiac defeated Canisius in Hamden 95-90 to improve its conference record to 5-4. No, not every team is 5-4, but now there’s a four-way tie for third place in the MAAC. Iona, Siena, Quinnipiac and Canisius are all two games behind Monmouth and one and a half games behind second place Saint Peter’s.
“There’s a lot of good teams in the league this year, and very few bad teams,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said. “Our first couple of years in the league you could almost say there were two or three really great teams, but I think Monmouth, based on what they did a year ago, they’re probably a half notch above the other teams in the league. I think you have to try and do what we did tonight, where if you lose to a team on the road, you have to try and get them at home. Control your destiny at home as much as possible and try to steal a road win here or there.”
Quinnipiac had a terrific first half against Canisius, shooting 68 percent from the field en route to a 15-point halftime lead. The Bobcats were being aggressive getting to the rim and earning open looks, thanks to freshman Mikey Dixon.
Dixon has been outstanding in the Bobcats’ last 15 games, and continued that against the Golden Griffins. The Samford, Delaware product had 17 points in the first half and didn’t miss a shot, going four-for-four from the field and eight-for-eight from the free throw line. Dixon finished with 29 points, the most in the program’s Division I history by a freshman.
According to Moore, the first half was a great example of his players being more comfortable with their roles as the season progresses.
“Our roles have all evolved, been defined and been accepted,” Moore said. “Our shot distribution has become much more settled and defined. Our group is really comfortable with it and comfortable with each other. Mikey has emerged as a big time scorer, and the whole team is comfortable with it. Pete (Kiss) has emerged as a scorer and a playmaker and they’re comfortable with it. Chaise (Daniels), Donovan (Smith) and Abdulai (Bundu) are all better and more consistent.”
The Bobcats were up by as much as 19, but Canisius came storming back and dwindled the lead to as little as two, despite senior Phil Valenti being ejected in the first half. Dixon was fouled on the floor, but went up for a shot after the whistle was blown. Valenti, in what looked like an attempt to block Dixon from making a layup, smacked Dixon across the face. Quinnipiac forward Donovan Smith got in Valenti’s face and the two had an exchange. Both were assessed off-setting technical fouls, but the officials decided to give Valenti a second technical foul for the smack across Dixon’s face, resulting in an automatic ejection.
“Donovan was upset that Mikey was on the ground and came to the aid of one his teammates,” Moore said. “I thought the refs did a great job dissolving a potential heated exchange immediately after the play happened. I thought they did a great job reviewing it and explaining it to Reggie (Witherspoon) and I. It obviously was a big loss for them in that early stage of the game, because he’s a terrific player and a senior and he really stabilizes them on both ends of the court.”
Canisius’ comeback was too little too late, as Quinnipiac improved its overall record to 8-11 on the season after starting 0-4. Last year, the Bobcats finished 9-21 and 6-14 in MAAC play.
Moore credits the improvement to three things.
“The returning players have all improved, there’s a little more offensive ability on the perimeter with the new guys, and the recommitment to defense in the middle of the year just made us a better team,” Moore said.
The Bobcats don’t have it easy moving forward. Their next two games are at Iona and at Monmouth. That’s two tough road games, one against the defending MAAC regular season champions and the other against the tournament champions. Not an easy test for any team.
“Iona brings a different challenge,” Moore said. “We’ll talk about Jordan Washington and how we want to guard him. We’ll talk about our transition defense. We’ll stay the course and try to keep grinding and try get all these guys better.”
