The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team put together its most complete performance of the season in a 80-64 victory over Rider on Saturday afternoon.

The Bobcats had three offensive leaders, first-years Tymu Chenery and Luis Kortright and senior Jacob Rigoni each tallied 18 points, with Rigoni adding 15 rebounds for a double-double.

Quinnipiac put it all together by playing the strong defense that ranks top 10 in the country and added on the offensive end to continue boosting the win column.

“It was just about coming together and learning from our losses and our setbacks and I think that’s what makes or breaks a team,” Rigoni said. “We’re committed defensively, and we know that needs to be our identity if we want to have success going forward.”

Shooting from beyond the arc has been a struggle for the Bobcats this season, with the team unable to find the consistent stroke that they’ve had in the past. Remember a year ago, Quinnipiac averaged double-digit made three pointers a game. In 2020-2021, they’ve only had four games with 10 or more made threes, including Saturday afternoon against Rider.

“Just take them when they’re open, not being afraid to take good shots,” head coach Baker Dunleavy said. “If you pass up a good shot from three, we could leave ourselves open to making a mistake later on in the possession. We have good shooters; I want them to think I’m confident in them because they deserve it.”

Redshirt first-year JJ Riggins made his first career start on Saturday. Riggins has appeared in 12 of the 15 games this season, splitting time with sophomore center Seth Pinkney. Riggins added five points in his 14 minutes.

“We want to develop him and develop his confidence and get him more used to playing a big role on the team,” Dunleavy said. “We played three guys at the five tonight with JJ, obviously Seth, and also Jacob. I think it gives us great team versatility, all three guys all for different things. JJ is going to be a big factor going down the stretch for us that were going to need.”

With six games left before the MAAC tournament in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dunleavy is ready to deploy new starting lineups to prepare his guys for big games.