Photo Courtesy: QBSN
By Morey Hershgordon
On Friday night, the Quinnipiac University Bobcats defeated the visiting Yale Bulldogs 88-85 in a double overtime marathon.
Despite a slow start and trailing the Bulldogs by as many as eleven points in the first half, the Bobcats fought hard closing the first half on an 18-9 run.
The second half was back and forth with lead changes for both teams. The Bobcats were down by 2 points with less than a minute remaining when Sophomore point guard Kasim Chandler drove the lane and attempted a floater. Following the miss, Ousmane Drame grabbed the offensive rebound and converted the layup while getting fouled.
He would go on to miss the free throw and a late defensive stand by the Bobcats forced the game into its first overtime period.
Quinnipiac was clinging to a 75-73 lead when Chandler stepped to for two free throws to ice the game. He split the pair and Yale called a time out.
Flashback to last year during the first round of the College Insider.com Tournament when the Bobcats were leading Yale by one point with under thirty seconds remaining in regulation. Chandler stepped to the line. He made one free throw. Then, Justin Sears banked in a fade away three with 0.7 seconds left to give the Bulldogs the victory.
Back to Friday night. It wasn’t Sears this time, but it was Jack Montague who connected on a fade away three pointer to send the game to a second overtime.
In the second overtime the Bobcats never relinquished the lead. And this time, holding a three point lead with eleven second remaining, senior Justin Harris knocked down two crucial free throws.
Zaid Hearst scored a career high 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win. Harris, who has never seen consistent playing time during his first three years, scored 12 points on five of six shooting and grabbed a couple rebounds without committing a turnover in 20 minutes of game action.
The Bobcats, who finished first in the country last year in rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game, and rebounding margin, compiled 54 rebounds, 22 of them on the offensive glass, to Yale’s 38 total rebounds.
The Bobcats are back in action at the TD Bank SportsCenter on Tuesday night against Atlantic 10 foe LaSalle. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30p.m.
