Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Tom Cunningham
Despite a second half comeback by the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team in which it shot 56 percent from the field, it was not enough to take down two-time defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Manhattan Jaspers. The Bobcats were down as many as 13 points in the second half, but cut the deficit to one with just over a minute to play. That was as close as Quinnipiac would get as Manhattan’s efficient free throw shooting and strong defense down the stretch aided a 63-59 win spoiling Senior Day at the TD Bank Sports Center for Will Simonton, Giovanni McLean, and James Ford, Jr.
The Jaspers potent defense, one of the toughest in the MAAC, was on full display against the Bobcats all afternoon. They disrupted the Bobcats’ offensive rhythm the entire first half. After the first 20 minutes, Manhattan took a 31-23 lead to the locker room, ending the first half on a 9-2 run. Manhattan’s full court pressure kept the Bobcats’ offense in disarray.
“From our perimeter guys, to our big guys there were so many subtle things offensively that we didn’t do in the first half that you need to do against these guys,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said. “In my opinion, I thought we only gave ourselves 20 minutes of a chance on offense to beat them.”
The Bobcats’ second half charge was led by McLean and sophomore forward Chaise Daniels, who each had 15 points, 13 coming in the second half for both players.
In past matchups, the Bobcats have been able to limit the scoring of Manhattan sharp-shooter Shane Richards. In Hamden, last year, Richards was held scoreless. In the last meeting earlier this season Richards scored just 12 points, on 1-of-12 shooting. Sunday was a different story as Richards came out drilling two 3-point baskets five minutes into the game, en route to a 21-point performance.
“In the first half, it was more transition stuff,” Moore said. “I thought we were getting lost chasing the ball and trying to find him. They did a great job getting to him early.”
Quinnipiac was able to stage a second half comeback that saw Moore’s squad cut Manhattan’s lead to one at 57-56 with 1:08 left to play. With 18 seconds left, Rich Williams converted his two free throw attempts to push the Jaspers’ lead back to three. On the ensuing Bobcats’ possession, Daniels turned the ball over. RaShawn Stores hit four free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
“I trusted the five guys that were out there. Whoever’s hand it ended up with at the end, hoping to get a good shot,” Moore said. “I rolled the dice that we would get a good shot for one of those five guys and it ended up going to Chaise [Daniels].”
Despite the loss, Quinnipiac still feels that it can compete with any team in the MAAC come tournament time.
“We’re always there, it’s just the little things we have to pay attention to details,” McLean said. “We still have a goal at hand, a task to complete. We just got to go up there and win ball games. We know we are there with every team, we can play with any team in this league and we just need to do the little things and we’ll win games.”
Quinnipiac hits the road for its final two games of the season. Friday night it faces Marist before finishing up at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York Sunday against Siena. With such a young team, Moore believes playing at the Times Union Center, the site of the MAAC Tournament, will be beneficial.
“Going up to Albany and seeing the Times Union Center four days before the start of the tournament is going to be really good because we have about nine guys who have never been a part of this and don’t understand it,” Moore said. “We have puppies in terms of experience that are playing that are competing hard and trying to win while they don’t have experience at a lot of these situations.”
As of now, Quinnipiac would play Canisius in the opening round of the MAAC tournament. The action begins Thursday March 3.
