Photo Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Hannah Cotter
One rebound away from a double-double and continuing his high scoring streak, freshman forward Abdulai Bundu paced Quinnipiac with 15 points and nine rebounds on Saturday afternoon against the number one MAAC contender, Iona.
The Bobcats were uncharacteristically out rebounded by the Gaels, 57-42, and as a result Tom Moore’s squad has now lost its fourth game in a row.
Despite Bundu’s solid game and Will Simonton’s nine point effort effort off the bench, Quinnipiac couldn’t match Iona’s on-court chemistry.
Though there was a lot of back-and-forth action in the first half, Iona used a 14-3 run early in the second half to go up by eight and never looked back.
“I think we should’ve taken a few less threes in the first half and driven the ball a lot more, but for whatever reason, we were on our heels. But Abdulai Bundu wasn’t on his heels.” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said after the game.
Bundu scored 11 points in the first half.
His physicality was prominent from the start, his aggressive play on the defensive end in particular.
Senior guard AJ English, who hadn’t played in Iona’s past five games due to a hand injury, hit the ground hard as Bundu hit one from the arch.
Despite being an injury-plagued team, the Gaels distributed the ball evenly through the starters and bench, particularly English, who had six assists.
Though he had a rough first half, English dominated the second half by scoring nine unanswered points in less than a minute.
The Iona press was too much for the inexperience on Quinnipiac’s backcourt.
The second half was much faster paced.
Senior guard Isaiah Williams lead the Gaels for the entirety of the game, shooting 7-for-18 from the field and racking up eight rebounds.
Even more impressive in rebounding was Iona’s Jordan Washington. The junior forward collected 15 rebounds, eight of those defensively.
“I didn’t like our confidence level on offense, our determination on offense, our belief on offense. [Iona] is obviously an explosive offensive team. I thought Washington was dominant inside, and I’m really disappointed that that was the case,” Moore said. “We’ve never had a team beat us on the boards like they did.”
Guards James Ford, Jr. and Daniel Harris had clutch 3-pointers, both scoring nine points overall.
No other Bobcat besides Bundu scored in double digits.
“James has a lot of heart and a lot of toughness,” Moore said. “When the game gets really loose, he can really get going.”
After a slam-dunk by Iona’s Taylor Bessick, Ford answered with a three-point shot to silence the Iona fan section.
With the win, Iona improves to 6-6 and 3-0 in MAAC play. Quinnipiac is now 4-8 and 1-2 in MAAC play.
In its next game, Quinnipiac plays Rider at home Monday, Jan. 4 at 7 pm.
