By Thomas Albanese , QBSN Staff Writer
The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team stepped on Lender Court for the first time this season, taking on the eagles of American University from the Patriot League. The Bobcats fell to the Eagles by a final score of 61-55.
With the conclusion of tonight’s game, both teams move to a 1-1 record on the young season.
Both teams played strong, defensive basketball throughout the first half, but American came out on top with a slight 29-28-halftime lead over the Bobcats.
Despite having fewer turnovers in the game, Quinnipiac was unable to make shots when it counted the most in the second half. The Bobcats also finished the game shooting 43.4 percent (23-for-53) on the court. The team only traveled to the free-throw line nine times through 40 minutes of play and it only sank three of its nine shots at the line.
Ike Azotam (Boston, Mass.) and Dave Johnson (Jackson, N.J.) led Quinnipiac’s scoring with 11 points each. Azotam also contributed nine rebounds, and one assist and Johnson had team-high seven assists for Quinnipiac.
After having no points in the team’s 65-61 opening victory over Hartford, sophomore guard Zaid Hearst (Bethesda, Md.) contributed nine points, two rebounds, and one assist. Meanwhile, Garvey Young (Washington D.C.) put up eight points, two rebounds, and two assists against the Eagles’ defense.
Junior Shaq Shannon (Philadelphia, Pa.), a transfer that was added to the Bobcats’ roster this season, played his first career game as a Bobcat Shannon got nine points to go along with one rebound and four assists in his debut.
Three of American’s players finished the game with double-digit points. Stephen Lumpkins led the team with 19 points, and Tony Wroblicky and Daniel Munoz contributed 13 points each for the Eagles.
Quinnipiac’s head coach, Tom Moore showed disappointed after the game with the way that his players performed during the game.
“It was not a great night for us. I thought American played very disciplined with what they wanted to do offensively and defensively, and we did not play with any discipline,” Moore said.
Quinnipiac barely held its own in rebounding, only edging American by one (28-27) as the Bobcat’s frontcourt was strongly outplayed by the tall players from American University.
“Our frontcourt did not play well against another great frontcourt that they have over at American,” Moore said.
Quinnipiac will be traveling to St. Thomas of the U.S Virgin Islands to play its next three games, beginning Friday, until the team arrives back for its next home game against another opponent from the Patriot League, Lehigh University.
