By Tim Schulze, QBSN Staff Writer
After finishing its trip to the Virgin Islands 1-2, the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team dropped its second home game of the season Tuesday night to the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh University, 77-66. The loss drops the Bobcats’ record to 2-4 on the season while the victory improves the Mountain Hawks’ record to 5-2.
After a slow start to the game, senior guard C.J. McCollum heated up in the second half and carried the Mountain Hawks to victory. The Patriot League Player of the Week finished with 30 points, nine rebounds, and four assists for Lehigh.
Senior forward Gabe Knutson garnered 17 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in the victory for the Mountain Hawks. Junior guard Mackey McKnight finished with seven points, seven assists, and three steals.
“I just tried to assert myself and be more aggressive,” McCollum said. “I knew our team was lacking some scoring and energy, so I just tried to bring more of that in the second half.”
Quinnipiac collectively shot 40 percent from the field in the loss and the team continues to struggle scoring from downtown, only shooting 27.3 percent on the 3-point shots. The Bobcats also turned the ball over 13 times in the game.
Free-throw shooting has plagued the Bobcats this season, and it was exposed in the loss to Lehigh. Quinnipiac went 19 for 30 on fouls shots. Senior forward Jamee Jackson (Newark, N.J.) missed all four of his fouls shots while junior guard Shaq Shannon (Philadelphia, Pa.) missed three important free throws that could have extended the one-time Bobcats lead in the second half to four.
“We missed some free throws at a key time where it would have been nice to try to get a little cushion, and then McCollum made a lot of good plays down the stretch which he is expected to do,” Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said.
Senior guard Garvey Young (Washington D.C.) led the Bobcats in scoring with 16 points while shooting a perfect 10-10 from the free-throw line. Junior forward Ike Azotam (Boston, Mass.) tallied 13 points and collected 13 rebounds.
Quinnipiac will have eight days off to work out the kinks in its game, as it will look to snap a three-game losing streak on Wednesday, Dec. 5 against Raiders of Colgate University at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden.
