The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team defeated the Great Danes from the University of Albany 79-69 behind a 24-point performance from Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J.).
Shannon collected 19 of his 24 points in the first half, which helped the Bobcats come back from an 11-0 deficit after the first four minutes of the game. The Bobcats improve their record to 2-1 on the young season.
Head coach Tom Moore called a timeout after the Great Danes took an 11-0 lead early in the first half to get his team out of the early funk they seemed to be in.
“We had a pretty good calmness or poise about us during that first huddle when we were down 11-0,” Moore said. “I just think they were playing at a little bit of a quicker pace than us.”
“Zaid Hearst really triggered us out of it. He was flying to the glass making a couple of plays.”
Zaid Hearst (Bethesda, Md.) was one of the main reasons the Bobcats were able to battle back. He finished the first half with eight points and nine rebounds. Hearst finished the game with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Ousmane Drame (Boston, Mass.) also finished the day with a double-double, tallying 18 points and 10 rebounds.
After the slow start, the Bobcats went on a 21-8 run, taking their first lead of the game with seven minutes remaining in the first half. They did not look back.
The Bobcats went in to the locker room at halftime with a six-point lead over the Great Danes, 41-35. One key for the Bobcats taking this first-half lead was because of the nine assists they had in the half. The team had only been averaging nine assists total in the previous two games.
The team dominated on the glass all day long. The Bobcats out-rebounded the Great Danes 41-28, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.
“I thought we would come out and win the second half with our defense,” Moore said. “Obviously we didn’t win with our defense. We won with our offensive rebounding.”
The Bobcats were able to get 21 second chance points off of their 21 offensive rebounds. Another bright spot for the Bobcats was that they hit their free-throws. They were 12-14 from the line, shooting 85.7 percent, which is much better than the team was shooting in the first two games.
The team had four players in double figures, including Kasim Chandler’s (Newark, N.J.) 13 points off the bench to go along with Drame’s 18, Hearst’s 14 and the 24 by Shannon. The balanced offensive attack as well as the second chance opportunities propelled the Bobcats to a victory in this one.
The team improves to 2-1 on the season and looks to keep the solid start to the season alive when it welcomes Hampton to the T.D. Bank Sports Center on Wednesday Nov. 20.
