In the first installment in what is sure to be a cross-county rivalry, the Quinnipiac Bobcats took down the Fairfield Stags 83-79 in the Bobcats’ first in-conference matchup since joining the MAAC, despite a Fairfield barrage late in the second half.
Ousmane Drame picked up 18 points, finishing with his 31st career double double. He also matched a career-high six blocks on the day.
“My fear coming into the game was that [Fairfield] would be a lot better than their record, and I was right,” head coach Tom Moore said. “I think they threw everything at us both defensively and offensively to start the game … I’m proud of the fact that we were able to get up and even manage a six-point lead at halftime.”
The game whipsawed back and forth in the first half, with Quinnipiac having to overcome a nine-point deficit, but the Bobcats pulled away early in the second half, and held off the Fairfield attack.
“It was our first MAAC game, so obviously we wanted to come out and prove a point and get this first win under our belt,” Ike Azotam said. “It feels good right now.”
Fairfield struck early, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. The Bobcats responded, taking the 6-5 lead moments later. After that, for a long stretch of the game, it was all Fairfield.
Fairfield jumped to a 34-25 lead midway through the first half. Quinnipiac then scored 10 unanswered points to grab the lead, 35-34, and the Bobcats would not look back after that.
Quinnipiac went into halftime with a 44-38 lead, but it did not relent in its attack in the second half.
The Bobcats controlled the first 10 minutes of the second half, reaching a 66-54 lead with 10:23 left. However, Fairfield slowly chipped away at the lead. It came to the point where, with 1.7 seconds left, the Bobcats lead had dwindled down to 81-79 with the Bobcats in possession of the ball.
“That team did not go away,” Moore said. “That’s a terrific defensive team, really well coached because they change a lot and we didn’t catch them in the midst of changing, and usually when teams try to do a lot of things, multiple defenses and change quite a bit, you can get some of the moments when you catch somebody in the right defense. They’re well coached.”
“Whether it was a 2-3, 1-3-1 or man, they didn’t go away. At all. They maintained a defensive intensity so we didn’t get anything easy. I felt we were just trying to get to the finish line, like a marathon runner that had a lead and was just trying to get to the line.”
Umar Shannon was able to in bound the ball to Zaid Hearst, who was immediately fouled. Hearst would sink both free throws, sealing the game for the Bobcats.
For Quinnipiac, the win brings them to 5-2 overall on the season, and the win was their first in the new conference. The team will take on Rider on the road on Sunday, Dec. 8.
