The Quinnipiac Bobcats (12-10, 6-7 MAAC) had lost their last two games and had a 5-7 MAAC record coming into Thursday’s game against Monmouth (12-12, 8-5 MAAC). The Hawks went into the game in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings.
“It’s been a rough stretch in January,” Quinnipiac senior Evan Conti said.
Quinnipiac took control early in the first half thanks to unexpected contributor in junior James Ford Jr. Ford hit a career high 18 points on the game with three three-pointers in the first half alone.
Conti and Ford were roommates last weekend for the team’s games in New York and talked together about being more aggressive. Ford was beaming post game, and rightfully so after scoring a career high in points.
“You’ll see more of this,” Ford said.
Monmouth struggled with fouls in the first half and couldn’t get past the Quinnipiac defense. Their usual standout player Nicholas Andrew had a concussion and did not play. The Hawks went into the second half trailing by 13.
The Bobcats came back out energized and continued their steady defense. Senior captain Zaid Hearst, while unusually quiet on the scoreboard, was impressive on defense with seven rebounds.
Hearst was only beat out on the boards by senior Ousmane Drame who had 12 rebounds and joined the record books as the 5th Quinnipiac player to reach 1,000 career rebounds.
Monmouth looked to close the gap in the second half and while not committing as many fouls to help with that process. Deon Jones led the team with 12 points, and the Hawks were able to cut the Bobcats lead to eight points late in the second half.
That was ultimately as close as the Hawks would get as the Bobcats’ defense proved to be too strong for the Hawks. Quinnipiac confidently ran the clock by getting rebound after rebound, sometimes getting up to three possessions because of offensive rebounding.
Quinnipiac put their strong defense and dominating rebounding with consistent scoring. Conti and Drame both contributed double figure points, while fellow senior Justin Harris added 9 points of his own. The Bobcats won the game 72-52, improving their MAAC record to 6-7 on the season.
After the game Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore talked about the changing roles on the team.
“The clock is officially starting to tick on their [Heart and Ousmane] careers here,” Moore said.
He went on to say that its important for players like Ford to step up.
“He’s [Ford] an energy guy,” Moore said. “He’s an emotional focal point of our team.”
Moore said he is excited for Sunday’s game against Niagara. The game could feature Hearst reaching the 1500-point mark as he ended the Monmouth game just five points shy of the feat. The game will give the Bobcats a chance to get back to .500 in conference play as well.
