The Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s basketball team captured its second consecutive victory dominating the Hartford Hawks 99-79. It was led by the Bobcats’ best offensive performance of the season.
The Bobcats came into the game looking to continue their momentum after their first conference win in a dominant performance against the Marist Red Foxes by a score of 77-63.
The Hawks were looking to do same, coming off their second win of the season and defeating in-state rival Sacred Heart in overtime 87-79. Senior guard Jalen Ross was also looking to continue his hot play, averaging 23 points per game.
The Bobcats were off and running, playing fast paced from the beginning of the first half until the end of the game.
The Bobcats took advantage of the Hawks’ 1-3-1 zone by shooting right over it, hitting three consecutive threes during the start the game. The Bobcats were led early by freshman guard Peter Kiss who had 10 points in his seven minutes of action before being taken out after he picked up his second foul.
“It was good to see the ball go in early,” Bobcats head coach Tom Moore said. “I thought it help our defense too.”
The Bobcats stayed hot for most of the half, as they were five of six from downtown midway through leading 24-14.
As the half dwindled down, the Hawks tried to create turnovers and began to press playing right in the Bobcats’ hands and upping the tempo even more. Senior guard Daniel Harris began to take advantage, scoring seven consecutive points for the Bobcats.
“Honestly I think it was because school is almost over,” Harris said. “I’ve just been able to get in the gym and get shots up.”
While the Bobcats were on fire offensively, they were also solid on the other end of the court containing Ross, the America East Conference’s leading scorer, and holding the America East Conference’s top three-point shooter in Hawks sophomore guard J.R. Lynch to three points.
The Hawks soon began trading baskets with the Bobcats at the end of the half eventually cutting the Bobcats lead down a bit going into halftime, 52-41.
The Bobcats continued their strong play into the second half, never letting their foot off of the pedal.
“I’d love to say there was a magic formula for it or that we changed anything from an X and O point of view,” Moore said. “We are trying to coach everything with this group, like attention to detail, focus, and they’ve taken too it.”
This hot start to the half was capped off by an alley-oop dunk by Kiss that put both the Bobcats team and fans on their feet.
Soon after the Kiss dunk, junior forward Donovan Smith threw down another alley-oop, this one with one hand that caused the crowd to erupt once again.
Quinnipiac dominated the second half, just like it dominated the first half: with a fast-paced style of play. Hartford began to play into their hands as well by pressing once again giving Quinnipiac countless transition opportunities.
The game began to slow down at the end and the Bobcats ran out the clock for a 99 -79 victory.
Despite having five players scoring in double figures and the team nearly hitting the century mark in points, Coach Moore is still looking for improvements offensively.
“We’ve got to be better in the half-court against teams the really get into us man-to-man,” says Moore. “Hartford tried a few times, but he was trying to play us in a zone.”
The Bobcats will look to build further on their momentum next time out Sunday against the Holy Cross Crusaders.
