Isaiah Washington hit a go-ahead layup with 6.7 seconds left as the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team (10-17 overall, 7-8 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) picked up a thrilling win at home Thursday night against the Manhattan Jaspers (12-15 overall, 7-8 MAAC), 71-70.
“I think our guys played with confidence, played aggressively,” Bobcats head coach Baker Dunleavy said. “It’s something that we talked about all week leading up to this game.”
No one exemplified the confidence and aggressiveness for the Bobcats more than Cameron Young. Young stepped up in a high-stakes game, dropping 27 points against a vaunted Manhattan defense. He scored 15 of Quinnipiac’s first 30 points, highlighted by a rare four-point play.
On the other side, Rich Williams was dominant for the Jaspers in this one, scoring 29 on a Bobcat squad that simply did not know how to stop him. To put the cherry on top of a breakout performance, Williams also appeared to have the game-winning shot, drilling a clutch three-pointer with 18 seconds left to give Manhattan a 70-69 lead. However, Quinnipiac responded immediately, running their offense without calling a timeout to get set.
“[Manhattan head coach Steve Masiello] is a tremendous coach, and I had no idea what they would be in defensively,” Dunleavy responded when asked if not calling time after Williams’s three was planned.
Young went straight to the hoop off of the inbounds pass but then appeared to be stuck in traffic. Somewhat miraculously, he found Washington cutting to the basket, setting up an open layup for the win.
“I was looking to score first, but I didn’t have anything,” Young said about the final basket. “So I turned and I saw Isaiah cutting, which we always work on, so it was easy.”
Washington put it up and in, and the Bobcats just needed one final stop to secure the win.
After a Manhattan timeout, Zavier Turner dribbled the ball up the court and took it himself, launching a three over Washington. It didn’t go down, but the Jaspers had one last gasp when Pauly Paulicap couldn’t finish a tough putback attempt. As it bounced off the rim, the Bobcats could finally celebrate a win in a closely contested conference matchup. Curiously, Williams did not get a touch when the team needed it most.
“To be able to finish a game by getting a stop, that was big for this team,” Dunleavy said on the last possession.
Despite the craziness in the final minute, the first 39 minutes of this contest should not be overlooked by any means. Although Young and Williams carried the load for their squads, there were plenty of other timely performances by their supporting cast. For Quinnipiac, it was another in a string of encouraging performances by freshman Jacob Rigoni. The Adelaide, Australia native put up 14 points while draining a trio of three-pointers. Most importantly, he used his pump fake to exploit an aggressive Jasper team, constantly driving in and either scoring or setting teammates up for easy baskets.
As for Manhattan, star forward Zane Waterman was forced to play the role of sidekick to Williams tonight – and he played it quite well. After a relatively quiet first half, Waterman exploded to open up the second frame, hitting three three-pointers in a three-minute span. His early contributions put Manhattan up by as much as four early on in the half. Rigoni was the answer, though, as he hit both of his threes in the second half following Waterman baskets.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of this win for Quinnipiac is that it came with forward Chaise Daniels on the bench for most of the game. The team’s second-leading scorer was limited to just seven minutes, as he picked up four fouls over that span. For the team to not just survive, but thrive under those circumstances bodes well for future matchups.
Next up for Quinnipiac is a road tilt against a struggling Fairfield team on Saturday at 1 p.m. For the Jaspers, the schedule does not get any easier, as they host third-place Niagara on Sunday at 2 p.m.
