Bobcats grab crucial win over St. Peter’s as regular season winds down

Photo%3A+Liz+Flynn

Photo: Liz Flynn

Kenneth Gruenfelder

It has been an up and down season for the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team. With the MAAC tournament coming up next week, the Bobcats looked to end a three-game losing streak on Thursday and did so, defeating the Saint Peter’s Peacocks 65-60 at the People’s United Center on Senior Day.

In the first half, it looked like it was going to be another long day for the Bobcats when they were behind by as much as 11.

However, with time expiring in the first half, Tymu Chenery hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to four going into the second half.

In the second half the Bobcats went on a 12-0 run to start the half. Quinnipiac led most of the final 20 minutes, but things got very dicey at the end.

The Bobcats saw a once 13-point lead shrink to three with a minute left but were able to hold on for the five-point win.

This was a very low-scoring affair with both teams shooting well under 50% from the field.

For the Bobcats, Savion Lewis led the way with 11 points and Seth Pinkney continued his great season with a ten point, seven block, nine rebound performance.

The Bobcats collectively shot 21-56 from the field and out rebounded the Peacocks by four.

“We definitely needed it I felt like the two losses to Marist were pretty tough,” Lewis said. “We went there and they beat us twice and we’re a better team than that, so this game against a good St. Peter’s team was definitely a momentum swinger for us.”

Senior Jacob Rigoni was honored before the game and talked about what it meant to get this huge win after dropping their past couple of games to Marist.

“We’re pretty disappointed with our weekend,” Rigoni said. “We had a really good practice yesterday and competed hard and we knew we had a tough challenge on our hands with one of the best defensive teams in our conference and some of the best players as well.”

“I think we rose to that occasion and that’s something that we have to carry towards into tomorrow and throughout the rest of this season,” Rigoni added.

The Bobcats came into this game with an overall record of 8-11 and were looking to gain some momentum and possibly get a higher seed going into the MAAC tournament, which will begin on Monday, March 8.

Quinnipiac will look to build on this victory and finish off the regular season strong when they play against these same St. Peter’s Peacocks tomorrow afternoon.

With a win tomorrow, Quinnipiac could get as high as a five seed which would give them an opportunity to get a first-round bye in the MAAC tournament.