Ah, 1980. The year a rookie Magic Johnson led the Lakers to the franchise’s seventh NBA championship. Ronald Reagan was elected as the 40th president of the United States that November. Most notably, the Division III Quinnipiac Braves men’s basketball team started the season with a 15-4 record, a number that still stands today.
Well now, the 1980 squad has some company.
The 2024 Quinnipiac Bobcats matched the record Thursday, defeating Mount St. Mary’s 79-65 at M&T Bank Arena to take sole possession of first place in the MAAC for the first time this season.
“I wanted to make an emphasis in the second half, that if we take it to them and be the tougher team, they’re going to lay down,” graduate student Matt Balanc said.
It was Balanc who led the way for the Bobcats, who stay unbeaten in the new year. He had 18 points and came up with some clutch plays down the stretch, including a fastbreak slam in the second half.
After Balanc, it was a very balanced game scoring for the rest of the team. Eight Bobcats scored between five and 11 points, with graduate student guard Savion Lewis (11), junior guard Doug Young (10) and senior forward Paul Otieno (10) all in double figures.
“A lot of people don’t think he (Lewis) can score, for some odd reason,” Balanc remarked. “He averaged 36 (points per game) in high school. He’s a threat offensively. He may not look to score all the time, but when he does it’s a problem.”
From the tip, it was a very physical game. Sophomore forward Amarri Tice would certainly agree, as he took an elbow to the nose four minutes in and had to leave the game for a short period to clean up. After returning, he needed another trip to the locker room after he dove into the scorers table going for a loose ball and was shaken up. Finally, with around three minutes left in the game, Tice vacated to the locker room for a third time and didn’t return.
“He’s a very important part of this team,” Balanc said about Tice. “If he’s getting beat up, I have to keep talking to him to keep him laser focused.”
Defensively, the Bobcats put together one of their best performances of the year accumulating 12 steals with a career high five from Otieno. The Mountaineers were forcing the ball inside and having trouble converting their passes, allowing the Quinnipiac big men to pick them off.
The first half was back and forth until the final two minutes or so, when Lewis rattled off six straight points to give the Bobcats a 40-35 advantage at the break.
“We didn’t play great in the first half,” head coach Tom Pecora said. “(Savion) put that run together late in the half to get us some separation.”
In the second half, Quinnipiac continued to build up its lead and really took off during a stretch when they had reserves in the game, most notably freshman guard Daemar Kelly, senior forward JJ Riggins and redshirt senior forward Richie Springs.
“We gave the hat and gloves out to the guys that came off the bench tonight,” Pecora said in reference to his team’s notable postgame awards he hands out after home wins. “I thought that stretch there with Daemar and JJ and Richie Springs, they all had spurts and played well. Four or five minutes can be the difference in the game when you go to those guys on the bench.”
Mount St. Mary’s struggled from three all throughout, shooting 5-for-25 in the contest. The Bobcats connected on 10 of their 30 triples, including two from first year forward Rihards Vavers. Playing in his first game since Dec. 8 against Navy, Vavers scored six points in seven minutes.
“It was nice seeing (Rihards) healthy and playing again,” assistant coach Bradley Jacks said. “We’re a lot better when he’s not hurt and it’s good for him to see some shots go down.”
Down the stretch, the Bobcats were able to get enough stops to pull away for their seventh straight win, putting them a game ahead of both St. Peter’s (6-2) and Fairfield (6-2) in the standings with MAAC play 40% complete.
“I don’t really look at a lot of the other MAAC games,” Balanc said. “I stay in tunnel vision with our team (and) our next game and we’ve got Fairfield on Sunday.”
As Balanc mentioned, the next game for Quinnipiac is arguably its toughest conference game of the season, as the Bobcats make the short trip to Leo D. Mahoney Arena to take on the second place Stags. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. in Fairfield, and the winner will at least have a share of first place in the league.
