On the 66th birthday of Quinnipiac men’s basketball head coach Tom Pecora, his players got him a great gift — a come-from-behind win over last year’s MAAC champions, the Iona Gaels.

Trailing the Gaels by 14 points late in the second half, the Bobcats rallied with a 19-3 run, capped off by an electrifying lay-up from graduate guard Savion Lewis to retake the lead with less than 30 seconds to play. Supported by a career-high 24 points from junior guard Doug Young, the Bobcats extended their win streak to five straight, for a record of 6-1 in conference play.

“I thought it was a great team effort. I think we showed wonderful resilience,” Pecora said. “There were a couple of times we could have folded and we didn’t, so I’m very proud.”

It wasn’t a complete game for the Bobcats, but the effort spoke volumes about Quinnipiac’s will to win for its coach and for each other. 

“I’m just playing another day to play with my brothers. That’s it.” Young said. “I’ve been trying to be better every day. [Pecora] never gives up on me. So I just wanted to do it for him on his birthday.”

Initially, the Bobcats struggled to keep up when shooting beyond the arc. The Bobcats only drained one 3-pointer compared to the nine the Gaels knocked down in the first half, as Pecora’s squad trailed by six at intermission.

Iona head coach Tobin Anderson, who notably led Fairleigh Dickinson to an upset over top seeded Purdue in last year’s NCAA tournament, employed a quick-and-smothering defensive style that stifled Quinnipiac’s momentum when trying craft a run. The Gaels’ offense was amplified by a 300point day from Idan Tretout, a 7-foot tall graduate transfer from Harvard, which forced Pecora to get creative.

“They’re just constantly moving. They’re basically playing four or five guards all the time,” Pecora said. “We just started face guarding whenever we were on the floor, trying to limit his touches and force some other guys to make plays.”

Early in the second half, Pecora called a timeout to try and regroup as Iona surged to a 58-44 lead. Sophomore forward Amarii Tice, who went on to record 19 points and eight rebounds in the game, saw the moment as a turning point and a mental reset.

“Being down, we know that a lot of teams pull apart. And with us, we stick together,” Tice said. “We’re just aware that teams like that are going to press us and we knew all week that we were going to get pressured and it couldn’t show that we were afraid, so we just took our time.”

Tice and senior forward Paul Otieno, who recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, went to work collecting the ball off the glass and feeding passes to teammates. Young, a player off the bench who had not played over 20 minutes in a month, was thrust into the spotlight as he sunk 9-12 from the field and went 2-3 beyond the arc to boost the Bobcats in the second half.

It was the breakout performance Pecora was waiting for from the junior college standout who calls Houston, Texas home. Young was frustrated with himself during Quinnipiac’s Friday night road game at Siena, where he profusely tried to apologize to his coach on the sidelines in the closing minutes of the game. 

“He’s trying to play so hard and try to do everything right. And I keep telling (Young), it’s not a perfect game. Your greatest gift is your intensity and your ability to play hard,” Pecora said. “His heart’s in the right place, he’s passionate about what he does.”

Once the clock ticked down to zero and victory was assured for the Bobcats, Pecora had a gift of his own for Young — two cheesecakes originally given to him by Quinnipiac president Judy Olian. Quite the delicious treat for reaching a career high.

With the Bobcats tasting sweet victory against the Gaels, Pecora’s squad will look to carry momentum from the birthday bonanza with a home date against Mount St. Mary’s at Lender Court on Thursday night. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.