On Dec. 1, 2023, the Bobcats traveled to Buffalo, New York to face off against the Golden Griffins, dropping their first game of MAAC play to Canisius in a 93-73 loss. Since that game, the Bobcats have gone undefeated in MAAC play, winning their last nine conference games.
A little over two months later, the Bobcats got revenge, defeating the Golden Griffins 88-63 on Sunday afternoon. The Bobcats now extend their win streak to nine games — the fourth-largest win streak in the NCAA.
Sophomore forward Amarri Tice explained postgame why the team has been looking forward to playing Canisius again.
“I feel like we’re a completely different team from December,” he said. “And it shows, we just got a 20-point win (when) we lost by 20 (last time). It just shows you, (in) the MAAC, anybody could beat anybody and I just feel we’re just a completely different team.”
After junior forward Alexis Reyes missed the opening shot of the game, Tice got the fans at Lender Court out of their seats early with a steal and one-handed breakaway slam.
With seven and a half minutes left in the half, Tice would continue his dominance at the rim, as he rose up to the rim and put down a right-handed poster on Canisius’ Youri Fritz. The crowd of an estimated 1,747 people got on its feet to celebrate the moment.
The Bobcats outscored the Golden Griffins 48-28 in the first half, which was the most points the team has scored in any first half in MAAC play.
“(Starting off hot) is very important,” Tice said. “(It) just gives us energy and makes us get multiple stops in a row. And that’s just what I do. I like playing in the gaps and making those energy plays.”
Tice finished the afternoon with 18 points and nine rebounds. He has scored double-digit points in 16 of the 23 games he has played this season.
While the Bobcats had many successful moments on Sunday afternoon, sophomore guard Doug Young only played eight minutes before he fouled out on a double technical with Frank Mitchell. Young scored 10 points in his eight minutes of play.
At the eight minute mark of the second half, graduate guard Matt Balanc scored his 1,522nd point of his Quinnipiac career, moving up to 5th all-time on Quinnipiac’s Division-1 total points leaderboard. Balanc now sits 206 points away from James Johnson, who has the all-time record at Quinnipiac with 1,729 points.
“I always thought about the first five minutes [of the] second half, sending a message whether we’re up or down,” Pecora said. “He’s a one man wrecking crew there. He just scored eight or nine points in the first two minutes of (the second half).”
It was complete domination for Quinnipiac, with 11 of its 12 players scoring, including senior guard Arion Lewis, red-shirt senior forward JJ Riggins and Nicholas Margetson — players who normally don’t play many minutes at the end of Quinnipiac’s bench. Lewis finished the day with eight points, beating his career-high of five points against the Florida Gators last December.
With Sunday’s loss the Golden Griffins have now dropped five of their last six MAAC games. The team will travel to Lewiston, NY to take on the Niagara Purple Eagles on Feb. 6th.
The Bobcats will look to keep their nine-game winning streak alive against the second-seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks on Feb. 8th.
