The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team traveled to Queens, NY to take on the St. John’s Red Storm, a team primed to be one of the big contenders in the Big East this year.
Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora came into Carnesecca Arena looking to get his team on track after a tough loss at Yale and a blowout win over WPI in their home opener.
“I grew up three miles from here,”said Pecora, “St. John’s is a historic basketball program and a place close to my heart.”
After narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last year, the Red Storm loaded up on transfers and recruits in an attempt to compete with reigning national champions UConn. Red Storm coach Rick Pitino, who formerly coached Iona, has a 4-2 record against the Bobcats while leading the Gaels to two NCAA Tournament appearances.
St. John’s won the tipoff but Quinnipiac got the scoring going with a three by Ryan Mabrey. He would hit another long three to tie the game at six. A couple of chasedown blocks by Deivon Smith and Zuby Ejiofor ignited the crowd, with St. John’s holding the 12-9 lead at the first media timeout.
The Bobcats came out on fire with a layup by Paul Otieno and another three from Ryan Mabrey.
“He came out of the gate and made shots,” Pecora said of Mabrey, “That’s what he’s here to do.”
The Bobcats continued to hold the lead with a three by Jaden Zimmerman and layups by Doug Young and Alexis Reyes forcing Pitino to take a timeout down 30-24.
St. John struggled knocking down shots, summed up by a missed dunk on an uncontested basket by Kadary Richmond. As time wound down in the half, the Red Storm inched back on a jumper by Smith and a dunk by RJ Luis Jr.
The game went into halftime with Quinnipiac leading 39-35. Ryan Mabrey led the Bobcats with 15 points while Deivon Smith led the Red Storm with 10 points.
St. John’s came out in the second half hot, taking the lead on a layup by Simeon Wilcher and a three-point play by Luis. Wilcher would help the cause with a poster dunk over Savion Lewis and a three-pointer that forced the Bobcats to take an early timeout. The Bobcats’ struggles would continue with a missed baseline dunk by Amarri Monroe followed by a transition layup by Luis Jr.
The Red Storm would get the lead up to 10 and took advantage of Bobcat mistakes on both ends of the floor. After Quinnipiac scored a couple, St. John’s went back on the attack with a mid-range jumper and corner three on transition from Brady Dunlap. Dunlap would be fouled on a three point attempt and knock down three free throws to increase the lead to 13. Quinnipiac would take a timeout after a flagrant foul on Spence Wewe. A two-handed slam by Vince Iwuchukwu got the Carnesecca crowd roaring.
Dunlap hit his fifth three of the game to get his point total to 20 and the Red Storm lead to 21. The Bobcats lackluster second half would be compounded by an airballed three by Grant Randall.
“Good teams come out and win in the second half,” said Pitino, “I think Brady [Dunlap] is a reason we blew them out… and I think Deivon [Smith] did a great job of finding Brady.”
St. John’s would defeat Quinnipiac 96-73. Luis Jr. would lead the team with 24 points with 13 rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Mabrey led the Bobcats with 17 points. Otieno led Quinnipiac with seven rebounds while Lewis led the team with eight assists.
“Our players deserve a lot of credit for the way they came out in the second half… they came out and got the job done,” said Pitino.
“My mindset is now we have a point of reference for the rest of the year,” said Pecora, “As we move forward, we have time to get ourselves healthy, get ourselves organized and adjust some things that we see as weaknesses.”
The Bobcats will be back in action on Friday when they take on the Maine Black Bears from Lender Court at 7:00 p.m.
