Hamden, CT – The Quinnipiac men’s basketball team defeated Fairfield 81-69 Friday night in the latest chapter of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rivalry matchup.
Bobcats fans packed M&T Bank Arena, giving Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora’s squad even more juice to avenge last seasons home loss to the Stags.
“Having [the fans] is a difference maker in a game like this especially: it affects the other team, it affects the officials and it affects our guys in a positive way as well,” Pecora said after the game.
The player who benefitted the most from the environment was Amarri Monroe as he dropped a career-high 27 points in the win (including 19 in the second half) alongside 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season and third in his last four games. He shared similar sentiments to Pecora about the atmosphere the fans brought, crediting his success on the night to the Bobcat faithful.
“Honestly, I couldn’t do it without the crowd for sure. A little chirping, the chirping gets me going” Monroe said. “It was fun out there. I was just having fun, putting the ball in the rim, rebounding the ball, getting stops, it was just natural.”
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams going on extended runs.
Quinnipiac didn’t have a made field goal until Savion Lewis found Amarri Monroe for three almost three minutes into the half to tie the game at five. Lewis found him again the next possession to give the Bobcats their first lead of the game. Monroe then capped off a 10-0 Quinnipiac run with authority, slamming home a dunk and putting the Bobcats up 12-5.
Fairfield head coach Chris Casey called his first timeout, and the stoppage paid off for the Stags as they would outscore Quinnipiac 11-4 including an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game at 16 halfway through the first half.
Later in the half with the game tied at 22, the Stags’ Deon Perry got hot, accounting for all 12 of Fairfield’s points in the final 6:18 of the first half. Perry finished with 18 first half points on 6-11 shooting with five makes behind the arc.
Despite Perry’s hot start, it was Quinnipiac who led at the break. Doug Young, who played 11 key minutes off the bench, splashed back-to-back threes for the Bobcats and Alexis Reyes made a shot inside to go up 36-34 at the end of the half.
Coming out of the break, the two teams traded buckets back and forth. The Bobcats kept trying to pull away, but the Stags kept answering, keeping the game within two with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation. Then Pecora’s team began to get on a roll.
Quinnipiac got aggressive, attacking the rim on three straight possessions. Lewis kicked off the run by getting his first bucket of the game before the Bobcats forced a backcourt violation on the Stags. Bennett followed with a layup over multiple Fairfield defenders and then nabbed a rebound on the other end of the floor. That’s when Monroe and the Quinnipiac fans took over.
The Preseason MAAC Player of the Year was fouled on his drive to the hoop, and as the officials talked to coaches and players about the extracurriculars that were beginning to occur, began hyping the crowd up.
“I didn’t even know if the crowd was gonna get hyped,” Monroe joked postgame. “I saw everybody waving the towels around, I’m like ‘Wow, this is great.’ Definitely made me smile, you know? I was like yeah, we’re definitely not losing this game.”
The Bobcats went on an 11-0 run, holding the Stags scoreless until there was just over a minute left in the game. Fairfield shot 2-10 with three turnovers and only seven points in the final 7:11 of the game. Knowing they could play better on the defensive end, Pecora wanted the team to focus on shutting down Perry in the second half. His strategy paid off, as the junior guard was held to just five second half points on five shot attempts.
Quinnipiac also controlled the glass, outrebounding Fairfield 41 to 28. Graduate forward Paul Otieno had 13 of the 41 rebounds to go along with 15 points for his team-leading 10th double-double.
After the game ended, the entire Quinnipiac team celebrated with the student section after the win, and while Otieno doesn’tknow whose idea it was, said it would happen again if fans continue to show up.
“I want it to be like this every game,” Otieno said.
The Bobcats travel to face Siena on Sunday, Feb. 2 before returning home to face Canisius on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. vs Canisius. While the university may not be handing out rally towels and $3 beers for that contest, Pecora said he’d do “whatever it takes” to keep the arena packed with students.
“Whatever we gotta do to keep the student body coming like this,” he said. “I’ll buy the kegs, I think that the crowd was awesome.”
