Marist men’s basketball fell 64-58 to a short-handed Quinnipiac squad on Monday afternoon in a tightly contested matchup at M&T Bank Arena. The Red Foxes led for less than five minutes total throughout the game, but remained within striking distance until the final minute.
The loss, Marist’s (8-4, 2-1 MAAC) first in conference play, saw the team outshoot Quinnipiac (9-4, 3-0 MAAC) from the field, but big second halves from reigning MAAC Player of the Year, senior forward Amarri Monroe, and senior guard Asim Jones propelled the Bobcats to the win. The Red Foxes also turned the ball over 15 times, a step backwards after a season-low eight turnovers in their last game against Stony Brook, a 19-point win.
Quinnipiac, picked to win the MAAC in the pre-season coaches’ poll, had a five-game win streak snapped their last time out against Hofstra. They have been without their leading scorer, sophomore guard Jaden Zimmerman, since a Dec. 7 victory against Rider, placing extra responsibility on Monroe. The Bobcats found themselves even more shorthanded against Marist with sophomore guard Nate Guerengomba, who had replaced Zimmerman in the starting lineup, away from the team.
Both teams started ice cold from the field, shooting a collective 2-10 from the floor in the opening minutes. Junior guard Jadin Collins-Roberts accounted for Marist’s first four points with a couple of layups before Quinnipiac began finding the bottom of the basket. Jones, sophomore forward Grant Randall and sophomore forward Spence Wewe combined to give the Bobcats a 9-6 lead before a jumper by sophomore center Tarik Watson brought Marist to within one at the first media timeout.
After a pair of free throws by senior guard Elijah Lewis once again cut Quinnipiac’s lead to one, the Bobcats found themselves on a mini run that extended their lead to 17-10. Jones rose and nailed a long three from the top of the key before freshman forward Keith McKnight intercepted a pass from graduate student guard Rhyjon Blackwell and ran the length of the floor to convert a 3-point play.
With 7:38 to go and the shot clock winding down, redshirt freshman forward Braylan Ritvo converted an off-balance, heavily contested 3-pointer for his first career points. The shot put Quinnipiac ahead 20-14, but came in the midst of an 11-3 Marist run that gave the Red Foxes a short-lived 21-20 lead before Lewis fouled Jones on a 3-point attempt to fuel another 6-0 spurt for the Bobcats.
In the closing minutes of the half, redshirt sophomore center Jason Schofield cashed in a couple of close-range opportunities off feeds from sophomore guard Justin Menard to keep the Red Foxes close. Menard struggled from the field himself, shooting 1-4 from beyond the arc in the first half, but contributed by way of four rebounds and three assists to lead the team in both categories before the break.
Despite the frequent runs by both teams, neither squad shot the ball particularly well throughout the first half; both found themselves right around 35% from the field while Marist shot just 1-9 from deep. Both teams also turned the ball over eight times in a largely defensive-focused first 20 minutes.
Surprisingly, given the Bobcats’ lead, Monroe struggled with just four points on 2-8 shooting in the half. Despite a slow start from their star and the lack of Zimmerman and Guerengomba, 10 points from Jones and six from Randall helped keep Quinnipiac afloat.
Marist flipped the script in the early going of the second half, opening with a 9-0 run. Layups from Schofield and Lewis sandwiched a miss on the other end by Jones to cut the deficit to one within the opening minute. Two possessions later, after a successful challenge kept the ball in their hands, Watson corralled his own miss and converted a 3-point play to put the Red Foxes ahead 32-30.
Redshirt freshman guard Samson Reilly, who replaced Guerengomba in the starting lineup, finally cashed his first make to end Marist’s run. Reilly entered shooting a sparkling 57.7% from deep, but missed his two first half attempts badly. His 3-ball sparked a quick 5-0 run for Quinnipiac before Marist went back ahead 36-35 with 14:53 to go.
Despite an empty trip to the free-throw line earlier in the game, Monroe converted all three from the charity stripe after being fouled beyond the arc by senior forward Jaden Daughtry with just under 13:00 remaining. The free throws put Quinnipiac back ahead by five, just as they were at the half before Marist’s 9-0 run.
Once again down five, the Red Foxes fought back with a pair of finishes through contact by Watson and Collins-Roberts; Collins-Roberts missed his free throw, leaving the game knotted at 46. Monroe then continued his second-half outburst with a 3-pointer and a free throw on the subsequent possession, bringing his second-half points total to 10.
Monroe’s shot commenced a 12-3 streak for the Bobcats that saw them lead 58-49 approaching five minutes to go, but the Red Foxes did not go away easily. Six straight Red Fox points, including two more from Watson, who scored a team-high 14 points, suddenly had them down just three with 2:51 to go.
Watson had another chance to get Marist closer, but could not convert from just inside the foul line before Jones chalked up his 20th point of the night with a deep triple to extend the Bobcats’ lead to six. Once again, Marist did not go away easily as Menard knocked down a 3-pointer to slice the lead in half with just under a minute remaining, but Jones converted a tough finish at the rim to go up by five and secure what became a 64-58 Quinnipiac victory.
Jones led all scorers with a season-high 23 points while Monroe and Randall also scored in double figures for the Bobcats. Watson contributed eight rebounds for Marist, along with his 14 points, while Lewis contributed 11 points of his own. Marist’s struggles from deep continued, shooting just 3-16 on 3-point attempts. They rank eighth in the MAAC in 3-point shooting at 33% despite leading the conference in field goal percentage.
The Red Foxes will look to get back on track on Friday, when they travel to Jersey City, N.J., to face Saint Peter’s. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore
Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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