Marist men’s basketball held on to defeat Quinnipiac 71-64 at home on Saturday afternoon to move into a tie with the Bobcats for fourth place in the MAAC Conference.
The Red Foxes led by 15 at the half and by as many as 18 in the early portion of the second half, but Quinnipiac stormed back to within one point with just over one minute. Marist managed to solidify the win behind just enough clutch free-throw shooting and two huge blocks.
Senior guard Elijah Lewis surpassed 1,500 career points with his final basket in the first half; he scored 14 in the game while sophomore guard Justin Menard led Marist with 15 points. Marist shot 52.9% from the field in the game, a drastic shift from their recent struggles. In their losses to Merrimack and Siena, the Red Foxes shot 35.2% combined and failed to reach 60 points.
“Sometimes you just need to see the ball go in the basket,” said Marist head coach John Dunne. “We watched a lot of film on not getting enough player movement the last two games, and I thought we made a conscious effort to pass and cut and open up some driving lanes.”
The Red Foxes made three 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes — sophomore forward Parby Kabamba, Menard and graduate student guard Rhyjon Blackwell all made triples en route to a 23-17 Marist lead with 9:04 to go in the first half.
Senior forward Amarri Monroe led the Quinnipiac attack in the early going; he had nine points and five rebounds after converting a driving layup with 7:02 to go. But after scoring, he went down along the baseline with an apparent left leg injury. After being tended to by the Quinnipiac staff, he walked gingerly to the locker room under his own power.
Marist kept its foot on the gas offensively after Monroe’s exit. They went on a 9-2 run over the following minutes, capped by a corner triple from Lewis. Two possessions later, he drilled another 3-pointer to reach the 1,500 point mark.
In total, the Red Foxes shot 62.1% from the field 55.6% from 3-point land in the first half. Even after Monroe returned to the floor with 4:02 to go, Marist continued to build a 15-point halftime lead. Six different players scored five or more points in the half for the Red Foxes while they held Quinnipiac to 36.7% from the field.
The early portion of the second half saw the Red Foxes build their largest lead of the game, an 18-point advantage with 16:12 to go.
Then, the Bobcats began to claw back.
With Marist leading 49-31 following a Menard layup, Quinnipiac went on a 9-2 run to get back within 11; they held the Red Foxes scoreless for just over three minutes. Within the run, Monroe converted a highly contested driving layup for his points since his injury in the first half to force a Marist timeout, while Jones scored six points.
The two teams traded blows as the half progressed with a rapid pace of play. Each team played very active defense and came close to numerous steals; Jones nearly intercepted a pass along the sideline on what could have turned into a fast-break score, but lost the ball out of bounds.
With 5:38 remaining, Zimmerman converted inside to slice Marist’s lead to seven. Then, on the subsequent inbound, Marist turned the ball right back over to the Bobcats; Jones then drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to four.
Still leading by four, senior forward Jaden Daughtry turned the ball over to send Quinnipiac on a fast-break the other way. As Zimmerman ran the floor and went up for a layup, Daughtry ran him down from behind for a pivotal chase-down block off the backboard.
“After Daughtry’s loose ball turnover, you’re like, ‘Oh boy, things just weren’t going our way,’” Dunne said. “For him to track that down and not give up on the play was just massive.”
Quinnipiac earned another trip to the free throw line — their fourth in a three minute span — following a Schofield turnover, Marist’s ninth of the second half. With a chance to tie the game, McKnight made only one of his two attempts to keep the Bobcats behind by one. On the subsequent Red Fox possession, Lewis, who struggled from the field in the second half after a huge first half, made two huge free throws to lengthen the advantage to three.
Following a made free throw by Daughtry to give the Red Foxes a two-possession advantage, Marist came up with another massive block. This time, Kabamba rose and swatted away a lay-in attempt by Jones; Kabamba also brought in his eighth rebound of the afternoon on the following defensive possession and made two clutch free throws to ice the game on the other end.
From Marist’s 18-point lead with 16:12 to go to the 1:22 mark, Quinnipiac outscored Marist 33-16 to cut their deficit to just one. But, the Bobcats missed their last seven field goals while Marist’s defense held on.
“I think just when we play together, we’re really good,” said Menard. “Playing together takes us to the next level.”
Marist goes on the road against Canisius on Friday. First tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photo by Jaylen Rizzo
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