Late Run Carries Siena Past QU Men's Basketball

Friday, January 15

Hamden, CT

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-10, 2-4MAAC

Siena College

11-6, 4-2MAAC

Siena

Quinnipiac

1/15/2016 9:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Siena men's basketball team closed out the game on a 13-2 run over the last four minutes to earn a 64-52 win over Quinnipiac on Friday evening at the TD Bank Sports Center.

With the win, the Saints improve to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in the MAAC, while the Bobcats slip to 5-10 overall and 2-4 in the MAAC with the loss.

Quinnipiac was led by senior guard Giovanni McLean (Bronx, N.Y. - pictured) with 14 points, while junior guard Daniel Harris (Tampa, Fla.) added 13 and sophomore forward Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.) had 10 in his second game back after missing five weeks with an injury. Brett Bisping led all scorers for Siena with 18 points, including five straight to start the game-ending 13-2 run, while Nico Clareth had 15 and Javion Ogunyemi had eight blocks, one shy of the school record.

The Bobcats struggled on offense throughout the first half, but managed to stay within six points at 27-21 despite only shooting 7-33 from the floor in the first half. After regrouping at intermission, Quinnipiac stormed out to a 17-5 run to take a six point lead at 38-32 on a tip-in from Harris with 13:13 left. Senior guard James Ford, Jr. (Hopewell, Va.) started the half with a three-pointer and a McLean three-pointer at the 17:35 mark gave the Bobcats their first lead at 29-27.

After the Bobcats went ahead by six, Kenny Wormley converted a three-point play for Siena to cut the deficit in half, and Bisping had two straight baskets around a Quinnipiac free throw to tie the score at 39-39 with 11:42 to go. The score stayed within three points for the next seven minutes, with Harris hitting a three-pointer with 8:50 to go to tie the score 47-47.

Harris hit a jumper in the paint with 4:24 to go to pull the Bobcats within 51-50, but Bisping converted on a drive and then had a follow-up dunk to give Siena its largest lead since the halftime break at 55-50 ith 3:40 to. After the Saints stretched the lead to eight, McLean hit a bank shot in the paint to make it 58-52 with 2:05 left, and the Bobcats earned a stop, but the next effort from McLean hit off the rum and freshman forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md.) pulled in the offensive rebound, but was called for traveling when he stumbled on the landing. Siena capped off the game with six foul shots to make the final score 64-52.

Siena won the battle of the two top rebounding teams in the MAAC, outrebounding the Bobcats 52-44, which is only the fifth time in the last four years that Quinnipiac has been outrebounded. In that span of 108 games since the start of 2012-13, the Bobcats are 99-5-4 on the boards, with three of the games they have been outrebounded coming this season (against Vermont, Iona and Siena). Bundu had nine rebounds (eight offensive) for Quinnipiac, while Lavon Long led all players with 11 boards.

Quinnipiac is back in action on Sunday when it hosts Canisius for a 2 p.m. contest at the TD Bank Sports Center. The Bobcats won the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 5 by a 78-76 score, which came right down to a final miss at the buzzer by the Golden Griffins.