Rebound: Donovan Smith Keys QU Men's Basketball's 64-60 Win Over Rider

Monday, January 4

Hamden, CT

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-8, 2-2MAAC

Rider University

4-10, 0-3MAAC

Rider

Quinnipiac

Rebound: Donovan Smith Keys QU Men's Basketball's 64-60 Win Over Rider

1/4/2016 9:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - Junior forward Donovan Smith (Chicago, Ill.- pictured) had 15 points and 14 rebounds, including the clinching foul shots with four seconds left to hold off a late Rider rally, as the Quinnipiac men's basketball team earned a 64-60 home win over the Broncs on Monday evening at the TD Bank Sports Center.

With the win, the Bobcats get back to .500 in MAAC play at 2-2, while improving to 5-8 overall. Rider, which was led by 30 points from senior guard Teddy Okereafor, including 13 in the last 2:30 of the game, sees its record slip to 4-10 overall and 0-3 in league play with the loss.

The Bobcats also returned to form on the glass, outrebounding Rider 51-32, one game after being outrebounded 57-42 by Iona on Saturday in a 78-66 defeat. The Iona game was only the second time in Head Coach Tom Moore's nine years that Quinnipiac had suffered a double-digit deficit on the glass, while the Rider win this evening was the 105th time that the Bobcats have been +10 or better on the glass in that span. Quinnipiac has led the nation in at least one rebounding category in each of the last five seasons, including rebounding margin in each of the last two.

"This was a really big win for our confidence," said Moore. "We had a couple of really terrific practices before Iona and it didn't translate to the game, and we had another great practice yesterday. At a certain point, if you have great practices and don't get the results, you start to lose faith a little bit, so I think tonight's win will do a lot for us mentally to help us keep working hard in practice and keep getting better."

The Bobcats led 39-34 at the break and held Rider scoreless for the first six minutes of the second half, building the lead up to 48-34 with 14:52 left on a Smith jumper. Rider answered with a 7-0 run and were within six points at 49-43 on a fast break layup from Okereafor with 8:45 to go, before the Bobcats seemed to take control with a 9-0 run. Sophomore guard Ayron Hutton (Virginia Beach, Va.) started the run with a tough stepback jumper and junior guard Daniel Harris (Tampa, Fla.) followed with a three-pointer to get the lead back to double digits at the 7:43 mark. Smith followed with a lay-up and hit two foul shots with 3:19 to go to push the lead to a seemingly insurmountable 58-43.

However, Okereafor converted old-fashioned three-point plays on back-to-back possessions to get the lead down to 58-51 with 1:42 to go. After senior guard James Ford, Jr. (Hopewell, Va.) knocked down two foul shots with 50 seconds left, Okereafor scored a quick basket on a layup and then knocked down a three-pointer with 26 seconds to go to cut the lead down to 60-56. After an exchange of foul shots, Okereafor hit another three-pointer with seven seconds left to pull the Broncs within just two points at 62-60. The Bobcats called timeout and got the ensuing inbounds pass to Smith, who knocked down both foul shots to put the game away and give Quinnipiac the hard-earned win.

Quinnipiac had four players in double figures, as senior guard Giovanni McLean (Bronx, N.Y.) matched Smith for team high honors with 15 points, while adding six rebounds and six assists. Ford chipped in with 12 points, while Hutton matched his season-high with 12 points as well. Okereafor was the only Bronc in double figures as he accounted for half of his team's points on the evening.

Quinnipiac is back in action on Saturday when it travels to face Monmouth for a MAAC contest at 2 p.m., which will be shown live on ESPN3.