Champion's Big First Half Leads Holy Cross Past QU Men's Basketball

Sunday, December 11

Worcester, MA

1:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

3-6

Holy Cross

4-6

Quinnipiac

Holy Cross

Champion's Big First Half Leads Holy Cross Past QU Men's Basketball

12/11/2016 3:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

WORCESTER, Mass. – Robert Champion had 22 of his 28 points in the first half to stake Holy Cross to a 34-26 halftime lead, and the Crusaders went on to capture a 75-57 win over Quinnipiac on Sunday afternoon at the Hart Center.

The loss snaps a two-game win streak for the Bobcats, who slip to 3-6 overall on the year. Holy Cross, which unveiled its 2016 Patriot League championship banner pregame, improves to 4-6 with the win.

Freshman guard Mikey Dixon (New Castle, Del. - pictured) led Quinnipiac with 17 points on 5-10 shooting, including four three-pointers, to go along with four assists, marking his fifth straight game of 14 or more points off the Quinnipiac bench to assume the team lead in scoring at 12.9 ppg. Junior forward Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.) was also in double figures with 10 points.

Quinnipiac never led after falling behind 17-7 early after two straight Champion threes. The Bobcats battled back to pull within 28-25 with 5:06 left in the half on a Dixon driving layup, but did not hit another field goal in the rest of the opening stanza. The Crusaders took some momentum into the locker room as Jehyve Floyd blocked a shot with 15 seconds left that led to a transition basket and foul for Champion, capping off his 22-point half and making the score 34-26.

Holy Cross then started the second half with a quick spurt as Matt Husek hit a pair of three-pointers around a layup from sophomore forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md.), followed by another three from Karl Charles to make the score 43-28. Dixon came off the bench to hit two quick three-pointers for Quinnipiac to keep the score within 49-34, but the Bobcats could come no closer.

Charles finished with 14 points and eight assists for Holy Cross, while Husek had 10. Champion. meanwhile, was 11-15 from the floor and 5-7 from three on his way to an efficient 28 points, while also adding six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

The Bobcats held a narrow 26-23 edge in the rebounding department as the game was played at a slow tempo, with Holy Cross shooting 27-46 on the day (58.7 percent). Quinnipiac shot 42.2 percent (19-45), but was hurt more by the active hands defensively of the Crusaders, who had 16 steals to account for most of the 21 turnovers for the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac will next be in action after final exams, when it travels to face Maine next Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest, which will be played in Portland at the Cross Insurance Arena.