QU Men's Basketball's Rally Comes Up Just Short In Road Loss To Brown

Thursday, December 29

Providence, RI

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

4-8

Brown University

9-5

Quinnipiac

Brown

QU Men's Basketball's Rally Comes Up Just Short In Road Loss To Brown

12/29/2016 9:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Quinnipiac men's basketball team rallied back from a 16-point deficit to get a chance to tie in the closing seconds but ended up falling to Brown 66-61 on Thursday evening in its final non-conference game of the season at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

With the win, Brown improves to 9-5 on the year including a perfect 8-0 at home. Quinnipiac, which was led by a career-high 23 points from freshman guard Mikey Dixon (New Castle, Del.) slips to 4-8 overall on the season with the loss.

The Bears had their largest lead at 59-43 with 7:04 to go, but the Bobcats held Brown without a field goal the rest of the way as they came all the way back to within 62-59 with 1:18 to go on a Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.) basket in the paint off a feed from Dixon.

Brown earned an offensive rebound and killed almost a full minute, but were unable to score as Quinnipiac had a chance to tie on its last possession. However, freshman guard Peter Kiss (New York, N.Y.) was unable to connect under heavy defensive pressure from the right wing with seven seconds left, and Brown was able to secure the defensive rebound and seal the win by going 4-4 at the foul line in the closing seconds.

Dixon started the rally from the 16-point deficit with an old-fashioned three-point play, which was followed by four Kiss points on a put-back and two foul shots. Sophomore guard Andrew Robinson (Takoma Park, Md.) had a pressure three-pointer in the corner to cut the lead to four at 60-56, capping off a 13-1 run. Brown's J.R. Hobbie hit two foul shots to extend the lead to 62-56 and the Bobcats were unable to come all the way back.

Brown closed out the first half on a 14-2 run to take a 37-25 lead into the break. A three-pointer from Dixon tied the score 23-23 with 5:40 left in the half, but Dixon's step back jumper with 2:23 left was the only points the Bobcats could muster in the rest of the stanza. Brown shot 6-6 at the foul line in the final two minutes to push the lead into double digits at 37-25 heading into halftime.

Dixon's 23 points eclipsed his previous best of 21, which he set in a win over Indiana State on Nov. 27 at the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando. He has scored 14 or more points in each of his last eight games, and has all three 20-point games for the Bobcats this season.

Senior forward Donovan Smith (Chicago, Ill. - pictured) had a big day off the Quinnipiac bench with 14 points on 5-8 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three blocks. Hobbie led Brown with 19 points, including five three-pointers. The 66 points marked the second-best defensive effort for the Bobcats this season, behind only the 63 scored by Marist in a 77-63 Bobcat win back on Dec. 4.

Quinnipiac is back in action after the new year when it resumes MAAC play with a two-game road trip to the Buffalo area, facing Niagara on Monday at 7 p.m. and Canisius on Wednesday at 7 p.m.