QU Men's Basketball Rallies Late, But Falls In Double Overtime, 84-80

Saturday, February 13

Hamden, CT

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Fairfield University

QU Men's Basketball Rallies Late, But Falls In Double Overtime, 84-80

2/13/2016 5:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - Sophomore forward Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn. - pictured) scored a career-high 28 points, and junior guard Daniel Harris (Tampa, Fla.) hit three pressure free throws at the end of regulation to force overtime, but the Fairfield men's basketball team was able to hold on in the second extra session to earn an 84-80 road win over Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon at the TD Bank Center.

The win improves Fairfield to 14-11 overall and 8-7 in the MAAC and enables the Stags to split the season series with Quinnipiac, which won the first meeting on Feb. 1 at Fairfield 64-59. The Bobcats see their record slip to 8-16 overall and 5-10 in the MAAC with the loss.

In an unfortunate twist for Quinnipiac, Fairfield earned two offensive rebounds on its final possession of the second overtime leading just 81-80, on a day when the Bobcats held a 60-31 advantage on the boards (23-9 on the offensive end). Curtis Cobb missed a pair of three-pointers from the same spot in the left corner, with the first one resulting in a long rebound chased down by guard Jerome Segura with 40 seconds left, and the second one pulled in by forward Jonathan Kasibabu with 10 seconds left. On the second board, Kasibabu fed Cobb cutting baseline, and he was able to hit a layup in traffic and draw a foul with eight seconds left. He then hit the clinching foul shot to make it an 84-80 lead, rendering the Bobcats' last-second three-point attempt meaningless.

Cobb also started the second overtime with an old-fashioned three-point play to Give Fairfield an 80-77 lead, before freshman forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md.) got two of them back inside off a pretty pass from sophomore guard Ayron Hutton (Virginia Beach, Va.) to make it 80-79 with 4:21 left. Each team then only managed one foul shot apiece for the rest of the overtime, until Cobb's clinching three-point play in the final seconds.

Quinnipiac had to rally twice in order to get it to the two extra sessions. The Bobcats were down by five with 30 seconds left in regulation, but senior guard Giovanni McLean (Bronx, N.Y.) hit a tough layup in traffic after going end to end off a made Fairfield free throw to cut it to three. Fairfield then turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass, and Quinnipiac worked the ball around the perimeter to Harris, who was fouled in the act of shooting a three-pointer. Harris made all three pressure foul shots to knot the score up ay 70-70, and Cobb missed a jumper at the end of regulation, with Harris securing the defensive board to force overtime.

Harris got the Bobcats started in the first overtime with a tough fadeaway jump shot, but the Stags scored the next four points to take a 74-72 lead. With 58 seconds left, Harris hit a pressure three-pointer from the left wing to give Quinnipiac the lead, but Tyler Nelson took advantage of a defensive miscommunication from the Bobcats to answer with an open three-pointer from the same spot at the other end to put the Stags back in front. Quinnipiac then called a timeout and worked the ball inside to Daniels, who was fouled in the act and made two more pressure foul shots to force the second overtime, but not before Bundu keyed a defensive stop by forcing Segura into a tough shot in the paint that missed just before the horn.

Quinnipiac led by as many as eight points in the first half,behind 12 points from Daniels, but Fairfield closed strong to take a 38-34 lead into halftime. After allowing the Stags to shoot 51.6 percent in the first half, Quinnipiac buckled down defensively and held Fairfield to only 37.0 percent in the second half, and 28.6 percent in overtime, as they were able to extend the game.

Daniels shot 11-17 from the floor on the way to his 28 points, which easily eclipsed his previous high of 20 set back on Nov. 22 against Holy Cross before an injury kept him out of action for eight games. The 28 points was also the high total for any Quinnipiac player this season, passing the 25 that McLean had in the first meeting with Fairfield. Bundu finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds (six offensive) for his third double-double of the season, while Harris had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. McLean almost added a double-double as well, but finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Fairfield had five players in double figures in the win, led by 19 from Cobb, six coming in the second overtime. Matija Milin came off the bench to score 18 for the Stags, while Marcus Gilbert had 17, and Segura and Nelson had 13 apiece.

Quinnipiac is back in action on Monday night for a tough road contest against Iona, which will be the fourth game in eight days for the Bobcats. The team will then return home next week for its final two home contests, against Saint Peter's on Thursday at 8 p.m. and against Manhattan on Sunday at 2 p.m.