Mikey Dixon Breaks Own Record With 29 Points As QU Men's Basketball Edges Canisius

Friday, January 20

Hamden, CT

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

8-11, 5-4MAAC

Canisius College

12-8, 5-4MAAC

Team	1	2	F
Canisius	32	58	90
Quinnipiac	47	48	95

Mikey Dixon Breaks Own Record With 29 Points As QU Men's Basketball Edges Canisius

1/20/2017 9:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

hAMDEN, Conn. - Freshman guard Mikey Dixon scored 29 points, breaking the record he already shared for most points in a game for a Quinnipiac freshman (at the DI level), as the Quinnipiac men's basketball team built a big lead and held off a second-half surge from Canisius to earn a 95-90 win on Friday evening at the TD Bank Sports Center.

Quinnipiac improves to 8-11 overall and 5-4 in the MAAC with the win, pulling even in the conference standings with Canisius (12-8, 5-4 MAAC), as well as Iona and Siena, for third place.

Dixon had tied the freshman record of 27 points on Saturday in an overtime win over Iona, equaling the standard set by Kason Mims in 2000-01 and matched a year later by Rob Monroe. He had 23 points late in the game against Canisius, but hit back-to-back dagger threes in the final two minutes to help put the game away and set the new freshman standard.

The Bobcats led by as many as 19 in the first half, and by as many as 18 in the second half, at 53-35 with 17:48 to go. However, Canisius stormed back late to get as close as two points, and were still within three with 1:39 left after a three-pointer from Jermaine Crumpton closed the Quinnipiac lead to 83-80. After a Bobcat timeout, Dixon was isolated on the right wing on a switch and stepped back to knock down a big three-pointer with 1:17 to go to make the score 86-80.

Isaiah Reese got to the rim for a layup nine seconds later to pull the Golden Griffins within 86-82, but Dixon again knocked down a big three-pointer, knocking down a shot from the top of the key after hsi defender fell to push the lead to seven at 89-82 with 45 seconds left. Canisius kept driving to the rim to try to make up the difference, but junior guard Reggie Oliver (Apopka, Fla.) hit two key foul shots, and the Golden Griffins were only able to get as close as three points with two seconds left. Freshman guard Peter Kiss (New York, N.Y.) was then fouled on the inbounds pass and made both to seal the win.

Quinnipiac used a 10-0 run in the first half to take a 27-12 lead with 11:16 to play in the after back-to-back threes from Oliver, who was 4-4 from beyond the arc on the day to tie for the fifth-best single-game performance in Quinnipiac's Division I era (a mark Kiss has tied twice this season). His third three-pointer stretched the lead to 41-23 with 4:38 left in the half, and a Dixon foul shot gave the Bobcats their largest lead at 42-23.

Canisius used two Spencer Foley three-pointers to get back within 12, but senior forward Alain Chigha (Yaounde, Cameroon) had a three-point play to close out the half and give the Bobcats a 47-32 lead at the break. Dixon had 18 of his points at the half on 4-4 shooting from the floor and 9-10 shooting at the line.

The second half saw Canisius put up numerous challenges, as the Golden Griffins had 58 points after the break. A three-pointer from Malik Johnson made it an 11-point game at 53-42 with 16:44 left. Four straight points from junior forward Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.) got the lead back to 15 at 61-46 with 12:41 left, but the Golden Griffins got it to within eight at 64-56 on a Crumpton jumper with 10:31 left. After Daniels had three points to restore a 10-point lead with 7:06 left (74-64), Canisius scored seven straight points, capped off by a three-point play from Kassius Robertson, to get it down to three points at 74-71 with 5:50 still on the clock.

A Dantai St. Louis layup with 5:21 to go brought Canisius within just two points at 75-73, but Daniels had a big layup and Oliver then drove to find senior forward Donovan Smith (Chicago, Ill.) for a dunk to get the lead up to 79-73. Robertson hit two foul shots for the Golden Griffins, but Kiss broke the press and hit a soft floater in the lane to make it 81-75 with 3:57 left.

Daniels had 16 points, and Kiss and Oliver each had 14 for the Bobcats, who won their second straight game with both teams scoring over 90 points (the Iona win on Saturday was 97-91). Robertson had 24 points and Crumpton had 23 for the Golden Griffins.

Quinnipiac will be back in action on Monday when it travels to Iona for a 7 p.m. contest, before traveling to face Monmouth for a 7 p.m. game on Friday night for a tough two-game road trip.