Siena Uses Rebounding Dominance To Slip Past QU Men's Basketball 84-75

Monday, January 30

Hamden, CT

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

8-14, 5-7MAAC

Siena College

10-13, 7-5MAAC

Siena

Quinnipiac

Mikey Dixon (19 points) drives around Brett Bisping in Siena's 84-75 win - photo by Rob Rasmussen

Siena Uses Rebounding Dominance To Slip Past QU Men's Basketball 84-75

1/30/2017 9:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Siena men's basketball team outrebounded Quinnipiac 52-27, led by double-doubles from senior forwards Lavon Long (26 points, 16 rebounds) and Brett Bisping (17 points, 14 rebounds), as it captured an 84-75 win over the Bobcats on Monday night at the TD Bank Sports Center.

With the win, Siena moves to 10-13 overall and 7-5 in the MAAC, while Quinnipiac falls to 8-14 overall and 5-7 in the MAAC with the loss. The -25 rebounding margin was by far the worst in Head Coach Tom Moore's ten-year tenure, surpassing the previous low water mark of -17. The Bobcats have been +10 or better 112 times in the last 10 years, while they have been -10 or worse only eight times.

Quinnipiac was led by junior forward Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.), who had 18 points, nine rebounds and tied the Quinnipiac Division I record for blocked shots in a game with seven. The freshman duo of Mikey Dixon (New Castle, Del.) and Peter Kiss (New York, N.Y.) each scored 19 points after coming into the game as one of only five pairs of freshman guards in the country averaging in double figures. Javion Ogunyemi added 25 points on 12-14 shooting for the Saints, including 8-8 from the floor in the second half.

Siena held a two-point lead at the half (39-37), and after Daniels tied it a minute into the second stands, Long hit a three-pointer and Marquis Wright hit a jumper to give the Saints a five-point lead it would never relinquish at 44-39. The lead stayed between 3-8 points until the final few minutes, when the Saints used an 8-0 run to turn a 65-61 lead with 5:30 left into a 73-61 lead with 3:37 to go after an Ogunyemi three-pointer as the shot clock expired.

Kiss had the Bobcats within four points after hiitting two foul shots and a short jumper to make the score 63-59, and then answered an Ogunyemi basket when he found sophomore guard Andrew Robinson (Takoma Park, Md.) underneath the basket for a layup to make it 65-61 at the 5:30 mark. However, Long converted an old-fashioned three-point play to start the 8-0 run, and Ogunyemi followed with a layup and a three-pointer to effectively put the Bobcats away.

Quinnipiac jumped out to an 18-12 lead on a three-pointer from Robinson at the 11:44 mark of the first half, and led by five at 29-24 at the 5:20 mark after a Daniels back. However, Long made a layup and Bisping converted two foul shots to tie it at 35-35 with 1:20 to go, and after Dixon answered a Long basket with 36 seconds left in the half to tie it 37-37, Sammy Friday scored on a feed from Wright to give the Saints the lead heading into the locker room.

Daniels' seven blocked shots broke his previous personal best of five, which he set last year against Sacred Heart. It marks the sixth time that a Bobcat has reached seven blocks at the Division I level, including four times by Ousmane Drame and once earlier this season by senior forward Donovan Smith (Chicago, Ill.) against Manhattan. Kiss added a personal-high seven assists to go with his 19 points, while Dixon shot 7-12 from the floor for his 19 points.

The Bobcats will be back in action on Saturday when they face Niagara for a 7 p.m. home contest at the TD Bank Sports Center.