Freshmen Shine Again As QU Men's Basketball Defeats Manhattan 81-72

Saturday, January 7

Hamden, CT

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

6-9, 3-2MAAC

Manhattan College

5-10, 0-5MAAC

Team	1	2	F
Manhattan	32	40	72
Quinnipiac	40	41	81

Freshmen Shine Again As QU Men's Basketball Defeats Manhattan 81-72

1/7/2017 4:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - Freshman guard Mikey Dixon (New Castle, Del. - pictured) tied his career highs with 23 points and seven assists, freshman guard Peter Kiss (New York, N.Y.) set new career highs with 20 points and 10 rebounds and senior forward Donovan Smith (Chicago, Ill.) tied a Division I school record with seven blocked shots to lead the Quinnipiac men's basketball team to an 81-72 win over Manhattan on Saturday afternoon at the TD Bank Sports Center.

With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 6-9 overall on the season and 3-2 in the MAAC, while Manhattan sees its record fall to 5-11 amd 0-5 in the MAAC.

Dixon and Kiss came into the game as one of only six pairs of freshmen guards in the country averaging over 10 ppg (along with Kentucky, Auburn, Arizona, Saint John's and The Citadel) and continued their impressive rookie seasons. Dixon matched his personal best of 23 points, which he accomplished two other times, including on Monday in an 81-78 win over Niagara when he had the winning jumper with 23 seconds left. He shot 7-11 from the floor and 8-8 from the foul line, extending his streak of consecutive made free throws to 30.

Kiss' 20 points eclipsed his previous best of 19, which he set against Seton Hall on Nov. 25 at the AdvoCare Invitational, while his 10 rebounds bettered his previous high of nine, which he accomplished twice. Kiss was also 4-4 from the three-point line, the second time he has done that this season (Seton Hall was the first), which ties for the fifth-best single-game three-point performance in Quinnipiac's Division I history.

Smith, meanwhile, had a career-best seven blocked shots, which tied Quinnipiac's school record at the Division I level. Ousmane Drame set the mark of seven, which he accomplished four times on his way to winning the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2014-15.

Quinnipiac led 40-32 at the half and extended its lead up to 10 on two occasions, the second coming with 16:45 left on a Kiss three-pointer. Manhattan clawed its way back in it, though, and got back to within a single point at 59-58 with 9:07 to play on a jumper from Zavier Peart.

The Bobcats never gave up the lead, though, as Dixon hit a short jumper on the next possession to push the margin to three. After Manhattan closed to 63-61, senior guard Daniel Harris (Tampa, Fla.) hit a big three-pointer with 5:45 left to give Quinnipiac some separation, starting a 10-1 run that pushed the lead back up to 11 with 4:01 left on two Dixon foul shots.

Zavier Turner hit a three-pointer to give Manhattan one last chance at a late comeback, but Smith answered with a three-pointer in the corner to push the lead back to 11 and Dixon made two foul shots to give Quinnipiac its largest lead at 78-65.

Junior guard Reggie Oliver (Apopka, Fla.) finished in double figures with 12 points, while Smith had 11 points and seven rebounds to go with his record-tying seven blocks. Turner matched Dixon for game-high honors with 23 points for Manhattan, while Zane Waterman had 17 and Samson Usilo had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Quinnipiac is back in action on Monday night when it travels to take on Saint Peter's for a 7 p.m. contest. The Bobcats will next be at home on Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest against Iona, which will be the MAAC Game of the Week on ESPN3.