QU Men's Basketball Tops Defending Regular Season Champ Monmouth, 78-76, In MAAC Opener

Thursday, December 28

Hamden, CT

7:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

4-9, 1-0MAAC

Monmouth University

4-9, 0-1MAAC

Monmouth

Quinnipiac

QU Men's Basketball Tops Defending Regular Season Champ Monmouth, 78-76, In MAAC Opener

12/28/2017 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Athletic Communications

HAMDEN, Connecticut - Led by a 20-point night from senior guard Cameron Young (Los Angeles, California) and 18 from freshman forward Jacob Rigoni (Adelaide, Australia - pictured), the Quinnipiac men's basketball team opened Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play with a 78-76 win against two-time defending regular season champion Monmouth at the TD Bank Sports Center. With the win, Quinnipiac opens the year at 1-0 in the MAAC while also improving to 4-9 overall while the Hawks drop to 4-9 on the season while also starting their conference slate a 0-1.

SCORE
Quinnipiac 78, Monmouth 76

LOCATION
Lender Court at the TD Bank Sports Center / Hamden, Conn.

RECORDS
Quinnipiac 4-9, 1-0 MAAC // Monmouth, 4-9, 0-1 MAAC

NOTES

Quinnipiac played its seventh game this year decided by two points or less out of 13, going 4-3 in those contests. The Bobcats' four wins this season have been by a combined seven points.
Freshman forward Jacob Rigoni (Adelaide, Australia) was 6-7 from three-point territory for 18 points, including 5-6 in the second half.
Freshman guard Rich Kelly (Shelton, Conn.) had 11 assists, a personal-best, breaking his previous high of 10 set in a win over Columbia on Dec. 4.
Kelly made two foul shots to stretch the lead to three (78-75) with five seconds left. After inbounding the ball to midcourt and calling a timeout, Quinnipiac forced Louie Pillari into a tough three-pointer that missed the rim.
Monmouth had one final slim chance as Pierre Sarr grabbed the offensive rebound off the Pillari miss as the horn blew. A foul was called when he came down with the ball, and after a video review the officials put 0.2 seconds back on the clock. Sarr made the first and missed the second on purpose, but junior forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md.) clinched it with a rebound.
Quinnipiac took its largest lead of the game at 70-62 on a three-pointer from Rigoni with 5:17 left.
Monmouth got back within one point with eight seconds left on a three-pointer from Deion Hammond, but Kelly made two pressure foul shots to force the Hawks to shoot a three-pointer.
Young had 17 of his 20 points in the first half on 6-7 shooting.
The Bobcats win against Monmouth ends a four-game losing streak against the Hawks over the last two years. Prior to that, Quinnipiac had won 10 straight in the series.

QUINNIPIAC STAT LEADERS
Points: Cameron Young 20, Jacob Rigoni 18, Abdulai Bundu 11, Rich Kelly 11
Rebounds: Abdulai Bundu 8, Cameron Young 8
Assists: Rich Kelly 11
Steals: Cameron Young 3

MONMOUTH STAT LEADERS
Points: Micah Seaborn 14, Deion Hammond 13, Austin Tilghman 13
Rebounds: Austin Tilghman 8
Assists: Austin Tilghman 7

UPCOMING GAMES
Quinnipiac returns to action when it travels to Loudonville, New York to face MAAC foe Siena on Monday, Jan. 1, 2018 live on ESPN3 at 1 p.m.. The Bobcats return home on Friday, Jan. 5 to host Canisius at 8 p.m., also on ESPN3.