QU Men's Basketball Wins 89-87 Thriller at Columbia

Monday, December 4

New York, NY

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

3-6

Columbia University

1-7

Quinnipiac

Columbia

QU Men's Basketball Wins 89-87 Thriller at Columbia

12/4/2017 8:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Athletic Communications

New York, N.Y. – Freshman guard Rich Kelly (Shelton, Conn.) had the tying three-pointer with 1:27 to go and followed with the game-winning drive with four seconds left as the Quinnipiac men's basketball team rallied for an 89-87 win over Columbia on Monday evening at Levien Gymnasium. Kelly finished with career highs of 22 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double and fellow freshman Jacob Rigoni (Adelaide, Australia) added a career-high 20 off the bench.

SCORE
Quinnipiac 89, Columbia 87

LOCATION
Levien Gymnasium / New York, N.Y.

RECORDS
Quinnipiac 3-6 // Columbia 1-7

GAME NOTES

Kelly's game-winning basket came after the Bobcats earned a stop and called timeout with a two-second differential between the shot clock and game clock. He hesitated at the top of the key, drove to his right and hit a scoop shot to put the Bobcats ahead by two.
Columbia elected not to call a timeout and raced end to end, but Quinnipiac converted to defense well and forced Mike Smith into a falling away three-pointer, which hit off the rim.
The tying three-pointer came after the Bobcats worked the ball inside to senior forward Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.). After the defense collapsed, Daniels kicked the ball out to the left wing to Kelly, who buried a clean look.
Columbia took the largest lead for either team in the second half at five points at 79-74, but Rigoni knocked down a 25-foot three-pointer as the shot clock expired to close the gap to within two with 6:21 to play.
Columbia went back ahead by four on a three-pointer with just over four minutes remaining (85-81) but Kelly answered right back with a three-pointer, starting a stretch in which he scored the final eight Bobcat points.
The Bobcats had five players in double figures in scoring for the first time this season. Kelly led with 22, Rigoni had 20, while Andrew Robinson (14), Chaise Daniels (12) and Cameron Young (12) were all in doubles as well/
The Bobcats finished the game 17-34 from the three-point line on the day.
Quinnipiac trailed by nine points early, but the Bobcat bench produced 27 points to help the Bobcats keep the deficit to 48-46 at the half.
Freshman forward Jacob Rigoni (Adelaide, Australia) came into the game with a personal best of eight points set twice, and had 15 by halftime to lead the Bobcats.
Junior guard Andrew Robinson (Takoma Park, Md.) had four three-pointers in the first half for 12 points.
The Bobcats had 10 three-pointers in the first half: four from Robinson, three from Rigoni, two from Kelly and one from senior guard Cameron Young (Los Angeles, Calif.).
Quinnipiac's three wins this season have been by a combined five points, including an opening day 78-77 win over Dartmouth and a 68-66 home win over UMass.

QUINNIPIAC STAT LEADERS
Points: Rich Kelly 22, Jacob Rigoni 20, Andrew Robinson 14, Chaise Daniels 12, Cameron Young 12
Rebounds: Abdulai Bundu 8
Assists: Rich Kelly 10

COLUMBIA STAT LEADERS
Points: Mike Smith 20, Quinton Adlesh 16
Rebounds: Lukas Meisner 9
Assists: Mike Smith 7

UPCOMING GAMES
Quinnipiac will travel up I-91 for a local rivalry game with Hartford on Thursday night at 7 p.m. before an 11-day break for final exams.