Peter Kiss, Chaise Daniels Lead QU Men's Basketball To 89-81 Home Win Over Niagara

Saturday, February 4

Hamden, CT

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

9-14, 6-7MAAC

Niagara University

8-17, 5-9MAAC

Niagara

Quinnipiac

Peter Kiss, Chaise Daniels Lead QU Men's Basketball To 89-81 Home Win Over Niagara

2/4/2017 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn. - Freshman Peter Kiss (New York, N.Y.) set new career highs in all three major categories with 23 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and junior Chaise Daniels (Meriden, Conn.) had a season-high 24 points on 10-12 shooting and 10 rebounds as the Quinnipiac men's basketball team built a huge first-half lead and held on for an 89-81 win over Niagara on Saturday evening at the TD Bank Sports Center.

With the win, the Bobcats move to 9-14 overall and 6-7 in the MAAC, while snapping a three-game losing skid after a tough stretch of schedule against Iona, Monmouth and Siena. Niagara, meanwhile, slips to 8-17 overall and 5-9 in the MAAC with the loss.

Quinnipiac led by as many as 28 points in the first half at 44-16 and held a 48-26 lead at the break. Niagara, though, came all the way back to within six points behind Khalil Dukes, who had 20 of his 29 in the second half. It was Dukes' two foul shots that closed the Purple Eagles to within 81-75 with 2:25 to go, but Kiss stepped up with a big three-point play to get the lead back to nine with 1:58 left.

Dukes hit two more foul shots to close the margin to 85-79 with 43 seconds left, but junior guard Phil Winston (Lakewood, Wash.) knocked down two pressure foul shots. Daniels then grabbed a defensive rebound for his tenth board of the game, and hit two more foul shots to stretch the lead to 89-79, before the Purple Eagles added one more basket on their last possession to make the final score 89-81.

It was all Quinnipiac from the opening tip, as the Bobcats jumped out to a 14-2 lead, as Daniels scored eight of the first 10 points for his team. A Daniels lay-up off a Kiss feed made it 18-3 with 13:51 left in the half, and with the score 27-13, Kiss hit two three-pointers and freshman guard Mikey Dixon (New Castle, Del.) added one for a quick 9-0 run over a span of 46 seconds to make the score 36-13 with 7:50 left in the half.

A Kiss lay-up pushed the lead to 40-14 with 5:52 left in the half, and after Niagara answered with a basket, Kiss fed Daniels for one basket and then scored himself to give the Bobcats their largest lead at 44-16. The Purple Eagles responded with its only run of the first half, a 10-2 spurt, to close to within 46-26, but Kiss fed senior guard Daniel Harris (Tampa, Fla.) for a fast-break lay-up to put Quinnipiac up by 22 at the break.

Kiss had a huge first half with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists as he flirted with a triple-double before settling for eight assists. He passed his previous high off 22 points set last week at Monmouth, and eclipsed his personal best of 10 rebounds, set against Manhattan on Jan. 7. Dixon finished with 18 points for the Bobcats, giving him 13 or more points in 19 of the last 20 games since being held scoreless by Seton Hall on Nov. 25. Quinnipiac also had a 46-34 advantage in the rebounding department, one game after being outrebounded 51-26 in a loss to Siena. Dukes shot 8-18 from the floor and 12-14 at the foul line for his 29 points for Niagara, while Matt Scott added 20.

Quinnipiac is back in action on Monday night when it travels to face local rival Fairfield for a 7 p.m. contest in Bridgeport.