Fast Start Propels QU Men's Basketball to MAAC Opening Round Win Over Siena

Thursday, March 1

Albany, NY

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

11-20

Siena College

8-24

Quinnipiac

Siena

Isaiah Washington gets an early dunk as part of Quinnipiac's 21-5 run to start the game (photo by Greg Fisher)

Fast Start Propels QU Men's Basketball to MAAC Opening Round Win Over Siena

3/1/2018 9:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: QU Athletic Communications

Albany, N.Y. – The Quinnipiac men's basketball team made its first eight shots from the floor (five from three-point territory) to jump out to a 21-5 lead five minutes in and went on to capture a 67-58 win over Siena on Thursday evening in the opening round of the MAAC Tournament at the Times Union Center. Quinnipiac, which was led by freshmen Rich Kelly (18 points) and Jacob Rigoni (17 points) moves on to face second-seeded Canisius tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. in the tournament's quarterfinal round.

SCORE
#7 Quinnipiac 67, #10 Siena 58

LOCATION
Times Union Center / Albany, N.Y.

RECORDS
Quinnipiac 11-20 // Siena 8-24

GAME NOTES

Quinnipiac hit its first eight shots from the floor to take a 21-5 lead at the 14:25 mark of the first half, with five of the shots coming from three (two from freshman forward Jacob Rigoni, two from senior guard Cameron Young, and one from freshman guard Rich Kelly).
The 16-point lead five minutes in matched the Bobcats' largest lead of the season, which it held on opening day against Dartmouth in a 78-77 win, and in a double-overtime defeat at Fairfield on February 17.
Quinnipiac took its first 20-point lead of the season at 33-13 on a three-pointer from Rigoni with 5:07 left in the half.
The 40-16 lead that the Bobcats held at the half doubled their previous largest lead at the break (12 at Fairfield on Feb. 17 in a double-overtime loss) and was the largest lead the Bobcats had for the contest.
The 16 points allowed in the first half beat the previous low that the Bobcats had allowed in the first half by 10 (26 at Manhattan on Sunday in the regular season finale).
Jordan Horn hit back-to-back threes for Siena 10 seconds apart after stealing the inbounds pass in between to get Siena back within 43-27 with 16:57 to play.
Siena got to within eight points at 63-55 with 1:30 to play, but senior guard Isaiah Washington hit both ends of a one-and-one and the Saints could come no closer.
Quinnipiac swept the regular season series from Siena, including a 71-70 win at the Times Union Center on Jan. 1, to finish the year 3-0 against the Saints after Siena came into the year with an 8-2 lead in the series.
The Bobcats snapped a four-game losing streak in the MAAC Tournament, dating back to a 2014 win over Niagara in the quarterfinals in their first-ever MAAC Tournament game.
Cameron Young had his third straight double-double and seventh of the year with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He is now 26 points shy of the Quinnipiac record for points in a single season at the Division I level (607 by DeMario Anderson in 2006-07) heading into the quarterfinals.

QUINNIPIAC STAT LEADERS
Points: Rich Kelly 18, Jacob Rigoni 17, Cameron Young 14
Rebounds: Cameron Young 11, Jacob Rigoni 8
Assists: Isaiah Washington 3
Blocks: Chaise Daniels 2

SIENA STAT LEADERS
Points: Khalil Richard 12, Jordan Horn 10
Rebounds: Jordan Horn 5
Assists: Christian Bentley 2