Post Game Press Conference
ALBANY, NY – For the third time this season, No. 9 Saint Peter's men's basketball defeated No. 8 Marist, this time with the win coming in the First Round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships. The Peacocks won the tournament game in overtime, edging the Red Foxes 71-68. The starting backcourt of
Davauhnte Turner and
Dallas Watson, combined to scored 35 of the Peacocks' points in the win.
Game Notes
- Saint Peter's (10-21) took control early, going up 5-4 and maintaining a one possession lead over Marist (12-20) until under the 12-minute mark.
- The game stayed within one possession with the lead changing hands twice but Marist went on an 8-0 run to take a 21-14 lead over the Peacocks into the eight-minute media break.
- Saint Peter's found themselves down by 10 points with 5:30 in the half, when KC Ndefo made a layup, Watson connected on a 3-pointer, and Turner added a layup to put the Peacocks down 28-25.
- Marist outscored the Peacocks 9-2 to close out the half and go into the locker room ahead of the Peacocks 37-27.
- Five minutes into the second half, Saint Peter's would fall behind by 13, down 46-33.
- The Peacocks would take over the game completely from that point on and change the narrative of the game.
- The Peacocks went an 11-0 run with Turner (5 points), Watson (3 points), and Quinn Taylor (3 points) leading the charge and putting the Peacocks down by just two.
- After Marist made a free throw, the Peacocks got right back to work with Turner hitting back-to-back layups to give Saint Peter's its first lead since 10 minutes in the first half.
- The game would eventually find itself tied at 50-50, but the Peacocks put together another run, this time 7-0, to propel the team to a 57-50 lead following a triple by Manny Dixon with 6:56 to play.
- By that point, the Peacocks were on a 24-4 run since the 13-point deficit.
- The lead would change hands again after Marist scored eight straight.
- Late in the contest, Turner hit a huge 3-pointer to put Saint Peter's up four, but Ryan Funk of Marist hit the same basket on the ensuing possession to keep the Peacocks only ahead by one.
- With two minutes remaining in the game, the teams were tied up at 63-63.
- Neither would find the go-ahead basket on multiple possessions and with just seconds remaining, Taylor blocked Brian Parker's game-winning layup attempt giving the Peacocks the ball with 1.8 seconds to play.
- Turner's full court heave hit the top of the backboard, sending the game into overtime.
- In the extra period the back and forth action continued with five lead changes in the first four minutes of overtime.
- With 41 seconds to play, Taylor made a layup that gave the Peacocks the final lead of the night, up 69-68.
- On Marist's final possession, the Peacock defense stood strong and forced a miss by Marist and recovered the defensive rebound with 3 seconds left.
- Watson hit the two free throws to secure the 71-68 win for the Peacocks and advance the team into the quarterfinals for the sixth straight year.
Inside the Numbers
- Turner scored a team-high 18 points (16 of which came in the second half and OT) and added three assists and three rebounds.
- Watson scored a career-high 17 points on 3-4 shooting from behind the arc and 4-4 from the free throw line.
- Taylor also scored in double-figures and stuffed the stat sheet scoring 11 points, grabbing five rebounds, and picking up two blocks and two steals.
- Ndefo finished the game with nine points and four blocks, Samuel Idowu scored eight points and eight rebounds, and Dixon ended his night with seven points.
- As one of the nation's top shot blocking team, the Peacocks again surpassed their season average, swatting eight shots in the win.
- Saint Peter's also won the rebounding battle (30-27).
- The Peacocks have now won 4 out of their last 5 games with the victory.
- Parker led all-scorers with 22 points to lead Marist.
Up Next
- The Peacocks advance to the quarterfinal round of the MAAC Championship and will take on No. 1 Iona on Friday, March 8 at 7 p.m.
