JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Saint Peter's men's basketball team suffered a 46-59 defeat to Quinnipiac at Run Baby Run Arena Friday night after showing glimpses of success in the second half.
"First off, hats off to Quinnipiac," head coach
Bashir Mason said after the game. "They came in here with a tremendous amount of purpose, pride, hard play and aggressiveness that we talked about and worked on."
The Peacocks (5-6, 0-3 MAAC) kept up with the Bobcats (7-7, 3-0 MAAC) through the first 15 minutes of the game, finding themselves trailing by just two points at the five-minute mark. But Quinnipiac responded extremely well with a 20-point scoring run that continued into the second half.
Once the run was put to an end, Saint Peter's started to buckle down defensively but still had a hard time finding the bottom of the basket. It was a tale of two halves as the Peacocks trailed by 17 after the conclusion of the first, but then outscored the Bobcats 22 to 18 in the second.
For Saint Peter's,
Bryce Eaton was the only player to reach double digits in scoring with 10 points as the rest of the starting five combined for 20.
Adetokunbo Bakare recorded seven points and five boards and
Jaquel Morris dropped four points while grabbing six rebounds off the bench.
The difference maker tonight was Quinnipiac's ability to rebound the ball offensively. The Bobcats pulled in 17 offensive boards which led to 15 second chance points.
The Peacocks will look to turn the page a week from now in a road matchup at Niagara on Friday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. ET.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bobcats jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead as the Peacocks struggled offensively over the first few minutes of the game. Saint Peter's began to settle in as back-to-back buckets from
Stephon Roberts and
Armoni Zeigler made it a 6-12 deficit at the first media timeout.
Out of the break, an SPU steal led to a transition layup by Bakare making it 8-12. Over the next couple of minutes, Quinnipiac took a seven-point lead at 19-12, but another steal, this time by Morris, led to a 1-on-1 fastbreak for Eaton. He was able to make a mid-air adjustment to convert the layup while getting fouled. Eaton completed the AND-1 with the free throw to cut the deficit to four again at 15-19.
With under 8:30 to go in the first half, a 3-pointer from Zeigler brought the Peacocks within three, 20-23. Later on, both teams went scoreless for over a minute before Eaton checked into the game and ended the drought with a jumper. The Bobcats had a quick answer on the other end as Jaden Zimmerman cashed in on a triple making it 29-24.
Quinnipiac ended the half on a 15-0 scoring run for its largest lead of the game, 41-24. The Peacocks were held scoreless for the final five minutes as they turned the ball over nine times in the half.
Saint Peter's ended its scoring drought four minutes into the second after Bakare's made 3-pointer, 27-46. It was just the second made 3 for the Peacocks all game. Quinnipiac also went scoreless for over five minutes before hitting a triple of its own.
With 11:33 remaining in regulation, the Peacocks found themselves trailing by 20 at 29-49. The deficit continued for a few minutes before Saint Peter's called a timeout after a 3-pointer from Eaton.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, the Peacocks showed some life but couldn't manage a full comeback, falling to the Bobcats by 13 points.
KEY MOMENT
Quinnipiac ended the first half with 15 unanswered points, putting the Bobcats up 41-24 at the break.
UP NEXT
The Peacocks will continue conference play on the road with games against Niagara on Friday, Jan. 10 (6:30 p.m. ET) and Canisius on Sunday, Jan. 12 (1 p.m. ET). Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
NOTES
Saint Peter's moves to 17-10 all-time against Quinnipiac and 9-4 at home vs. the Bobcats.
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