Timely Pioneer shooting, rebounding defeats Bobcats

Timely Pioneer shooting, rebounding defeats Bobcats

By Miles McQuiggan, QBSN Staff Writer

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Behind a career-high 26 points from Louis Montes, 18 second-half points from Shane Gibson, and two rally-crushing offensive rebounds at the end of the game, the Sacred Heart Pioneers knocked off the Quinnipiac Bobcats, 78-75, at the Pitt Center in Fairfield Thursday night. With the win, Sacred Heart improved to 9-11 overall, and 3-4 in the Northeast Conference, while Quinnipiac fell to 9-9 on the season, and 2-5 in NEC play.

Three Bobcats were in double figures in the loss. Dave Johnson (Jackson, N.J.)  led Quinnipiac with 18, while James Johnson (Queens, N.Y.) tallied 16, and Ike Azotam (Boston, Mass.) recorded 15. The Bobcats had eight rebounds each from Azotam, Ousmane Drame (Boston, Mass.), and Jamee Jackson (Newark, N.J.), who played 22 minutes in his first game back from a foot injury that had him sidelined since mid-December.

Quinnipiac led 33-31 at the half, in a back-and-forth stanza that featured six lead changes. The second half featured the same dynamic, as one team would go on a run, and the other would answer back with a run of its own. The Bobcats saw their final lead of the contest slip away with 4:20 remaining, as Gibson hit a layup and made the free throw on a three-point play to put the Pioneers up for good.

With 1:06 remaining, trailing 74-73, the Bobcats had a chance to tilt the table. However, a pair of missed Pioneers shots turned into offensive rebounds, and with less than 35 seconds remaining, Quinnipiac was forced to play the fouling game.

The Bobcats had one final glimmer of a chance with 0.4 seconds remaining, when Dave Johnson was flattened while hoisting a three-quarter court attempt. Johnson made the first two free throws, but was unsuccessful in the schoolyard attempt of bouncing the ball off the rim out for a three-point attempt.

“I thought the most important part of the game was when Gibson went out with his fourth foul at the ten-minute mark,” Coach Tom Moore said. “They really survived that stretch.”

“We did too many things in the last three minutes to hurt our chances to win,” Moore added, alluding to the missed box-outs, and an inbounding violation that gave the ball back to Sacred Heart.

Quinnipiac returns to action on Saturday, when they travel to Smithfield, R.I., to take on Bryant. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.