Bobcats Move To Semifinals With 89-80 Win Over Niagara
MAAC Sports
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior guard Shaq Shannon scored a career-high 20 points and junior forward Ousmane Drame scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Quinnipiac University to an 89-80 victory over Niagara University in the quarterfinal round of the 2014 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship.
Quinnipiac advances to the semifinals of the Championship and will face No. 2 seed Manhattan on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
Offensive minded Quinnipiac scored 10 points above its season average of 79.2, shooting 58.2 percent from the field (32-of-55), including 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from beyond the three-point arc. Shannon was good on 7-of-9 field goal attempts, including 4-of-5 from three point range. Azotam connected on 7-of-11 from the floor, and Drame hit 7-of-14.
Five Bobcats scored in double figures. In addition to Shannon and Drame, Ike Azotam added 18 points, Zaid Hearst scored 15 and Evan Conti contributed 12.
Quinnipiac led 38-36 at the half, and eventually built its lead to 15 in the second half when Azotam hit a layup with 6:43 left.
Niagara, the No. 11 seed, refused to succumb and managed to cut the Bobcats’ lead to six when Antoine Mason hit a pair of free throws with 44 seconds left. Quinnipiac, however, staved off the Purple Eagles (7-26) comeback and hit five free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Mason, the MAAC’s leading scorer and the second leading scorer in NCAA Division I, led Niagara with 28 points, while backcourt mate Marvin Jordan added 15 points and Wesley Myers scored 14.
The victory raised Quinnipiac’s record to 20-10, as the Bobcats became the fourth MAAC team to achieve the 20-win plateau. It’s also the third time in the last five years that Quinnipiac has won 20 or more games under Head Coach Tom Moore.