Newburgh, New York.
28,000 individuals name the city on the western shore of the Hudson River, reverse Beacon, house, but it surely felt like the entire city was behind a local son on the opposite facet of the river on Friday night time.
In entrance of “over 50” family and friends members, Amarri Tice made his triumphant return to the area that he calls house and led Quinnipiac with 20 factors and 15 rebounds in a 66-55 win over Marist in Poughkeepsie.
“Everyone was there, you title ‘em they have been there,” Tice stated. “Mother, dad, uncle, pals, cousins, aunts, nieces, nephews, everyone.”
Feeding off of the vitality from his entourage, Tice and the Bobcats improved to 4-1 in MAAC play and 12-4 total.
“Having followers within the crowd it felt like a house sport,” Tice stated. “I’d rating and I’d hear individuals cheering and supporting me and the crew.”
Tice’s cheering part, reverse the Quinnipiac bench within the stands, gave him a light ovation when he was introduced as a starter, however bought louder as the sport went on.
Inside 26 seconds, Quinnipiac had pressured two turnovers with a full-court press, and Tice was on the board. The Bobcats jumped out to a 6-0 lead.
Regardless of the wholesome Newburgh contingent, Marist introduced an excellent crowd as nicely. McCann Enviornment was hopping because the Foxes launched into a 17-0 run to take a 21-10 lead within the first half, holding Quinnipiac and not using a area purpose for over 10 minutes.
Marist’s younger backcourt pressured nationwide help chief, Savion Lewis, a sixth-year senior, to show the ball over seven occasions, preserving Quinnipiac away from what they usually love to do.
“John [Dunne] did an excellent job bringing the weak facet defender into the lane to remove our pick-and-roll stuff,” Bobcat head coach Tom Pecora stated. “We have been making an attempt to squeeze it in there as a substitute of skipping to the weak facet.”
Regardless of Marist’s robust run, Quinnipiac responded, preserving the sport inside 4 at halftime at 33-29.
“We had a very good final 4 minutes [of the first half],” Pecora stated. “It bought us again into the sport the place we weren’t going to be chasing down 10, and I assumed we have been in good condition in that regard.”
On the outset of the second half, Tice started to flex his muscular tissues. Whereas eight factors and 5 rebounds within the first half is nothing to scoff at, he was very unfastened with the ball, turning it over 4 occasions. When that tightened up, Marist had few solutions.
“I simply didn’t drive something,” Tice stated. “We simply went on the market and performed Quinnipiac basketball.”
Within the second half alone, Tice had a double-double with 12 factors and 10 rebounds. Quinnipiac rode the Wofford switch to a dominant second half, outsourcing Marist 37-22.
Because the hometown child turned snug, so too did Lewis, who needed to resort extra to his scoring talents than his passing. Early within the second half, Quinnipiac’s level guard burst to his left previous Isaiah Brickner and completed on the rim round Max Allen to tie the sport at 40.
Tice’s pivotal second-half game-tying basket got here only a few minutes later. He obtained a flip move from Lewis and exploded previous the Marist protection, scoring simply together with his left hand, sending the group right into a frenzy.
His resilience and steadiness could have been the important thing to maintain the Bobcats going.
“I’ve realized to manage my anger [over the last few months],” Tice stated. “I are inclined to get labored up a bit of bit, however I’ve positively managed that and simply performed arduous.”
Channeling his vitality into optimistic play earned him excessive reward from his coach.
“Amarri was a monster tonight,” Pecora stated. “We’ve change into very shut and we belief one another, that’s a very powerful factor. Gamers should belief you and the selections you make. Amarri has change into an excellent chief, and I’ve already talked to him about being a captain subsequent yr.”
Down the stretch, the margins have been skinny, and Marist coach John Dunne thought that the Foxes have been a bit of bit unlucky. He marked the important thing moments the place the sport slipped away as a troublesome pull-up jumper from Lewis with slightly below 4 and a half minutes to play and a contested Matt Balanc 3-pointer on the finish of the shot clock with underneath three minutes to play.
“I assumed our protection over the course of 40 minutes was fairly good,” Dunne stated. “However we’ve got to do a greater job if we’re going to win video games on this league. We simply didn’t make sufficient photographs on offense. We had a extremely good week of follow, we competed nicely tonight, and so long as we do this, we’ll proceed to develop.”
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Different notes across the MAAC from Friday
Niagara ended Fairfield’s eight-game successful streak with a 96-72 blowout victory. The Purple Eagles shot 10-for-15 from past the arc and had 5 completely different gamers in double figures. Greg Paulus’ crew has now received three consecutive MAAC video games. The Stags obliterated each Siena and Marist final weekend however couldn’t sustain with the wild Niagara scoring tempo on Friday.
Regardless of 30 factors and 12 rebounds from Sean Durugordon, who’s the primary Siena participant to have 20 factors in every of his first 5 video games for this system in Division I, the Saints fell to Canisius. The Griffs have been capable of win regardless of Siem Uijtendaal and Tre Dinkins taking pictures a mixed 6-for-25 from the sphere. Siena has dropped eight in a row and falls to 2-13.
Mervin James continued to again up his Preseason MAAC Participant of the 12 months choice with a 27-point outburst to guide Rider over Manhattan. The Jaspers have been with out star freshman Seydou Traore, however the Broncs nonetheless needed to struggle for it. The sport was tied at 33 at halftime, however Rider burst ahead within the second half to win its second consecutive sport.