New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Quinnipiac falls to Saint Peter’s at the buzzer
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Mouhamed Sow did much of his damage against the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team from where you’d least expect it. A 20.8 percent shooter from 3-point land in two seasons coming into Friday night, the Saint Peter’s redshirt sophomore hit a trio of treys against the Bobcats.
But the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward went to a more familiar area — the lane — to land the dagger on Quinnipiac’s hopes for its first NCAA Tournament bid.
Sow’s rebound basket on a Roy Clarke miss beat the buzzer as No. 5 Saint Peter’s topped the topseeded Bobcats 62-60 to advance the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament final at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Friday night.
“I just followed up,” Sow said. “I had a feeling he was going to make it. But if you don’t make it I’ll go get it.
“It felt good. I like to win.”
The Peacocks (18-13) played No. 2 Fairfield on Saturday for the tourney title and the MAAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Quinnipiac (24-9) with a school-record for wins and the program’s first MAAC regular-season title, will now wait and see if it has another postseason game. With the NCAA taking over the NIT, regular-season conference champions no longer receive a bid.
“Hopefully, our season’s not over,” said Quinnipiac’s Tom Pecora, the MAAC Coach of the Year. “Hopefully, we’ll have an opportunity to play in one of those other postseason tournaments. As someone who had the opportunity to coach in the NIT three times, it’s a shame that they’ve taken away the NIT bid from mid-major conference regular-season champions. It’s a tradition-rich tournament. It’s kind of sad that there won’t be as many mid-major teams playing in it now probably driven by the fear of big conferences leaving the NCAA. That’s all politics.”
MAAC Player of the Year Matt Balanc paced the Bobcats with 15 points but was only 5-for-19 from the floor. Savion Lewis added 14 points while Paul Otieno added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Quinnipiac averaged 86.5 points in two regularseason double-figure wins over Saint Peter’s but Friday night’s game was played at a different
pace.
“We wrote the number 65 on the board and said if we get 65 points we’ll win the game,” Pecora said. “So much of it is about pace of play. But they’re a fine defensive team and we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole. We spent a great amount of energy getting back in it. The term we use all the time is finish. We didn’t finish that play.”
The Bobcats shot 37.7 percent from the floor and had only four fast-break points.
The Peacocks turned 10 Quinnipiac turnovers into 10 points and also had a 16-5 advantage in points off the bench.
“I couldn’t be happier or more excited for this group,” Saint Peter’s coach Bashir Mason said.
“To hold down one of the highest-scoring teams in the country and for us to do what we did to win ... I told them that if we held them in the 60s we could beat them. And they were crazy enough to believe it.”
Quinnipiac led by as many as six at 20-14 before the Peacocks ran off 10 unanswered points including five by Sow, Paul Otieno got the Bobcats back on track and his hoop gave Quinnipiac a 30-29 edge at the half.
But Sow — who was 6for-27 from behind the arc this year — opened the second with his third trey in four tries to put Saint Peter’s in front and it stretched its lead to 53-43 with 7:22 left. It was 60-53 with 3:09 to go.
Balanc hit two free
throws and scored on a drive to make it a threepoint game with 2:11 remaining. It stayed that way until Balanc hit a fallaway 3-pointer with 12.3 seconds left. Saint Peter’s, though, would have the final possession.
“We had to get back and make a stop,” Balanc said. “We didn’t win the game, we tied it. We got the stop but didn’t finish the play.”
Clarke drove into the lane and missed but Sow — who was fasting in observance of Ramadan — was in position for the rebound and score. After review, the Peacocks’ celebration was on.
“It’s my first, my first ever,” Sow said of his buzzer-beater. “And I was fasting, too. Make sure you guys all know that. I didn’t eat food the whole day.”
Sow finished with 15 points. Teammate Corey Washington had 13. Quinnipiac’s previous low was 66 in four separate games.
“That’s our goal every night, 60s, 60s, that’s how we win ballgames,” Saint Peter’s guard Latrell Reid said.
It was two years that Saint Peter’s made history by becoming the first No. 15 regional seed to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. With one more win, the Peacocks will be back in the Field of 68.
Balanc and the Bobcats are hopeful they’ll have another opportunity. But what they did this season won’t be forgotten.
“I hope we were able to create something that hasn’t been here,” Balanc said. “And I hope what we did will lead in a great season next year as well.”