Marist 103, Quinnipiac 72

It was a good day to be a Marist fan. The Red Foxes gave their fans and seniors an afternoon to remember as their offense exploded in a 103-72 romp of Quinnipiac on senior day at McCann Arena.

The Red Foxes used a 14-0 run in the middle of the first half to jump out to a 27-12 lead, and they never looked back.  Marist led by as much as 17 near the end of the first half, but Quinnipiac ended the frame on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to single digits entering the break.

On their second possession of the next half, Marist was able to corral two offensive rebounds which led to a Jay Bowie 3-pointer.  The senior had a tremendous send-off, knocking down six shots from behind the arc on the afternoon and leading the team with 23 points.

The rout continued on throughout the second half.  Quinnipiac never got closer than 11 points off the lead, as Marist was able to grow their advantage all the way to 31 in the final minutes.  It was the first time Marist had scored 100 points since posting 112 against VMI last February, and the first time Quinnipiac allowed 100 points since giving up 103 to Bryant last January.

Marist shot 37-69 (53.6%) from the field and 15-32 (46.9%) from long range while scoring at a clip of 1.44 points per possession on their way to a new season-high point total.  Prior to this game, the most points the Red Foxes had scored in a game was 96, which they needed double overtime to reach.  Their highest regulation total this season was just 78.

Five Marist players scored in double digits, led by Bowie’s 23.  Chavaughn Lewis was right behind with 20 points and five assists.  Khallid Hart worked to secure his grip on MAAC Rookie of the Year with 15 points and six assists.  Adam Kemp and T.J. Curry rounded out the scoring with 12 points apiece.

One of the lone bright spots for Quinnipiac was the play of junior guard Zaid Hearst, who was 6-for-7 from behind the arc en route to a game-high 25 points.  With his first basket of the game, Hearst also passed the 1,000 point mark for his career.  Ousmane Drame joined Hearst in the 20-point club with 21 of his own, while Shaq Shannon rounded out the scoring with 12.

Thanks to this victory combined with Rider’s loss to Iona, Marist enters the MAAC tournament as the #6 seed and will face Niagara in the first round on Thursday.  With the loss, Quinnipiac falls to the #3 seed, setting up a potential rematch with the Red Foxes.  The Bobcats will face the winner of Thursday’s matchup between Marist and Niagara.

Vincent Simone will be chronicling Quinnipiac’s move to the MAAC and helping cover the conference this season for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow him on Twitter @VTSimone.