Back to Back Wins Blow Seawolves Away

Back to Back Wins Blow Seawolves Away
By: Kevin Lo and Jon Leach
November 29, 2007

HAMDEN — Coming off a compelling consolation game at U. Maine’s Dead River Tournament, where QU defeated host U. Maine and finished third, the Bobcats returned home to pick up a win against the Stony Brook Seawolves on Thursday night in Hamden. This was their third win of the season and their second straight win in dramatic fashion. The Bobcats defeated the Seawolves 58-41 and have now improved to 3-1 overall this season.

Both teams got off to a rough start. Stony Brook committed four straight turnovers on their first four offensive possessions and seemed hot and bothered by the Bobcats suffocating defense. “We had a lot of different defensive schemes” claimed coach Tricia Fabbri. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, they failed to capitalize in the opening minutes of the game as they shot 1-5 from the field and didn’t score until the 17:30 mark. Stony Brook didn’t score their first basket until the 15:30 mark.

The Seawolves were down 8-5 six minutes into the game, and that’s the closest they would get. Less than 10 min into the opening half, the Bobcats held a 22-13 lead, but they weren’t done yet. The Bobcats shot, slashed and scored their way to a 33-10 run to finish the half. Mandy Pennewell proved to be a key player in that explosive first half as she scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half. Stony Brook shot an abysmal 19% from the field and committed 10 turnovers leading to a 41-18 deficit at the end of the first half.

The beginning of the second half was pretty much the same for both teams. Stony Brook continued to struggle from the field and the Bobcats continued to play tough defense and run the floor en route to easy buckets. 11 minutes into the game Stony Brook began to slowly make a dent in QU’s 20 point lead. With 5 minutes remaining, Stony Brook found themselves down 18 with the score 54-36 Quinnipiac. The Bobcats bared down defensively and held the Sea Wolves to 5 points over the last 5 min of the game.   

Overall Stony Brook struggled the whole game, shooting just 22% from the floor. It was a rough game for both teams who both shot under 40% and committed close to 20 turnovers each but QU found a way to bring that first half intensity and close out the second half.  

Mandy Pennewell shot 6-10 from the floor with 3 threes for a total of 15 pts “when you get hot, you get hot,” she said in her response to her high shooting percentage and downtown daggers. Her efforts combined with Erin Kerner’s 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks accounted for a great deal of the Bobcats success. Monique Lee came close to a double-double with 10 points and 8 rebounds despite one of her lesser performances from the field. Four players from Quinnipiac scored at least 10 point with Brianna Rooney being the fourth, netting her 10 through a series of fast break layups and free throws. 

The Bobcats face Holy Cross next in their last game before conference play. In order to win Fabbri claimed the Bobcats “have to change everything.” We’ll see if her constant switching of defensive screens and intensity will be enough to propel the Bobcats to a win over Holy Cross.

WQAQ Sports Names Evann Baker Athlete of the Week

WQAQ Sports Names Evann Baker Athlete of the Week

HAMDEN — The WQAQ Sports Department has named Men’s Basketball freshman Evann Baker as its Athlete of the Week for the week ending on November 27, 2007. This is the first time this semester Baker has won this award.

Baker lit up the iron for the Bobcats scoring 25 points, while shooting 100 percent from the floor (9-9) and pulling down 7 rebounds in the Bobcats 77-70 loss to New Hampshire on Sunday. He was also perfect from the charity stripe in the contest, going 6-6 from the free throw line.

Baker entered Quinnipiac University this year after a 2006 high school campaign that culminated in the 2006 Gatorade Player of the Year award for the Washington D.C. area.

The Bobcats are back in action on Wednesday, November 28, when they tip-off against Lehigh in Bethlehem, PA. Game-time is scheduled for 7pm.

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Frustrating season finally comes to end for golf team

Frustrating season finally comes to end for golf team
By Jeremy Schilling

“The team that is now finished for the fall season needs to get some weight training done and begin to prepare for the spring season and the conference tournament. Expect a better showing in the spring.” Those are the words of Head Coach John O’Connor after what must be considered a disappointing fall season for the Quinnipiac Bobcats golf team. It was not long ago that this team had a very successful campaign during the fall 2006, putting out consistent team and individual efforts.

However, aside from one strong individual effort, the team did not play very well at all. They finished 16 out of 18, 7 out of 9, 22 out of 26, 10 out of 12 and 17 out of 42 teams for each of their fall tournaments. Towards the bottom in every one – not exactly what they were looking for.

They were victims of inconsistent play – one day someone was good, but everyone else wasn’t – and then that player came back the next week and couldn’t keep up the good play.

Let’s go through a season of disappointment through the Coach’s quote book. The frustration started early in the season after the first event at Rutgers University. “Unfortunately the only golfer to step up was Ian O’Connor. The other guys did not handle the easy course at Rutgers. There was nothing hard about the course. The fairways, roughs and greens were very green and soft and posed no challenge. The course was not long and the greens were not protected by bunkers, trees or water. Everyone should have scored low.”

After the Dartmouth Invitational on September 23 it didn’t get any better, when Coach O’Connor stated that “overall the scores were weak.”

And the end of the season wasn’t any better, with Coach O’Connor bemoaning after the season ending New England Championships that “…you can’t win with one good scorer.”

The lone bright spot, for only a week, however, of this fall season was Ian O’Connor’s even par round in the final round of the Rutgers Invitational, which helped propel him to finish 4th overall in the individual part of the tournament. The round helped earn him to the honor of NEC Male Golfer of the Week for September 19, 2007.

Looking forward, this team needs to practice very hard and regain their focus if they want to return to being the true contender that they were in 2006, according to O’Connor. Weight training not only will help them hit the ball farther, but help to elevate the ball out of the thick rough that they seemingly have been hitting into way too much.

Bobcats lose intensity, game against Princeton

Bobcats lose intensity, game against Princeton
by Seth Rothman
November 24, 2007

HAMDEN — Different game, same story.

It’s hard to imagine a team wouldn’t play a hard-working game when they’re on television for the first of only six contests in front of the NESN cameras.

But that’s exactly the kind of game Quinnipiac (5-4-2, 2-2-2 ECAC) played today against Princeton (4-4-0, 3-3-0 ECAC) in men’s hockey action from the TD Banknorth Sports Center, losing 4-2 in an effort that left the 2,283 fans at “The Bank” disappointed.

“I thought Princeton was grittier than us, hungrier than us, as you can expect after we beat them twice,” Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We played a decent first period, but I thought we struggled the rest of the game. The intensity wasn’t good.”  

“I thought we had it turned around the last couple of games, but tonight was disappointing, to say the least,” senior captain Jamie Bates said. “The effort the guys put out as a team — with the chance to move into second place, get two points; we just didn’t seem to have the heart to do it tonight.”

Bates has been a one-man wrecking machine this last week against Princeton, scoring once and helping on 7 others in the three games against Princeton.

“He’s a good power forward,” Pecknold said. “When he plays like a power forward, he’s one of the better players in the league. When he goes hard to the net, and gets his nose dirty in front. He’s got a great stick, and plays with a great level of competitiveness.”

“He’s been all over the ice; making great plays, taking hits,” junior wingman Bryan Leitch said. “Definitely the best stretch of the season for him; he’s playing really well.”

The story of this one was not Bates, however. Quinnipiac played a fast-paced first period that saw them outshoot the Tigers 10-3. But Quinnipiac was outshot 22-8 over the final two periods, and outscored 3-1 over that span.

After Leitch scored on a pretty feed from Bates nearly 8 minutes in, Princeton scored three unanswered goals. Quinnipiac’s misfortune was thanks in large part to the Bobcats perceived lack of hunger.

“The first two goals they scored, we failed to block a shot,” Pecknold lamented. “We were in the lane, but we just didn’t want to do it. It’s tough to win games when you don’t have that desire to want to commit; to make a sacrifice. That’s what usually makes us good; we have that commitment level. It wasn’t there tonight.”

“The team’s commitment to win a hockey game wasn’t there today,” said a visibly upset Bates. “Our forwards weren’t keeping the puck down low; the defensemen weren’t doing a great job moving the puck up the ice. Two goals came from us not blocking shots, which is usually the strong point of our game.” 

“I don’t think it’s lack of hunger, they just outworked us,” disagreed Leitch. “It has nothing to do with how much we want it — we want it, we just didn’t go and get it. It’s disappointing.”

For Pecknold, the story remains the same. He still feels his team isn’t competing hard enough to win consistently. After playing well in the first two games of this three game series, the Bobcats seemed to take Saturday’s game as a vacation day while Princeton was busy breaking a four game losing streak.

“[Princeton] blocked more shots, they won more pucks, they did all the little things,” Pecknold said. “You make sacrifices to win games, we did it in the first two games, we didn’t today. Give Princeton credit for rebounding, coming out and gritting a win out today.”

As the team’s captain, Bates is becoming frustrated at his team’s apparent lack of desire.

“We feel we should have beat Princeton today,” Bates said. “We were at home, and playing well lately. Pretty much, to beat Princeton all you have to do is work hard. That should be something pretty easy to do when you’re at home in front of your home fans. For some reason we couldn’t do that today.”

The captain went into further detail of one of the areas he feels the team was lacking in.

“We were talking about not getting three guys below the goal line; trying to keep a two-man cycle,” Bates explained. “They play a man-to-man defense, so when you get three guys below the goal line, you beat two guys, and that brings the third defenseman in. We seemed to have three guys low all night, so we didn’t have a goal scorer, and gave up a lot of odd-man rushes because of it.”

Early in the game, Quinnipiac was getting bodies in front of Princeton’s freshman goaltender Alan Reynolds. The Toronto native was making his first career collegiate start, so it figured he would be nervous. Putting bodies in front would have helped the Bobcats get the rebound goals a nervous young goalie tends to give up.

“We always want to get guys to the net, guys in front screening,” Pecknold said. “We did it to varying degrees tonight; we just didn’t generate a lot of offense. We didn’t get a lot of pucks on net. We had a lot of chances to shoot the puck, we didn’t shoot it. We need to get more pucks to the net.”

It’s also possible the Bobcats good play over the last week hurt them this afternoon. Pecknold explained why he thought — correctly — this game would be difficult for Quinnipiac.

“I think it makes it harder when you’ve won the first two; the team that lost the first two has the advantage,” Pecknold explained. “They’re going to come in, and there’s pride on the line. I think our guys, I wouldn’t say they’re complacent, but we just didn’t have the same energy level we had the first two games.”

That doesn’t change the bitter taste the Bobcats have in their mouths after losing a game they felt they should have easily won.

“I don’t even think Princeton played that well, and we still couldn’t get the two points,” Bates fumed. “You want to get that bye through the ECAC first round playoffs. That’s our goal,” the captain continued. “You can’t have performances like tonight.” 

Oh Hamden, where are you?

Oh Hamden, where are you?
An Opinion piece by Jeremy Schilling

Two weekends ago Quinnipiac played two powerhouses of the ECAC, Clarkson and St. Lawrence in men’s hockey action. As some of you will remember, last year I blasted the student section for leaving games early. Now, only 5 home games into the year, I would like to blast the average adult fan.

There were empty seats at the TD Banknorth Sports Center for both of those two games. I find that very troubling. For a hockey team that should get nationally ranked again really soon, I am pretty astounded. This team is nationally recognized now, nationally known, and is fun to watch, no matter what the record, or situation.

Friday night’s crowd was announced at 3,444 – the largest in the short history of “The Bank.” However, only about 2,800 people were actually in seats, or standing by the rails. Saturday night’s crowd was announced at 3,349. And once again only about 2,800 people showed up. Why? Why would about 600 people just choose to not show up?

The answer, in my opinion, lies in perception. The Bobcats came into their Clarkson/SLU weekend at 2-3-1 overall, 0-1-1 in the ECAC. They had barely beaten two opponents that they demolished last year. Meanwhile, coach Rand Pecknold was saying that his players were reading the papers and slacking off. That, in turn, probably caused some of the public to say “Ahh, I’ll just sit around and watch repeats of CSI tonight.”

However behind the headlines, behind the record, shows a team that was improving. It played well against Colgate and Cornell the previous weekend, finally appearing more like the team that almost reached the glory of the big dance last spring. If people actually read into the details, maybe they would have known to show up.

And big, raucous crowds do help. As Senior Forward Jamie Bates told WQAQ’s Seth Rothman Friday night following the victory over Clarkson, “The fans were great tonight…reminds me a lot of last year at the end of the season. It definitely gave us a boost.”

However, he is most likely referring to the student section. Always jam packed, always loud, always boisterous. All the way through the game – start to finish, no stopping. Why the public won’t turn out in full, sold out force is beyond me. Folks, you’re seeing top level NCAA hockey. Skip the repeat of CSI, and come support a team that could be something really special!

Top Line Feasts on Tigers, Quinnipiac Defeats Princeton 5-2

Top Line Feasts on Tigers, Quinnipiac Defeats Princeton 5-2
By Jamie Palatini

PRINCETON, New Jersey — When your first line combines for four goals and six assists, it makes winning that much easier.

That was the case Wednesday night as Quinnipiac (5-3-2, 2-1-2 ECAC) traveled to historic Hobey Baker Rink and beat Princeton (3-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) 5-2 for their second win against the Tigers in four days. The win put the Bobcats in a tie for third in the conference.

Quinnipiac’s line of Bryan Leitch, Ben Nelson, and team captain Jamie Bates accounted for nearly all of the offense in this game. Coach Rand Pecknold spoke highly of his first line.

“They played really well tonight. It was definitely the best game of the year for them. They got it done when we needed it.”

Leitch and Bates had a goal and three assists apiece, and Nelson chipped in with two goals and an assist. Bates’ four point night tied his career high which he accomplished last year against RPI. The Captain certainly recognizes the chemistry this line has.

“We’ve played together now going on three years, and we definitely have some good chemistry going,” Bates said. “We were a little slow at the beginning of the year, but it’s really starting to kick in for us now.”

Quinnipiac dominated Princeton in the first period. Bryan Leitch started the scoring for the Bobcats with a power play goal 8:13 into the stanza. Ben Nelson put a wraparound past Princeton goaltender Zane Kalemba four and a half minutes later, and it was 2-0 Quinnipiac.

Princeton came out firing in the 2nd period though, scoring two goals of their own to tie the game at two. Mike Kramer and Lee Jubinville each scored five minutes apart to swing the momentum back in Princeton’s favor.

The turning point of the game came with just one minute remaining in the second period. Ben Nelson hit a slap shot into the top right corner for his second goal of the game, giving Quinnipiac a 3-2 edge before heading into the second intermission. It was a lead they would not relinquish. Coach Pecknold felt a big difference for the Bobcats has been the commitment of his forwards to get back on the defensive end.

“Yeah, we’ve been working a lot on it. One of our biggest weaknesses is our backchecking, so we’ve been focusing on that,” Pecknold said. “We’re obviously a better team when we backcheck and pick up their guys.”

This was the second of three games in eight days between the two teams. Pecknold understands that despite wins in the first two games for the Bobcats, the final one against Princeton will be very difficult.

“Princeton’s going to come out hard. It’s going to be a difficult game for us… even though it’s at our rink on Saturday, I think Princeton has the advantage,” Pecknold said.

These games are very important for Quinnipiac not only for the ECAC standings, but for RPI rankings as well. Prior to playing Quinnipiac, Princeton recorded wins at Cornell and at Colgate. Three consecutive wins against Princeton will be helpful in boosting Quinnipiac’s RPI ranking and at-large status. Quinnipiac and Princeton end their three game series Saturday afternoon up at the TD Banknorth Sports Center. The puck will drop at 3:36 PM, and will be televised live on the New England Sports Network (NESN).

Bobcats stumble, bumble, fall to Maine

Bobcats stumble, bumble, fall to Maine

By Michael T. Lyle, Jr.
WQAQ.com Sports
November 21, 2007

HAMDEN — DeMario Anderson and Louis Brookins did all they could in trying to help Quinnipiac make up for another slow start on Wednesday night, this time against Maine.

In the end, it was the visiting Black Bears who got the better of the Bobcats as Mark Socoby’s 29 points led Maine to their third-straight win, a 64-59 victory, at TD Banknorth Sports Center.

And for coach Tom Moore, it was a loss he blamed solely on himself.

“I’m responsible for the way we played”, said a visibly upset Moore. “Maine’s a great team and seemed to be hungrier at the start.”

DeMario earned his first career double-double as a Bobcat with 29 points and 10 rebounds, but the story of this night belonged to Socoby, who also shot 5-of-10 from beyond the arc and went a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.

“That’s our team’s fault because I thought we were playing too soft on him early”, said Moore. “We didn’t play good defense and allowed him to hint at his shot.”

After a lackluster, low-scoring first half for both teams, the Black Bears (3-2) got their offense going behind Socoby. He sparked an 11-2 run with a pair of three-pointers to open up a 49-34 advantage mid-way through the second half.

But Brookins keyed a 14-0 rally with a bucket to cut the deficit to 55-45 at the 6:18 mark of the contest. DeMario followed that up with a sick cross-over and conversion, and suddenly, Quinnipiac made a game of it at 55-47 with a little over three minutes remaining.

The Bobcats (1-2) had a chance to inch closer, but a costly decision by Casey Cosgrove led to a three-point play by Maine’s Junior Bernal. With Quinnipiac trailing by five with 31 seconds left, Cosgrove found himself alone on the left wing and thought about firing a three-pointer. Feeling a sure block coming from a Maine defender, Cosgrove reluctantly threw it into the hands of Bernal at the peak of his attempt, who then drove the other way for the score and the harm that sealed the win for Maine.

Bernal contributed 14 points while Brookins also poured in 14 for Quinnipiac, who shot of 3-of-12 from three-point range.

“We had a lot of different guys step up tonight”, said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “Fortunately we played well enough to win when we started to struggle late.”

DeMario couldn’t find his touch early, as he finished the first half with 12 points on an abysmal 4-of-11 shooting.

Bernal and Socoby attributed for the team’s struggling offense in the period, as they scored on consecutive buckets to help Maine turn and 18-13 contest into a 28-24 halftime lead.

Bobcats win first of three vs. Princeton

Bobcats win first of three vs. Princeton
by Seth Rothman
November 17, 2007

HAMDEN — No, it’s not March, and certainly not the ECAC Hockey playoffs.

Yet, somehow, Princeton (3-3-0, 2-2-0 ECAC) and Quinnipiac (4-3-2, 1-1-2 ECAC) are playing three consecutive games against each other between tonight’s 4-0 Bobcats win at the TD Banknorth Sports Center, and next Saturday at the same rink.

Usually, you do not see a 3 game series between two teams this time of year — especially when both play in ECAC Hockey. Those are usually reserved for the conference playoffs, which for the first two rounds consist of a 3 game series between the two competing teams.

It’s a quirk in the scheduling. Tonight’s contest, a non-conference game, was merely the warm-up before the conference games on Wednesday night in Princeton, N.J., and Saturday’s contest in Hamden.

An even bigger quirk, tonight’s win was the first ever time a matchup between these two teams ended with the home team celebrating in front of its fans.

Quinnipiac’s glory can be attributed partly to the barrage of shots Quinnipiac put on Princeton goaltender Zane Kalemba. The shot counter looked similar to Quinnipiac’s exhibition win over Ryerson back in October. Tonight, the counter read 16-5 – advantage Quinnipiac – after 1 period, and 35-25 at the final buzzer.

Yet Kalemba bravely kept the surging Bobcats off the scoreboard in the first period, much to the chagrin of the 2,235 in attendance at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.

Kalemba wasn’t going to keep QU off the scoreboard for long, however. Five minutes and 12 seconds into the second period, Dan Travis batted the puck out of mid-air in an acrobatic effort that gave Quinnipiac the 1-0 lead. Jean-Marc Beaudoin and Brandon Wong assisted on the tally.

“I thought we played well tonight,” Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold told WQUN. ”Kalemba was good early on. It was easily the best 60 minutes we’ve played all year.”

Brandon Wong, last year’s freshman sensation, has started slowly this season. Coming into tonight’s action, he had only 5 assists on the season, but Wong had been yet to send a ripple into the twine.

That changed tonight.

After a Dan Henningson goal early in the third period, Wong gave the Bobcats some extra insurance on the power play. Jamie Bates kept the puck in the zone, and sent a pass to Ben Nelson. The Spokane, Washington native found Wong right in front of the net for the easy score and the insurmountable lead with 10:30 left.

“It was nice to get him going; get him a little confidence,” Pecknold said of Wong.

Wong’s two point night gives him 1 goal and 6 assists on the season, tying him for the team lead in points with scoring stalwarts Ben Nelson and Bryan Leitch.

For Bates, Wong’s goal was a milestone. His assist gave him the 100th point in his Quinnipiac career, a milestone only 25 players have achieved before.

After the contest, Bates spoke modestly with WQUN when they talked to him just outside the Bobcats locker room.

“It’s really just been having the opportunity to play with some great players at Quinnipiac,” Bates said. “Playing on the power play with Reid Cashman the past three years as well as Ben Nelson and Bryan Leitch have helped get to 100.”

After Jean-Marc Beaudoin backhanded the puck into an empty net on the penalty kill from just outside his own blue line with 1:49 left in the third period, the Bobcats had a convincing 4-0 win and the 40th shutout in Quinnipiac hockey history.

“We’re coming along. Certainly not there yet, we need to do this every night,” Pecknold reasoned. “It’ll be interesting to go to Princeton Wednesday night. I think they’re the most competitive team in the league. If we take them lightly, we’re going to be in trouble.”

So now, the team looks ahead to the evening before Thanksgiving, when they face these Tigers again. But that time, it will count for far much more than it counted for tonight.

On Wednesday, it will count towards the ECAC Hockey standings.

In the meantime, the Bobcats get to spend the next week on campus lonely — most students have headed home for the week-long Thanksgiving break — but looking forward to their two games against a Princeton team that has now lost three consecutive games.

“Tonight was a good win for us,” Bates said. “We came out and competed for 60 minutes. If we can continue to do that, we’ll have good things happening for us.”

NEC Roundup: Working Overtime, Bobcats Get First W, Sacred Heart Falls To Army

NEC Roundup: Working Overtime, Bobcats Get First W, Sacred Heart Falls To Army
By Zach Smart

It was around the mid-way mark of the second half when it hit Quinnipiac. Capturing the first victory of the 2007-2008 campaign would entail a little less of DeMario Anderson, and a little more of their backcourt and bench players.

Anderson, a prolific scorer who’s already pegged as a Northeast Conference Player of the Year candidate, was mired in foul trouble. After establishing himself as the go-to-guy throughout the first half, the senior swingman fouled out with a little less than eight minutes remaining in regulation.

Starting four-man Louis Brookings and freshman center Justin Rutty were also swamped in foul trouble, before eventually fouling out.

The Bobcats didn’t flinch. A pair of unlikely sources stepped up and filled Anderson’s Shaq-size sneakers.

Quinnipiac is front-loaded with outside shooters, an aspect so paramount to success in NEC basketball, for a reason.

Three-point sniper Bryan Geffen and sophomore James Feldeine came off the bench to net 19 points apiece, connecting on several momentum-changing shots, and the Bobcats overcame dreadful free throw shooting to gut out a wild 85-79 double-overtime victory against the University of Hartford Sunday night.

Geffen, a 5-foot-10 combo guard, came out of the gates flat, misfiring on his first three shots from downtown. The junior would go lights out in the second half, playing with a savvy that helped catapult the Bobcats to their first victory of the Tom Moore era.

During one crucial juncture, Geffen pulled an ill-advised shot from behind the arc, as the Quinnipiac bench held its breath. But Geffen’s trey splashed through the bottom of the nylon, and the Boston University transfer pointed in the direction of his coach as a bi-partisan crowd of 2,218 at the TD Banknorth Sports Complex suddenly erupted.

Feldeine, an off guard who played sparingly last season, was equally impressive. The Bronx, N.Y.-product garnered his first collegiate double-double, snaring down 10 boards to go with his 19 points. With Quinnipiac trailing by three in the waning seconds of regulation, Feldeine nailed a huge trey from the right corner to lift the game into overtime.

Feldeine and Geffen were a combined 14-for-27 from the floor. Geffen connected on 5-of-10 from three-point territory.

The opportunities were there for the Hawks, who came out firing, but in the end Hartford couldn’t capitalize. They turned the ball over with four ticks remaining in regulation, and Warren McLendon’s 12-footer clanked off the rim to conclude the first overtime.

Sighs of relief from the Quinnipiac bench ricocheted throughout the arena. Despite several off-season boosts, few teams endured a tougher pre-season than the Bobcats. The ‘Cats played without their two senior captains, DeMario and Karl Anderson—both of whom were healing nagging injuries— and were forced to practice with a squad that didn’t bear any resemblance to what Moore expects to see on the floor this season.

Chemistry was also a concern. A callow crew took the court for the first time, with three freshman logging significant minutes throughout.

Sporting spankin’ new jerseys, the Bobcats already had a new look to the 2007-2008 campaign. That new look carried over to the hardwood, where they out-rebounded Hartford by an overwhelming 51-38 margin in two slopfest halves.

Former Bobcat coach Joe DeSantis’ penchant for undersized guards and problems with recruiting big men (though Victor Akinyanju, a generously-listed 6-foot-5 center, emerged as one of the conference’s premier rebounders last year) was a primary reason that rebounding and interior defense served as the Bobcats’ Achilles heal the past few seasons.

Enter Moore, who served under Jim Calhoun at UConn and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top recruiters (See Allen, Ray or Hamilton, Richard for more details). Moore swooped in and fished out freshman bigs Ed Zajac and Rutty. The pair combined for 24 rebounds in their debut.

Hartford countered this with junior strongman McLendendon, who bulldozed his way to a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds.

And so the Bobcats start the season off with a victory for the first time in recent memory, as a new journey kicks off. Last year, the Bobcats flirted with an upset over then-nationally ranked UConn, but Craig Austrie’s timely three pierced the upset-bid.

Not this time.

The Bobcats showed poise and kept their composure in the two grueling overtime sessions, albeit struggling mightily from the line.

The Bobcats were an abysmal 11-for-26, going 3-for-14 over the final stretch. The Hawks weren’t much better in that angle, hitting a meager 18-for-34 and coughing up crucial ones.

Beyond Feldeine and Geffen, highly-touted freshman Evann Baker scored 16 points. DeMario Anderson chipped in with 16 on 7-of-14 shooting.

Joe Zeglenski paced Hartford with 20 points, and three-point marksman Rich Baker chipped in with 17.

Home Boys: Zajac, the only Bobcat to play on the Connecticut scholastic circuit (Cheshire Academy), scored six points and grabbed 12 boards while tusseling down low. The Hawks’ Brian Glowiak, a 6-foot-3 guard from New Britain, scored five points in 22 minutes but was wrapped up in foul trouble. Clint Kuban, the Hawks’ walk-on from Bethel, Conn., did not play.

Half-Baked: There were plenty of Bakers on Sunday, (Rich Baker, along with Quinnipiac’s Baker brothers, Evann and Jeremy, a JUCO transfer who is still waiting to be cleared by the NCAA), but the one that came with the most fanfare wasn’t on the floor. Former NBA All-Star Vin Baker, who had a storied stay at the University of Hartford, was spotted sitting behind the Hawks’ bench. At the end of the game, he retreated to the locker room with the defeated Hawks. Baker, one of the finest players to come out of Connecticut, is still a good friend of Scott Burrell, the former UConn star and NBA player who’s now an assistant coach at Quinnipiac.

E.Baker Named Choice Hotels/NEC Rookie of the Week: Quinnipiac freshman Evann Baker copped his first Rookie of the Week award for the week of Nov. 12. Baker, an instant lynchpin in the starting lineup, scored 16 points, hauled in five boards, and dished out four assists as Quinnipiac stamped an 85-79 2OT win on Hartford.

Army 64, Sacred Heart 49: At Fairfield, Army senior Jarell Brown scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Pioneers fell to 0-2 on the young season. Junior forward Kenny Brewer scored 13 off the bench to pace Army, whose lead ballooned to 25 at one point. Ryan Litke scored 10 points to lead the Pioneers.

Penn State 74, St. Francis (PA) 64: At Penn State, West Haven, Conn.-product Geary Claxton led all scorers with 23 points for the Nittany Lions. St. Francis’ Grant Surprenant, a sophomore forward, came off the bench to score 20 points, going 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. Guards Devin Sweetney and Cale Nelson chipped in with 12 apiece for St. Francis, which fell to 0-2 with the loss.

Notre Dame 82, Long Island 50: At Notre Dame, senior forward Rob Kurz had a double-double with 19 points and 10 caroms. Luke Harangody added 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Kellen Allen came off the bench to score 16 points in 24 minutes for the Blackbirds.

Confident Bobcats take show on the road

Confident Bobcats take show on the road
By Michael T. Lyle, Jr.
WQAQ.com Sports

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

HAMDEN — Given the way they played in the last three periods on Sunday, it’s not hard to see why the Bobcats felt good about themselves after their season-opening win against Hartford. After all, Quinnipiac shot just 11-of-26 from the free throw line, their star player, DeMario Anderson, fouled out with under eight minutes left in regulation, and they fell behind by as many as 11 points during that half. Critics would say that the Bobcat teams of the old days probably would’ve caved under that type of pressure and come out on the losing end.

But head coach Tom Moore was pleased with the way his team responded after they lost DeMario. Behind the uncanny combination of transfer Brian Geffen and sophomore James Feldeine, Quinnipiac rallied for a wild 85-79 double-overtime victory. Geffen knocked down three consecutive three-point field goals late in fueling the Bobcats’ second-half comeback. He finished with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Feldeine chipped in with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds.

“I was proud of the resiliency our bench showed”, said Moore. “(Feldeine and Geffen) came up big down the stretch. That was extremely gratifying.”

Moore hopes to get that same type of production should the Bobcats find themselves in a similar situation this evening as he leads Quinnipiac (1-0) into Binghamton (0-1) for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Bearcats out of the America East Conference.

Unlike Sunday’s game, however, this evening’s contest marks their first road test of the season, and Moore feels Binghamton will pose a bigger challenge. The Bearcats boast a pair of upstart forwards in Milos Klimovic and Reggie Fuller.

“They appear to be a very confident team”, said Moore. “They’re also very athletic. Playing on the road, if you let them get both their offense and defense going, they can get away from you quickly.”

Despite practicing on just two days rest, Moore says the team didn’t show any signs of fatigue after Sunday’s hard-fought contest.

“Having just two days to prepare for a game can be tricky,” said Moore. “It would’ve been nice if we would’ve had an extra day.”

He also hopes to get more productivity out of DeMario. Moore says that the Bobcats’ guard fouling out on Sunday was of a result of putting too much of the work load on him. Still, the first-year coach is feeling good about his team’s chances tonight.

“There’s a good feeling going around the team these last couple of days,” he said. “We just have to continue to build on that type of emotion.”