By Bill Cloutier


bcloutier@nhregister.com

Twitter @BillCloutier

BROOKLYN -- The sheer drama in Wednesday night’s Northeast Conference quarterfinal game between Quinnipiac and Long Island was right out of a motion picture.

In fact, the suspense grew so greatly that actor/director and basketball junkie Spike Lee left his seat and stood on the baseline directly under the Long Island basket for the game’s final minutes.

Unfortunately for the game Bobcats, they won’t be able to make a curtain call. Quinnipiac’s heart-breaking 91-83 loss in Brooklyn marked the second straight season that the Bobcats were eliminated by LIU in NEC tournament.

It won’t happen again. That’s because Quinnipiac is moving to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference next season.

Wednesday’s game turned into a foul-fest and the Bobcats’ free-throw shooting woes reared their ugly heads again. Ousmane Drame, who otherwise was brilliant and is generally one of the best Bobcats at the line, missed six of his eight attempts from the stripe in the second half as Quinnipiac squandered a nine-point lead in the game’s final 10 minutes.

“We were up good but we started fouling and they got back into the game with free throws,” Quinnipiac junior forward Ike Azotam said. “We didn’t execute and we lost our poise. Free throws lost us a couple of games this year and they won us a couple. In the second half it came back to haunt us.

Azotam fouled out of the game with over five minutes remaining. He was one of four Bobcats to foul out.

“It was tough to watch from the bench,” he said. “You never can guess that you’ll lose four starters in a game. I don’t want to say that the (officiating) was one-sided. They played better than us in the second half.

“I kept telling them to keep playing, that we’ve been down before. We started the season 5-11 and 1-3 in the conference. We were in close games all year.”

Moore wraps up his first six seasons at Quinnipiac with a 70-39 mark in NEC play. He is a bit disappointed about the past season but once his Bobcats proved their mettle down the stretch.

“I really wish we had won the Central (Connecticut State) game in particular,” Moore said. “That might have given us a better seed and we wouldn’t have had to start our journey at Long Island. Arguably this is as hard a place to win because of the belief they have. They’re going to be a tough out.

“I think our record should have been better than 15-16. I’m really proud of the hole we dug ourselves out of. We’ve prided ourselves, the last five years, of having strong Februarys with teams that continued to improve. This team carried the torch.

“I’m really excited about the individual improvements from a lot of our young guys. We had a lot of guys stuck with no confidence but we grew a great deal in January and February. They rattled off a great winning streak.”

Azotam, Quinnipiac’s rugged forward who led the team in scoring and rebounding and was named to the NEC second team, will be back as will Drame, who Moore called the best big man in the conference as the season progressed.

“Drame had a great end to his sophomore year and he’s terrifically talented,” Moore said. “The drive to win is coming out for him. I’m very excited about what he can do for us the next two years.”

The Bobcats will lose unflappable guard Dave Johnson who has been a court leader for the past few seasons as well as versatile forward Jamee Jackson, and oft-injured swingman Garvey Young. But guards Evan Conti and Zaid Hearst will return and both proved themselves in Quinnipiac’s biggest games.

“It’s hard to say because we lost in the first round but I was proud of how we played in the last month,” Azotam said. ”I’m looking forward to next year. We bring back most of our team and I’m confident about next year.”

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HAMDEN – Nothing is coming easy for the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team this year. But, after two straight overtime victories maybe the Bobcats have things headed in the right direction.
Quinnipiac spotted Mount St. Mary’s a 15-point halftime lead but roared back early in the second half and pulled out a 69-66 overtime win in a Northeast Conference game at the TD Bank Sports Center Thursday. The Bobcats got 20 points from Ike Azotam and 26 second-chance points on the way to the victory.

Ousmane Drame scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds and James Johnson added 15 points for the Bobcats (11-9, 4-5 NEC).
“The last three years we’ve closed the season 6-3, 9-1 and 10-1,” Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore said. “This is the time of the year we need more energy from them.”
They also need another big finish. The Bobcats entered play on Thursday in eighth place in the NEC and only the top eight teams qualify for the postseason tournament.
“We can’t afford to lose any because we’re battling for our spot in the (NEC) tournament,” Azotam said. “Each game is equally important.”
The Mountaineers (4-16, 2-7) got a game-high 22 points from Julian Norfleet but the flashy sophomore guard missed a 3-pointer at the overtime buzzer which would have tied the game again.
Second-half defense has been Moore’s biggest concern in NEC play. On Thursday the Bobcats didn’t play any defense in the first half and Mount St. Mary’s took a stunning 43-28 lead at the half shooting 52 percent from the field.
“I was shocked and disappointed with our play in the first half,” Moore said. “But this is the second game in the row that we played much better defense in the second half and it led us to two wins.”
Quinnipiac opened the second half on a 16-2 run to get back in the game as the Mount managed just a dunk by Raven Barber in the first eight minutes after the break.
“I only had 11 minutes at half to give them a spanking, a pep talk and everything,” Moore said. “I had to talk quick and be a parent but I had to get them to understand that we weren’t going to get 15 points in the first minute. I told them to see where we were at the 10-minute mark.”
Said Azotam: “I like the way we came out in the second half. We knew we could come back because we did it against Boston University.”
The Mount tied the game at 61 at the end of regulation when Kelvin Parker rolled in two of his 16 points from close range in the final seconds.
Quinnipiac never trailed in the extra session. Azotam gave the Bobcats a 67-65 lead with 1:10 to play. After Barber hit one of two free throws to close the gap to 67-66, Drame had the biggest basket of the game with a putback of a deflected airball by Zaid Hearst with 20 seconds left.
“We send multiple guys to the glass and that’s just Ousmane having a great feel for the game,” Moore said.
Quinnipiac played without forward Jamee Jackson who missed the game with a strained Achilles tendon. Moore said he was questionable for Saturday’s game against second-place Wagner.
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By Bill Cloutier
Assistant Sports Editor
bcloutier@nhregister.com
Averaging 25 points and 14 rebounds over the past three games Quinnipiac’s Ike Azotam has suddenly become a marked man. Azotam was double-teamed and harassed by a physical Boston University team all game long and managed a season-low four points and six rebounds.
But, even without getting production from their burgeoning star, the Bobcats still overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to defeat the Terriers 59-53 in a non-conference game at the TD Bank Sports Center Saturday afternoon. With the win, Quinnipiac has won six of its last seven games as it concludes the non-conference portion of its schedule
“I was really proud of our guys’ resolve in the second half and our ability to shake off a bad offensive night from basically every player and commit totally to defending and going to the offensive boards,” Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore said.
“That was as physical a team, boxing out and pushing us out of where we wanted to be, as any team we played all year. (B.U. coach Joe Jones) really got them to understand that Quinnipiac is a good rebounding team because we had 16 offensive rebounds and we’ve never had to work harder to get them than we did today.”
Freshman Ousmane Drame, starting because of a foot injury to Jamee Jackson, continues to progress at break-neck pace. Drame picked up the slack for Azotam to finished with 10 points, a game-high 14 rebounds and six blocks including two on one possession late in the game as the Terriers tried to erase its own six-point deficit.
Terrier guard Darryl Partin, who led all scorers with 19 points, went to the free throw line with 41 seconds to play with his team trailing 54-50. Partin missed a shot trying to complete a three-point play but got his own rebound but twice Drame blocked his shots to put the Bobcats in control.
“I really got on (Azotam) at halftime,” Moore said. “I challenged him quite a bit because I think he was caught by surprise by two factors, how big a target he’s going to have on him. You could tell how much of a focus B.U. put on stopping him and their commitment to boxing him out.
“Fortunately Ousmane picked up the slack. The 14 rebounds and six blocks in a game like this is really impressive.”
James Johnson led Quinnipiac with 16 points and freshman Zaid Hearst added 13 including a pair of critical 3-pointers as the Bobcats quickly cut into the Terriers’ 32-19 lead to start the second half. Quinnipiac went on an 11-2 run to start the second stanza and the game was up for grabs the rest of the way.
But Quinnipiac (8-5) never relaxed its defensive effort limiting B.U. to just eight points for the first 12 minutes after the break and the Bobcats took their first lead of the game, 43-42, with 5:59 to play on a pair of free throws by James Johnson. They never trailed again.
”Even when we went up by six I never felt we were in the control,” Moore said. “But I don’t think there’s been many halves that B.U. has shot 26 percent from the floor. Our will … was really good for our team’s confidence. The best thing is to get a win against a really good team while having to show a lot of resiliency.”
In the first half Quinnipiac got a taste of what would happen if the Bobcats couldn’t make a living on the offensive boards. Boston University, which has lost six straight games and was playing without starting point guard D.J. Irving due to a concussion controlled the boards, the tempo and the play on the way to a 32-19 halftime lead.
The Bobcats entered the game second in the nation in rebounding and first on the offensive boards averaging 17.6 a game but they had just five offensive rebounds in the first half and it only led to two points when guard Dave Johnson putback a miss by James Johnson.
But that hardly meant a momentum change was imminent as on the next trip down the court Dave Johnson fouled B.U. guard Matt Griffin (11 points) on a drive to the hoop. Johnson then pushed Griffin down and was called for personal and technical fouls giving him four fouls with four minutes left to play in the first half.
Quinnipiac has out-rebounded every team this season except for Lehigh and they lost to the Mountain Hawks 86-75 and after losing the battle on the backboards by one in the first half they finished with a 43-38 rebounding edge and Drame was the difference figuring in just about every Bobcat possession in the final minutes.
Said Drame: “Coach looked at us, especially the bigs (at halftime) and told us we had to pick it up. They were able to find me and I was able to go to the glass. This is very important for me especially for me as a freshman.
“The fact that Jamee Jackson isn’t there it’s hard. It’s hard at practice and it’s hard in the games but now I’m ready to show what I can do to get more playing time.”
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