MAAC Tournament Day 2 notebook: Quinnipiac thrives with secondary help

Last year, she shouldered the load of the Bobcats’ offense on her shoulders, playing 84 of the 85 possible minutes across their two games against Saint Peter’s and Niagara, while attempting the most shots on the team in both of those games. 

At the mention of last year’s games, she looked at freshman guard Gal Raviv, stuck her tongue out and grabbed her stomach, remembering the exhaustion.

Thankfully for her lungs, she doesn’t have to do that anymore. On a deeper, more talented Quinnipiac team than last season, Martin doesn’t have to have the spotlight entirely on her. And it paid off as the Bobcats blew out Iona, 79-51, on Wednesday afternoon.

Raviv led the team with 23 points and took the crown of the most shot attempts with 16. But not too far behind her in points was Martin, with 11 points and only seven attempts. Martin doesn’t have to be the primary scorer anymore, and it’s made life better for her. 

“Now that we have Gal doing Gal things, it takes a load off,” Martin told reporters postgame. “So everybody can contribute, and it’s so much more fun.”

Every healthy Bobcat got minutes in Wednesday afternoon’s contest.

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Quinnipiac is playing its best basketball of the season, and it’s brilliant timing.

“We’re playing a stretch of incredible basketball, which is what you want to be playing now,” head coach Tricia Fabbri told reporters.

On Friday, Quinnipiac will play a semifinal game against the winner of Thursday’s meeting between No. 3 Siena and No. 6 Merrimack.

The adaptability of Fairfield

Fairfield’s bread and butter in the past two seasons has been the 3-pointer, as they have led MAAC in three-point attempts in both seasons. 

But in their 58-51 win over Manhattan Wednesday afternoon, the Stags won by moving in, not from shooting outside the arc. Fairfield scored 10 of its 19 points in the fourth quarter in the paint, and another six from the charity stripe. Sophomore roadrunner Meghan Andersen made the only three of the frame.

That adjustment came from two places: trust and depth.

“Shots weren’t falling in the beginning, but we continued to keep pushing in ways we knew we’re working,” Andersen told reporters.

The biggest shove came from the Stags’ bench. In the second half, Fairfield’s subs outscored Manhattan’s 20-4. 

The leaders off the bench, with six points each, were sophomore guard Jillian Huerter, junior guard Sydni Scott, and MAAC Sixth Player of the Year and graduate roadrunner Raiana Brown. 

“I have so much trust in my bench,” Thibault-DuDonis told reporters. “It could be anybody’s night.”

The Stags are so deep — and can score from any level — that it’s tough to defend them. Either No. 5 seed Marist or No. 4 seed Mount St. Mary’s will have a tough time doing so on Friday at noon local time. 

But Manhattan did an excellent job, despite the outcome.

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Jaspers’ defense shined despite loss

The MAAC’s top two leaders in scoring defense are Fairfield and Quinnipiac, in that order. But sitting in fifth, and only 0.2 points outside of third, are the Manhattan Jaspers. 

Head coach Heather Vulin’s side stifled the dominant Stags offense to 15 points below their season average in the 58-51 loss on Wednesday.

Defense is in Manhattan’s DNA. “To be a jasper, you have to play defense,” Vulin told reporters after its win over Canisius on Tuesday. 

On Wednesday, the Jaspers outrebounded the Stags by one and held them to 34.5% shooting. In the first half, Fairfield mustered 25 points, its second-lowest total of the season.

“[I’m] bursting with pride,” Vulin told reporters postgame. “They [Manhattan] were tough today.”

The loss ends Manhattan’s season, but for graduate forward Leyla Oztürk, who’s played at Manhattan the past three years, there’s some pride to be taken from it.

“Today, we really played our hearts out, we just played tough, we wanted to win,” Oztürk told reporters postgame. 

Going into the offseason and prepping for next season, the Jaspers will lose four starters to graduation. But one thing is certain: whoever suits up for Manhattan next season will have to play stout defense.

What’s next at the MAAC Tournament?

For tomorrow, there are two quarterfinal matchups.

No. 5 Marist plays No. 4 Mount St. Mary’s, and No. 6 Merrimack will play No. 3 Siena. The winner of the first game takes on Fairfield on Friday, and the winner of the latter has Quinnipiac. Tipoff for Marist-Mount is noon ET, and Merrimack-Siena will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.