 "Photo: Brendan Rimetz/The Quad News")
For the just the second time in school history, Quinnipiac will play with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line, thanks to 22 points and 16 rebounds from junior Justin Rutty. His performance helped the Bobcats beat Long Island 83-78 in a Northeast Conference semifinal game on Sunday afternoon before a season-high 2,845 fans at the TD Bank Sports Center. Rutty shot 8-of-15 from the field and had eight offensive rebounds as the Bobcats improve to 14-0 at home this season.
“I’ve never seen anybody with the ability to offensive rebound like this kid,” said Long Island Head Coach Jim Ferry, talking about Rutty. “It’s not like you work on it, he’s born with it.”
The No. 4 seed Blackbirds gave top seed Quinnipiac all they could handle, in large part due to the individual effort of Jaytornah Wisseh. The senior carried the team on his back down the stretch, scoring a career-high 33 points in addition to dishing out seven assists. His teammates cleared out for him as the game wound down, and Wisseh nearly single-handedly willed his team to victory. Freshman forward Jamal Olasewere also contributed for the Blackbirds, scoring 13 points and recording 10 rebounds.
“When he’s playing that well, they [are]the hardest team to guard in the league,” said Quinnipiac Head Coach Tom Moore of Wisseh’s play. “When they put three or four shooters out there with him doing his tricks with the ball up top in space like that, this team is as difficult a team to guard as anyone.”
Wisseh scored 19 of his 33 points in the second half, including a streak of 13 straight for the Blackbirds. LIU enjoyed their largest lead of the half during this streak, when a jumper by Wisseh gave them a 58-53 lead with 5:53 remaining.
The Bobcats clawed back into it by hitting the offensive glass. The team had 14 offensive rebounds on the afternoon, which led to 23 second chance points.
“Every time that we were able to get that first miss, it just felt like they were able to get that second opportunity,” Ferry said.
The Bobcats leading scorer on the season, senior James Feldeine, only had two first half points, and was stuck on that same total with 10 minutes left to play, connecting on only one of his first six shot attempts from the floor. It didn’t help that he was limited to just eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
But Feldeine came through when his team needed him. He hit a huge three-pointer that gave QU a 59-58 lead with 4:24 remaining. Feldeine finished with 13 points and he didn’t let the poor start effect his play.
“That never got to my head,” Feldeine said. “I knew I was going to have to take a big shot, a few big shots. My team kept passing me the ball and I knew it was going to go in. I have just worked too hard for this and I had confidence in myself.”
Two Wisseh free throws gave Long Island the lead back, but it would be the last they had in the game. Justin Rutty put the Bobcats up for good with a layup at the 3:51 mark to give Quinnipiac a 61-60 advantage.
Just three days after going 28-33 from the free throw line, the Bobcats made the freebies count once again. They started out 9-of-14, but were 16-of-17 from the foul line in the last three-plus minutes to ice the game and seal their spot in the NEC Championship game.
“They’re an exceptional free throw shooting team,” Ferry said. “They pretty much put that game away with their free throw shooting.”
It was 68-66 with under a minute to play, when the Bobcats had a sequence that put them in control the rest of the way. First, sophomore James Johnson hit a tough baseline-runner in traffic to put the Bobcats up by four. Then, as Wisseh pushed up the court for a quick response, Johnson poked the ball away from him and right to senior Jeremy Baker. Baker was fouled and hit both free throws for a 72-66 lead with :50 left.
With the score 73-68, junior guard Deontay Twyman, flew in and got a huge rebound after Wisseh missed a layup. Twyman fell out of bounds, but a foul was called on Olasewere. With the Bobcats in the double bonus, it meant two free throws for Quinnipiac. Ferry didn’t like the call and let his emotions get the best of him, picking up a technical foul that led to two more Bobcat free throws. The four shots gave Quinnipiac a 77-68 lead and put the game out of reach.
Moore was happy to get the victory, but feels like he hasn’t seen his team play up to their full potential yet in the postseason.
“It seems like we’re more resilient and [tougher] than we are good,” Moore said. “It gets us wins so I’ll take it.”
An area the Bobcats really struggled in was just coming out of the locker room. LIU jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game, then outscored the Bobcats 11-1 to start the second half, which immediately erased a 39-32 halftime lead for QU.
In each case, it was Twyman who provided the spark for the Bobcats off the bench. He scored five of the first 13 points of the game for Quinnipiac, then five of their first six to end the Blackbirds run at the start of the second. Twyman finished with 16 points as the Bobcats bench,which only runs three men deep, contributed 25 points total. Moore spoke highly of Twyman’s play off the bench and what he brings to the game.
“He’s got great aggressiveness,” Moore said. “He’s a fantastic scorer, a confident kid; when it becomes a war out there, I want him on my side.”
The Bobcats will surely have a battle on their hands on Wednesday night as they host Robert Morris for the NEC Championship. Quinnipiac defeated the Colonials 87-79 in Moon Township, Penn. on Feb. 20. Robert Morris is coming off an 80-62 semifinal win over Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday. Wednesday’s game is set to tipoff at 7 p.m.
“We’re not settling for just making it there; we all tell ourselves we got one more,” Feldeine said. “We’re not trying to go to the NIT, we’re trying to go to the dance.”
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