Saint Peter's Peacocks Seek Revenge vs Quinnipiac Bobcats

The Saint Peter’s Peacocks and Quinnipiac Bobcats will meet in a highly anticipated MAAC Tournament Semifinals clash on Friday night at Boardwalk Hall. This matchup has added importance as Saint Peter’s looks to avenge a pair of regular season losses to Quinnipiac and keep their NCAA Tournament dreams alive.

The Peacocks are fresh off a hard-fought 50-48 win over Rider in the quarterfinals. Star guard Corey Washington led the way with 16 points, continuing his outstanding senior campaign where he is averaging 16.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Coach Shaheen Holloway will also need strong performances from Latrell Reid (11.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Michael Houge (8.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg) to offset Quinnipiac’s offensive firepower.

Saint Peter’s prides itself on tough, gritty defense and embracing “grind-it-out” styles of play. They rank near the top of the MAAC in scoring defense, allowing just 65.4 points per game on 39.4% shooting from the field. The Peacocks will need to be locked in defensively against the high-powered Quinnipiac attack.

The Bobcats rolled past Canisius 76-52 in the quarterfinals behind a balanced attack led by Matt Balanc’s 18.5 points per game. Quinnipiac also gets major contributions from Amarri Tice (13.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and Paul Otieno (10.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg). Point guard Savion Lewis runs the show with 8.0 points and a team-high 7.2 assists per contest.

Quinnipiac boasts elite offensive numbers, averaging a robust 78.4 points on 45.2% shooting and an impressive 35.2% clip from three-point range. They’ll look to push the tempo and turn this into an up-and-down high-scoring affair. The Bobcats won both regular season meetings by scores of 77-52 and 72-68, so they’ve found a successful formula against Saint Peter’s stingy defense.

From a betting perspective, this shapes up as a classic contrast of styles - Saint Peter’s grit and physicality vs. Quinnipiac’s offensive dynamism and shot-making ability. The Bobcats opened as 1.5 point favorites with a total of 138.5, numbers that could shift as money comes in on one side or the other leading up to tip.

Saint Peter’s certainly has the defensive chops and battle-tested experience to slow this game down and make it an ugly, low-scoring grind. However, Quinnipiac has multiple weapons and excels at scoring from all three levels. They have immense confidence after sweeping the regular season series in relatively comfortable fashion.

If forced to pick a side, I’m leaning towards backing Quinnipiac at the short number. The Bobcats have been the far superior offensive team all season and Saint Peter’s lacks the firepower to realistically pull the outright upset if they can’t muck this game up into the 50s or 60s. I see Quinnipiac’s depth, shooting and overall talent winning out in a hard-fought, intense battle. Give me the Bobcats -1.5 in a spot where they won’t be caught looking ahead thanks to the sting of last year’s upset loss to Saint Peter’s in the NCAA Tournament.

No matter which side you prefer, buckle up for what should be a tremendous semifinal clash with significant NCAA Tournament seeding implications on the line. The gritty, blue-collar Peacocks and free-flowing offensive Bobcats are set to put on quite a show in Atlantic City.