MAAC Basketball: Cam Young's 55 only part of drama-filled weekend

Quinnipiac’s Cam Young has made headlines for scoring 55 against Siena, but that was only part of a huge weekend for MAAC basketball.

MAAC basketball was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight on Sunday after Quinnipiac’s Cam Young scored 55 points, a school record and the highest point total in division one men’s basketball in 20 years, in a 107-100 triple-overtime win against Siena in Albany. But what won’t make Sports Center or trend on Twitter is the rest of the drama that unfolded this weekend across the MAAC.

Most college basketball fans that read the headline of Young’s accomplishment or see the highlights will have no idea that the 55 points helped push Quinnipiac into first place in the league, nor that Siena had the same opportunity after cutting Quinnipiac’s 20-point second half lead. They’ll have no idea that the MAAC has become perhaps the most intriguing and tightly contested conference in college basketball.

Like every weekend in MAAC play, the action began on Friday night. Monmouth had a half-game lead over Canisius and Quinnipiac at the top of the league and was visiting a Rider team that had lost five in a row and slipped to the middle of the conference pack. The unanimous choice to win the MAAC in the preseason, struggling Rider had already doubled their conference loss total from a season ago. But the talented Broncs got their season back on track with a comfortable win against their cross-state rivals, beating Monmouth 81-72 in front of a sold-out crowd at Alumni Gym. “You’re still in fifth place” a bitter Monmouth fan shouted to hecklers behind him as he exited the gym before the final buzzer. He’s not able to brag about the standings to his Rider rivals today.

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It was Canisius that took advantage of Monmouth’s loss on Friday, topping Fairfield while Quinnipiac’s miraculous comeback at home against Marist fell a bucket short. It was the Griffins that held sole possession of first place ahead of a logjam that included Quinnipiac, Monmouth, Rider, Siena, and Iona. The Gaels also earned a win on Friday to keep up.

After an off day for the league on Saturday, Sunday picked up exactly where Friday left off. Marist beat Monmouth in West Long Branch, and Rider won at Saint Peter’s to even up their record with the Hawks at 9-6. And in another surprising result, Canisius followed up taking first place by losing at home to .500 Manhattan, opening the door for that afternoon’s winner of Quinnipiac and Siena to join them at the top of the conference. And now as the entire country is well aware, the last game of the weekend did not disappoint.

Cam Young’s 55 outdid Siena’s own major individual performance, 46 from Jalen Pickett, and the Bobcats came out on top after 55 minutes of basketball. Quinnipiac tied Canisius for the league lead, and Siena was the wrong end of a triple-overtime result away from getting to the top of the MAAC themselves, after being picked to finish dead-last by the conference’s coaches in the preseason.

It was a wild weekend in a wild season in the MAAC. Last year, both Canisius and Rider finished 15-3; this year, no one has fewer than five losses with a few weeks to play. And with most teams having only three or four games left to play, there are six teams within one game of first place, four within a half game.

Next. Biggest takeaways of the week. dark

The results of the conference tournament might be far more important in this one-bid league, but stay tuned for a healthy dose of drama as the regular season draws to a close. There’s sure to be plenty more.

MAAC Basketball: Cam Young’s 55 only part of drama-filled weekend

By Pan Karalis | Feb 17, 2019

Quinnipiac’s Cam Young has made headlines for scoring 55 against Siena, but that was only part of a huge weekend for MAAC basketball.

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