He yelled. He screamed. He jumped up and down. Typically, that really isn’t the sort of public display you’d like to see from your freshman point guard, whom a few hours earlier head coach Ed Cooley depicted as one of the team’s “two main cogs,” only a few hours from the biggest game of his blossoming collegiate career.

With eight minutes to play, just moments after Niagara guard Head coach Ed Cooley had seen enough. Anthony Nelson connected on a three-point shot to stretch the lead to eight, Cooley tossed the clipboard and coach speak aside and turned to his trusted senior.

Follow the action LIVE as the second-seeded men’s basketball team faces Niagara with a trip to the MAAC Championship on the line (tonight at 6:00pm). BONUS: Additional coverage of the other MAAC semifinal game between defending MAAC champion Siena’s game and Rider (4:30pm).

Follow the action LIVE as the second-seeded men’s basketball team begins its postseason against Cainisus in the MAAC Tournament (tonight at 7:30pm). BONUS: Additional coverage of all quarterfinal round games, including defending MAAC champion Siena’s game against Manhattan (4:30pm) and Rider v. St. Peter’s (2:30pm).

Adversity, it seems, built character. And anyone that’s followed this team knows that character is the reason why Fairfield’s season didn’t die in Jersey City, and now finds itself as the lone antagonist to Marist’s dynasty and just 40 minutes away from a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

An insider’s look at the MAAC Tournament in gorgeous Albany, New York.