Peter Cady

Peter Cady

Herbie Allen stood at center court at the Arena at Harbor Yard Saturday, flanked by family members and his coach, Ed Cooley, for men’s basketball senior night.

For the first’ time in his four years at Fairfield, the spotlight shined directly on him. No longer was Allen entrapped in the shadow of fellow classmate Jon Han, another guard from New York City and the player more often defined as the Stags’ leader. But since Han left the team, Allen has stepped up as the team’s key player.

‘Herbie has really taken a big leadership role and really has elevated his level, becoming a great scoring option for us,’ Cooley said. ‘He is just playing with a ton of confidence and trying to do the best he can in the circumstances.’

Allen had a career night on Saturday, playing all 40 minutes of the game and scoring 24 points, despite doing so in a losing effort as the Stags fell to Niagara, 83-76. The loss dropped Fairfield into fifth-place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) with a record of 8-8 in league play and 15-12 overall.

‘I go out and give my all, I’m a leader and the other players look up to me,’ said Allen, who has scored 20 plus points in back to back games. ‘I try to stay positive, I tell them before the game, ‘Play hard, I don’t care if you make a mistake, just give me 100 percent.”

Cooley has said multiple times of late that he is proud of his team’s effort and the leadership role that Allen has assumed.

‘He is really vital. He has a ton of experience, and needs to get us into what we are trying to do,’ Cooley said. ‘He has been vocal on the floor in a positive way. Herbie means a lot to our program right now and we are trying to surround him with our role guys to try and have some success in the long run.’

With Han’s dismissal and the multiple injuries that have struck the team, Allen is now the only starter from the beginning of the season still on the court. Not only is Allen the lone senior remaining on the team, but also one of two upperclassman remaining on the active roster after the loss of Greg Nero to an ongoing back injury.

‘It is almost like coaching a new team,’ Cooley said. ‘I am really proud of our effort. We scrapped, we kicked, we fought hard.’

Fairfield trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half with five minutes to go, but battled back to within four points, 39-35, heading into the break.

The Stags came out a bit flat to start the second half and fell back down by 12 at 52-40 with 15:50 left in the game, but were within five with under three minutes in the game. They never got any closer than that.

‘We lost, I take great pride that the guys played hard, as a unit, but at the end of the day it was a loss,’ Cooley said.

But Cooley continued to stress the fact that his players have had to deal with a good deal of adversity this season.

‘You can go away from this game knowing the guys played really hard and together,’ he said. ‘They will do what they can [and] there will be no complaining either.’

The loss, combined with Manhattan’s upset of Rider on Sunday, drops the Stags to fifth place in the MAAC with an 8-8 record with only two conference games left to play. Fairfield, currently on a three-game losing streak, will play just two games over the next 11 days a break both the players and Cooley agreed was much needed.

‘We need a break. I may hop on a flight to the Bahamas,’ Cooley joked.

Allen, who has nursed both an injured wrist and has missed practice this week with the flu, also feels the need for a break.

‘I definitely need this rest. We will get fluids in us, get healthy and be back 100 percent, we need everybody,’ he said.

While Allen will look to close out his senior season on a high note, Cooley hopes that his cast of younger players is ready to step up. His expression and words at the conclusion of his press conference after the Niagara loss spoke volumes.

‘The team has given me all I can ask for,’ said Cooley, who then turned to Allen and sophomore forward Yorel Hawkins, ‘We’ll get there boys. Keep your heads up.’

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