Double Trouble

Peter Caty/The Mirror

With injuries piling up, dysfunction among the ranks and a slide not seen since his first year at Fairfield, head coach Ed Cooley needs to look deep inside to figure out how to get his team back upright.

‘Our psyche is somewhat shaky,’ said Cooley in a phone interview the day after the Stags 65-60 loss to Manhattan. ‘We haven’t played our best basketball. But I think our best basketball is ahead of us. We need to get back on the winning track.’

Fairfield has now lost three straight games in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), which drops the Stags to a 5-5 record and into a fourth-place tie with three other teams.

After a crushing loss to Rider 66-49 loss in Alumni Hall in front of a soldout crowd that included a large student section. In that game the Stags shot just 29 percent from the field and were never able to get the game within nine points in the second half.

Following that game Fairfield expected to bounce back with a road victory over Manhattan, but the Jaspers had other thoughts. After going into the half with a 25-25 tie game, the Stags came out slow and fell behind by 11 points with under 10 minutes left in the game. Fairfield was within one point at 54-53 with 4:38 remaining. But the Stags could never get back in front.

‘I thought we showed some good emotion getting back into the game,’ Cooley said. ‘We had the ball with the chance to take the lead.’

Cooley said that injuries have played a major role in the Stags’ recent struggles.

Sophomore Warren Edney was out once again with an injured achilles and could be out for at least a month, junior Greg Nero did not play until 10 minutes were left in the second half and senior guard Herbie Allen played with an injured wrist.

Nero scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds during his first seven minutes in the game, despite an injured back that was causing him pain.

‘I am very proud of not just Nero, but Herbie Allen,’ said Cooley. ‘Greg went out there and showed some guts.’

Nero, who was asked by Cooley to play during the second half as the Stags were down by over 10, came in and provided a great spark off the bench.

‘It hurt sitting on the bench during the first half,’ said Nero. ‘As a team, we are in a dark place right now. There’s too much negativity right now. Even when we are positive we don’t have the energy to win.’

A season that started off with great promise and a theme of ‘Our Time’ is now in jeopardy as the Stags head into a weekend of pivotal importance. Marist comes to the Arena at Harbor Yard on Friday night reeling as well, but with the way the Stags have struggled, it will still be a tough test.

‘They [the weekend games] are huge,’ Cooley said. ‘Hopefully a little bit of home cooking will straighten it out.’

Nero agreed with his coach in the hope that the home games will turn around the season.

‘It is important because we are coming into the end of the season in the MAAC and we would like some momentum, but we don’t have confidence,’ said Nero. ‘Guys are feeling sorry for themselves. The sad part is we are a team capable of beating anyone in the MAAC. We just have to grind out and play basketball. Heck with all the extra stuff.’

The Stags remain in contention for second place in the conference, despite the fact that they have fallen to 5-5.

‘We have to play the way we did in the beginning of the year with the same mindset,’ said Nero. ‘It’s going to be tough and we have to get guys on the same page. We have to find a group of guys who aren’t going to be affected on the court mentally.’