BRIDGEPORT – In the early minutes of the second half, the Arena at Harbor Yard was buzzing.
Fairfield had a nine point lead and it appeared only a matter of time before the Stags would send favored Manhattan back to the Big Apple with its third straight loss.
But in the next five minutes, it all went south. Sparked by the smooth-shooting of Jason Wingate and the low-post dominance of Arturo Dubois, the Jaspers went on a back-breaking 28-5 run and never looked back.
The Stags, led by Terrance Todd ’06 (23 points) and Herbie Allen ’09 (20 points), stormed back and had a chance to win the game in the final seconds, but Michael Van Schaick ’07’s NBA three rimmed out, and the Jaspers went on to a 74-69 victory Friday night.
The Stags trailed 72-69 and used their final timeout to draw up a play for Van Schaick, who had an open look at the basket from about 25 feet, but after the shot missed, they were forced to foul Wingate (23 points), who hit two free-throws to seal the deal.
“It’s our play to score three, and Shake’s a 39 percent three-point shooter…It was far out, but he’s got pretty good range,” Stags Head Coach Tim O’Toole said.
The Stags (6-12, 4-6 MAAC) came into the game with some momentum, looking to get back to .500 in the conference after beating a good Loyola team on the road on Tuesday. Moreover, Manhattan (12-6, 8-2) appeared to be vulnerable for the first time all year, after being blown out by last place Rider Tuesday.
And the Stags looked good in the first half. Trailing 17-16 with just under 11 minutes to play in the half, Allen scored five unanswered points, hitting the first of three three-pointers and following with a fast break lay-up to put the Stags in front 22-17.
The teams traded baskets for much of the rest of the half, with the Stags holding a 39-34 lead in the final seconds. Then, after a Van Schaick three rimmed out, what could have been a pivotal point in the game unraveled.
Battling for the rebound, Manhattan forward Mike Konovelchick appeared to get tangled up with Fairfield forward Mamadou Diakhate ’07. In attempting to rip his hand away, he ended up, either intentionally or unintentionally, hitting Fairfield’s Alvin Carter ’05 in the face.
Carter fell to the floor, drawing a technical foul, setting up a pair of Van Schaick free-throws after the intermission and putting the Stags in the driver’s seat as they headed to the locker room.
“I didn’t see it,” O’Toole said of the incident. “But if he threw a punch, he should have been [thrown out.]”
Coming out of the break, Van Schaick hit both free throws and DeWitt Maxwell ’06 followed with a lay-up, giving the Stags a 43-34 lead and all the momentum they could ask for.
But then, the tides turned.
The Jaspers made key stops on defense and turned each stop into a basket at the other end. By the time the Stags could get it together, they trailed 62-48 with 8:57 to play, making the Konovelchick technical moot.
“We’ve got to do a better job defensively,” O’Toole said. “…We went into DeWitt a couple of times and he got blocked and all of a sudden it went in a different direction. The momentum shifted and we didn’t respond.”
To an extent, they did respond, and with 24 seconds to play, Todd hit a jumper to cut the lead to one, at 70-69. At that point, they needed a steal in order to keep the lead at one, and they almost got one.
They put full court pressure on Wingate, attempting to trap him in the back court. Wingate managed to get the ball across the half court line, but the Stags trapped almost as soon as he got there, and came incredibly close to getting a five second call.
But Wingate called a timeout just in time. Then, coming out of the timeout, Allen was whistled for a foul before the ball was in-bounded. Wingate hit both free-throws, finishing 12-for-14 from the line, and the Stags had 12 seconds left to hit a game-tying three.
They got the ball across the half court line and called timeout to set up the play for Van Schaick, but his three rimmed out and the Stags went home disappointed.
“It’s disappointing because it’s a game there’s no question we should have won, and we didn’t,” O’Toole said.
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