For more information on tonight’s game, please visit the Mirror’s Sports Blog.
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – On a fast break off of a Fairfield turnover, Devon Austin received a pass from Arturo Dubois and skied to the hoop from the right side, slamming the ball down into the net to give the Manhattan a 49-47 lead with four minutes to go in the game.
As the Jaspers fans erupted in delight, the shocked look on the Stags’ faces made it easy to see that they were headed for another close loss.
Just as against Fordham and Rider in Fairfield’s last two games, the Stags were unable to hold onto a lead past the five minute mark of the second half.
Despite having a 47-42 lead with seven minutes remaining in the game, the Stags fell to Manhattan at Draddy Gym 58-54.
“It’s extremely frustrating when you lose three straight games because of the same result, turnovers, turnovers, turnovers,” said Head Coach Ed Cooley. “When you are turning the ball over, you are not winning games.”
Fairfield had 11 turnovers on the game, which was only one more than the Jaspers had, but four of those turnovers came in the final eight minutes, as they let the game get away from them.
The Stags were hurt more by poor shooting from the field, from beyond the three point arc, and from the free throw line. They shot only 33.9 percent from the field and an even worse 25 percent from behind the three point line. Fairfield could not make key free throws down the stretch and shot just 9-for-16 overall.
“It’s really disheartening,” said freshman forward Greg Nero. “We had them on the ropes and were confident, but were unable to close defensively and turnovers killed us again in dire situations.”
Nero had 11 points for the Stags. It was the first time he was in double figures in seven games. After scoring ten or more points in each of his first six games at Fairfield, Nero had reached that milestone only once since, against St. Francis (N.Y,) when he scored 15. Cooley said that he was glad to see Nero scoring again.
“Greg was just playing,” he said. “Instead of concentrating on scoring, he was just playing.”
Fairfield and Manhattan played a tight first half, with the Jaspers holding the lead for 16 of the 20 minutes. Neither team could find the scoring touch in the first half, as the Jaspers shot 39 percent and Fairfield an even worse 27 percent.
But with three minutes to go in the half, Rich Flemming `10 scored to give the Stags their first lead since it was 3-1 in the first minute.
Fairfield extended the lead on a Marty O’Sullivan `07 basket that sent the Stags into the half with a 25-24 lead. In their first meeting with Jaspers – a 57-54 loss on Dec. 8 – the Stags were able to shut down Manhattan’s star forward Dubois, who they held scoreless in eight minutes.
This time, Dubois shined in front of his home crowd and on his 21st birthday, as he scored a game-high 20 points on 10-of-12 shooting to go along with eight rebounds.
Dubois’ success was aided by an injury to forward Anthony Johnson `10, who went up for a rebound with 17:03 left in the second half and came down hard onto his ankle, taking him out of the game.
Johnson went to the locker room and returned to the bench later, but did not play. Cooley, who was himself coaching with a torn calf muscle that he injured in practice, said that he will find out Johnson’s status on the bus.
“Anthony is a tough kid,” said Cooley. “He usually bounces back and he must have sprained his ankle pretty bad to have not returned.”
“It was tough to lose Anthony,” said Van Schaick. “It was a turning point in the game, we were playing so well.”
With Dubois scoring and the Stags not able to score when they had possession of the ball, it was easy for the Jaspers to get back into the game, despite trailing by seven with 10 minutes left in the second half.
Fairfield had used a Van Schaick three-pointer and four straight points from freshman forward Devin Johnson to take a game-high six point lead and seemed to be ready to take control.
At that point Van Schaick had two open three-pointers that could have helped Fairfield pull away, but he could not connect on either shot.
Fairfield stayed tough, even after the crushing dunk from Austin, but another turnover with 2:18 remaining in the second all but ended the Stags chances.
With the Stags trailing 50-49, Patrick Bouli stole the ball as Jonathan Han `09 tried to force the ball into the key to Devin Johnson. Bouli then sent a pass ahead to Antoine Pearson, who was breaking to the hoop and he laid the ball in to give the Jaspers a lead they would not relinquish.
Fairfield out rebounded Manhattan 38-27 and again played strong defense, but could not finish down the stretch.
“It was a positive [defense and rebounding], but we have been at that point for so long and are still looking to get over that hump,” said Nero. “We are not giving up. We have to focus on the stretch run and keeping the lead.”
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