All year, Fairfield men’s basketball Head Coach Ed Cooley has stressed that with each game his team will get better and by the MAAC Tournament, they will be a threat to any team they face. On Saturday night, all the hard work could pay off.
The Stags 1-5 start in conference play is ancient history now, as they rebounded to finish 10-8 in conference and 13-18 overall, finishing in sixth place in the MAAC. But records will not matter on Saturday night when Fairfield hits the court against Loyola in the tournament quarterfinals.
“We are looking forward to playing Loyola. I think we play sometime around midnight or New Year’s Eve or whenever we are playing,” said Cooley, referencing the game’s late 10 p .m. start time. “We are really excited to play in our first MAAC tournament as a staff and with our first team.”
Fairfield needed a win and help from Rider to avoid the play in round one. Rider lost earlier in the day and the Stags recognized that heading into the game.
With their fate in their own hands, they nearly threw away the opportunity, struggling to defeat St. Peter’s 63-60.
It took a heroic effort by senior guard Michael Van Schaick, who scored 14 of his 25 points in the final four minutes of the game to win.
“It is something with seniors that they just refuse to go home,” said Cooley. “[Van Schaick] put on his cape in the second half. He had his Aquaman belt on, his Batman suit on and he was phenomenal down the stretch.”
“I could see it in Van Schaick’s eyes. He didn’t want to lose the game, I don’t think any of us did,” said sophomore point guard Jonathan Han. “We were very happy to come out with a win, which is big going into Saturday’s game. Hopefully we can play a full 40 minutes the way we should.”
Han finished with 10 points in the game and nearly had a double double, pulling down nine rebounds. Both Van Schaick and Han played all 40 minutes of the game.
The Stags came out slowly and could not hit a shot in the first half, allowing a 10-0 St. Peter’s run which put them down 17-8 with 9:12 remaining in the first half.
They were able to cut the deficit to five heading into the half, but shot only 24.1 percent from the floor.
Fairfield was much better in the second half, shooting 50 percent from the floor, led by Van Schaick, who scored 20 points in the half with 5-for-7 shooting.
He scored 14 of the Stags’ final 17 points and also came up with two key steals, including an interception of a long pass with 17 seconds left, saving a fast-break layup, which would have tied the game.
The senior guard was named to the All-MAAC Second Team on Monday, after leading the team in scoring with 15.1 points per game. His five three pointers against St. Peter’s gave him 85 on the year, breaking Greg Francis’ record of 80 in a season.
Greg Nero `10 was named to the All-MAAC Rookie Team after scoring 9.3 points per game, which was second on the team and fifth among MAAC freshmen. He started the season by leading the team in scoring six times.
Fairfield had to battle through injuries against St. Peter’s, as they played without forwards Nero (hip and elbow injuries) and Marty O’Sullivan `07 (ankle injury) for most of the first half.
The Stags played without their normal rotation until the end of the half when Cooley and his assistants made the decision to go back to who they normally play, despite Nero and O’Sullivan being at about 70 percent.
“We were really stretching for some bodies in the first 20 minutes of the game,” Cooley said. “Finally, Nero and Marty, the assistant coaches said, ‘Those guys are ready to play, let’s play them.”
Cooley added that he plans to rest Nero and O’Sullivan during practice this week, hoping they will be at 80-85 percent for Saturday’s game.
Fairfield will also hope that junior forward Mamadou Diakhate, who had seven points against St. Peter’s, will be at 100 percent after suffering a knee injury in the game in a collision with the Peacocks’ Brandon Brock.
The Stags were happy to get the win heading into the tournament, but plan to try and build on their play in the second half.
“We kind of treated this like a post season game and I’m sure they did too. You build for the tournament,” said Van Schaick. “We needed this win heading into the tournament and we played a lot better in the second half. But we have to look back and correct what we did wrong.”
The Stags defeated Loyola twice this season, both wins coming in the span of one week. They beat the Greyhounds in Bridgeport 65-62 on Feb. 5 and then again on Feb. 11 in Baltimore, 67-59.
“Loyola is the higher seed, so I don’t feel we have any pressure on us. We have the home court and we just have to go out there and respect them and play well,” said Van Schaick.
The Stags are always a well prepared team and had strong gameplans in their first two matchups against Loyola.
Having defeated the Greyhounds twice already this season, the Stags are eager to play them.
The sixth seed also puts Fairfield on the opposite side of the bracket from Marist, meaning they would not have to face the first seed until the championship game.
“We definitely wanted to play Loyola,” said Han. “We have a good feel with Loyola and we’ll scout them real well and hopefully we’ll win that big game on Saturday.”
Stags vs. Loyola
Season Series: Stags (2-0)
(Feb. 5, 65-62, Feb. 11, 67-59)
Stags’ Keys to Victory: Super Schaick: The Stags need Michael Van Schaick to score, especially down the stretch where he has starred in previous games. He is eighth in the conference, averaging 15.1 ppg. Against Loyola, Van Schaick scored 26 and 12 points.
Strong Defense: Fairfield has depended on tough defense every game this season. They lead the MAAC in points allowed, giving up only an average of 64.3 points per game. The Stags will have to shut down Loyola’s Gerald Brown. The men to do this; Fairfield’s leading blockers, Greg Nero and Anthony Johnson.
Greyhounds’ Keys to Victory: What Will Brown Do For Them: Gerald Brown averages 22.1 points per game, which is the eighth best average in the country. But against the Stags he scored just 13 and 12 points.
Three Point Shooting: Loyola has the top three point field goal percentage in the MAAC (38.3 percent) and Marquis Sullivan is second in the MAAC in three pointers made, shooting 43.8 percent from behind the arc, also second in the conference. Against Fairfield the Greyhounds made a combined 14 three pointers.
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