A silence fell over the large and raucous Fairfield student section as the buzzer sounded, ending the Stags’ season. In an emotional and hard fought loss, the men’s basketball team fell to Loyola 76-72 in the quarterfinals of the MAAC tournament at the Arena at Harbor Yard on Saturday night, in front of 4,172 people, about 700 of whom were Fairfield students.
The Stags finished the season with a 13-19 record and despite the loss, Head Coach Ed Cooley was pleased with the season.
“If we had told you back on April 11 that we would be sitting in sixth place, you probably would have called us crazy,” said Cooley. “It’s a credit to our young men that really put in a lot of time and have really grown up a lot.”
Senior guard Michael Van Schaick finished his Fairfield career by scoring a game-high 24 points, but it was not enough to get his team the victory, as he could not connect on two key three pointers in the final minutes.
“I thought they [Loyola] hit some big shots and we struggled down the stretch scoring, that was the main difference, they executed down the stretch,” said Van Schaick. “The kids will grow from this. They have a lot to learn and it gave them experience.”
Cooley said that he felt bad for Van Schaick, but hopes that he can learn from the experience and carry it throughout his life.
“I couldn’t ask for a better senior to come in as a first year coach. I feel bad for him, but that was a great learning experience for him,” Cooley said. “Work hard and great things will happen for him. I just hope when he becomes a CEO, he remembers me.”
“He definitely went out like a senior should,” said sophomore guard Jonathan Han. “He is a great player and I wish him the best. Hopefully he can go play ball somewhere or come back and help us out next year. He is a great guy and he deserves all the credit for this season going this way.”
The Stags were the stronger team for most of the first half, taking an eight-point lead, 20-12, nine minutes into the game. Strong inside play by freshman forward Anthony Johnson led the way over that stretch, as he scored six points, including a thunderous alley oop slam, which he caught from Han one minute into the game.
Loyola quickly caught up, going on a 7-0 run to even the score at 22, with 7:11 left in the first half. The Greyhounds went into the break with a 34-33 lead, after Loyola’s Omari Isreal ’08 hit a three pointer with just three seconds on the shot clock and nine on the game clock.
Van Schaick, who had scored just five points in the first half, returned to his normal form, scoring 19 points. He got the scoring started with a three pointer in the first minute of the half to give Fairfield the lead back.
With the Stags ahead 46-43, Han drove down the court and passed ahead to Johnson, who went up for a layup and was fouled hard by Loyola’s Shane James ’07. Han immediatly stuck up for his teammate and all ten players confronted each other on the sideline.
The emotion between the two sides had been building. On the other end, Loyola Head Coach Jimmy Patsos ranted and raved throughout the game, running up and down the sideline, screaming at Han as he dribbled past the bench.
The confrontation between the players led to a midcourt argument between the two coaches, ending with Cooley pumping his fist to the appreciative Fairfield students, who chanted his name in return.
“We had a friendly conversation, I’m not going to back down and I don’t want my kids to back down to nobody,” said Cooley. “We shook hands and I understand that was a manly talk at half court and it was probably good for the fans. Hey, we ain’t taking no sh*t.”
The Stags held onto that lead for the next 15 minutes, before Loyola took only their second lead of the game on a Josko Alujevic ’07 three pointer, putting the Greyhounds ahead 68-66. Gerald Brown ’08, the eighth leading scorer in the country, who had a team high 20 points for Loyola, hit a three pointer to put the Greyhounds up by six.
Han answered right back: driving down the lane, laying in the ball and drawing a foul, then converting on the free throw to bring the score difference down to three.
With 1:11 left in the game, Mamadou Diakhate `08 stole the ball and yelled to his teammates “Let’s go!,” giving Fairfield the ball back, down by three points. But the Stags were not able to even the score and four free throws by Alujevic sealed the game down the stretch.
“It didn’t turn out the way we wanted to,” said Van Schaick. “But I am proud of these guys, because we all battled and had some ups and downs.”
The Stags were happy with the size of the crowd, as Han compared the student section to that of the Alumni Hall games.
“If we can get that much excitement in our first year, Fairfield will be a player in the MAAC, I can promise you that,” he said.
Stags Prep For Next Season
The Stags will head into next season returning four of their five starters, but without a major piece of the puzzle in Van Schaick. They will look to other players to step up. Han hopes that he can fill the role of leader on the team.
“I am looking forward to being a leader. I am looking forward to getting better in the off-season and hopefully helping out these young players,” said Han, “because we don’t want to feel the way we did today. This was tough to swallow.”
The Stags will build on the success of freshmen forwards Johnson and Greg Nero. Nero scored 15 points in the loss to Loyola and was a member of the MAAC All-Rookie team.
“We have an unbelievable coaching staff, so we’re going to be fine no matter who we bring in to the team,” Van Schaick said. “They are going to be winners. I am really proud to say that.”
The Stags will look to continue to improve off of the end of season success of this year next season. Cooley expects his team to be competitive once again.
Men’s Basketball Season Final Report Card:
Offense: It took awhile for the offense to click, but with the help of Michael Van Schaick `07, who became a go to scorer, the offense was not a weakness by the end of the season. Van Schaick averaged 15.1 points per game and consistently scored with the game on the line. The Stags often lacked a second option to Van Schaick, but at times Jonathan Han `09, Anthony Johnson `10 and Greg Nero `10 filled that void. As the team became more comfortable with Coach Cooley’s system, they improved. Grade:B-
Defense: Fairfield leaned on its defense to keep them in many games, especially early on in the season. As the offense improved and the Stags started winning more games, the defense stayed strong, finishing as the MAAC’s best defensive team, allowing just 63.8 points per game. Grade: A
Overall: A sixth place finish was higher than anyone expected, especially in the beginning of the season when Fairfield was struggling to score and win. As the Stags improved and developed in Cooley’s offense, the wins started to pile up and instead of being the worst team in school history, the team accomplished a lot. Grade: B+
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