Opportunity Knocks

Peter Caty/The Mirror

When senior guard Jon Han was suspended indefinitely by Fairfield head coach Ed Cooley, it seemed to most fans like the Stags were on the way to tough times.
But the Fairfield players had no similar thoughts, even though they were down to just eight players on the bench after Warren Edney’s season was ended by an ankle injury and Anthony ‘Peanut’ Johnson’s by a lung condition that has put him in the hospital.

The Stags proved that it may truly be their time with a two-win weekend at home against Marist, 68-63, and their bitter rival Loyola, 68-54. The wins improved the Stags record to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), which puts them in fourth place.

‘I told the team before the [Marist] game, ‘we have to keep playing hard and don’t worry about mistakes,’ said senior guard Herbie Allen.

According to Mike Evanovich, the team came out playing for their fallen friend, Johnson.
‘Peanut said he didn’t want us to play for him before the game, but there is no way you are not going to play for somebody in that situation,’ said Evanovich. ‘We went out there and said we were doing this for Peanut.’

The Stags were led over the weekend by Evanovich, who scored 19 against Marist, Greg Nero who scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds against Loyola.

While experienced leaders like Evanovich, Allen and junior forward Greg Nero continued to step up, it was a surprising face that was key to the Stags victories: backup guard Lyndon Jordan.

The 6-foot-2-inch, Winder, Ga. native garnered many awards and praise during his high school career, but during his first year at Fairfield and the first half of this season, he struggled to work his way into the Fairfield rotation. With Han playing upwards of 35 minutes a game and Allen also playing 30 minutes, it was nearly impossible for Jordan to find any sort of rhythm.

Prior to this weekend Jordan was averaging just 6.6 minutes per game and just 1.2 points per game. His best moment came in the Stags win over Fordham when he only played one minute but scored the game-winning three pointer.

Then, starting at point guard in place of Han, he had a breakout weekend. Against Marist on Friday night, he scored a career-high 12 points, besting his previous high of four points against Siena on Jan. 17. He also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and played 32 minutes. He followed that performance with a 10 point game in 30 minutes against Loyola in just his third career start.

‘I am just taking advantage of the opportunity,’ Jordan said after the Loyola victory. ‘But as a player if you don’t play a lot you just have to work hard and wait for the opportunity.

‘Coach Cooley always says ‘You never know what is going to happen and when we are going to need you, so just stay focused and in with the team,’ so I was ready and tried to do what I can.’

Allen, who has been an off and on starter in all four of his seasons at Fairfield and has played with an injured wrist over the past few games, has been impressed by his fellow guard’s play.

‘Lyndon has always been a good shooter. He has always had confidence. His confidence is even more now and he is going to hit a lot of shots for us in the future’ said Allen, who averaged six points and four assists in the two games he has filled in at point guard so far.

Jordan had worked his way into the lineup and Cooley’s rotation in the past, serving as a backup guard to Han and Allen, but was never able to find a role. Last season he rarely came off the bench, and this year he only played more than five minutes in a game twice prior to his start against Rider on Jan. 23. Now with Han out of the picture for an indefinite period of time, Jordan has a chance to prove he belongs in the rotation for good.

Cooley has yet to decide whether Han will return in time for Fairfield’s upcoming trip to Buffalo to play Canisius on Friday night and Niagara on Sunday afternoon, but said after the Loyola victory that he was with the rotation at this point.

‘I think we played on a lot of emotion the other night (against Marist) with respect to what went on last week,’ Cooley said. ‘(Against Loyola) I thought we got better with our unit. Guys gelled. I thought it was a great game where everyone filled their role, which we’ve been identifying over the last couple days.’

The emergence of Jordan as a scoring threat has allowed him to be on the floor more, bringing an added benefit in his tough defensive presence that Han did not provide. As a team, the defensive intensity has increased.

‘If we defend, that’ gets guys into an offensive rhythm and I think the last two games we did that,’ Cooley said.