Senior Anthony Johnson and the Stags hope to secure a second place on Senior Day against Iona on Friday. (Ana Ziegler/The Mirror)
Almost one month ago, head coach Ed Cooley and the Stags took a trip down to New Rochelle, N.Y., to face Iona with a chance to secure second place in the MAAC.
The result was not pretty for the Stags: a 68-58 loss. Fairfield allowed 11 three-pointers and the Iona bench out-scored Fairfield’s 50-5.
“Our biggest thing is that we want to limit some of their three-point shooting and we have to rebound the ball,” Cooley said. “If we do those things and execute on offense … their press hurt us a little bit the first time we played them we have to do a better job against their pressure.”
Since then the Stags (18-9, 11-5 MAAC) picked up much-needed wins over Rider and Saint Peter’s, giving them a second chance to defeat Iona (20-8, 11-5), this time at home on Senior Night, where Mike Evanovich, Anthony Johnson and Jimmy O’Sullivan will be honored.
“We’re hoping to get some excitement from our fans given the fact that we’ve played well at home all year with the exception of a couple of bumps in the road,” Cooley said. “I think we’ve scored the ball at home … I think we’re averaging close to 75, 77 points at home. There’s a comfort level there for us. It’s a senior ceremony so we’re trying to play that into Friday night, and the fact that they beat us already. Our goal is not to get swept and we’ve done that by Siena. So if we could avoid a sweep, that plays into it as well.”
The Stags have received major contributions lately from freshman guard Colin Nickerson, last week’s MAAC Rookie of the Week after a 20 point performance in Fairfield’s 77-67 Bracket Buster loss to Vermont on Saturday.
Despite Nickerson’s improvement, Cooley was disappointed with freshman guard Derek Needham’s 5-for-17 shooting performance and five turnovers, despite his 15 points.
“Nickerson was a big positive, but he’s been on a steady incline in these last five games,” Cooley said. “Derek played like a freshman, one of the few times all year he did.”
The Stags will face Iona on Friday at 7 p.m. and then finish the season against Niagara on Sunday at noon.
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