Exhibition game or not, the Fairfield men’s basketball team pulled together during halftime and came out with a commanding 97-70 win against the Bridgeport Purple Knights. Rakim Sanders was a standout for the Stags with his team leading 18 points as well as 7 rebounds. Sanders was quick to credit his performance to his teammates.

“Our chemistry off the court helps us on the court. I was a little nervous this being my first game but I was happy with how we played,” said Sanders.

Both the Stags and Purple Knights were a little rusty in the first half as Fairfield shot 15-33 from the field, while the Purple Knights were 10-24 from the floor. However, the action picked up in the second half with Fairfield shooting 62% from the field and firing on all cylinders. With both offenses being somewhat out of sync, the Stags were able to take advantage defensively with their eight steals and six blocks.

With this being Coach Johnson’s first official game under the helm for the stags, he was pleased by the effort of the Stags.

“We played very hard and were very solid offensively. Wee realize we are going to face good competition at all levels and this was a good first step for us,” said Johnson.

Sophomore Keith Matthews also was a great contributor with his 20 points and 9 rebounds coming off the bench. The Stags had four total players in double figures. The unit gelled together nicely in the second half as they pulled together 25 game total assists. Fairfield plays in its first regular season game on November 11th against Quinnipiac University at the arena in Mohegan Sun.

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