STAGS REPORT CARD
FAIRFIELD 80, LOYOLA 72
GUARD PLAY: A. Terrance Todd ’06 had perhaps the best game of his career. He hit up the Greyhounds for a career-high 35 points and out-shined Loyola guard Andre Collins. He attempted only two three-pointers on the night and missed both of them, but he hit 11-of-19 from the floor and 13-of-14 from the foul line, including several big free-throws down the stretch that allowed the Stags to keep extending their lead. But he wasn’t the only one who contributed. Michael Van Schaick ’07 played all 40 minutes and scored 18 points. His finest moment of the night was a spectacular three as the shot clock expired with 7:48 to play that put the Stags up by four. Herbie Allen ’09 had 15 points and hit two big threes down the stretch to help put the game away.
LOW POST PLAY: B+. For just the third time all year, the Stags out-rebounded their opponent, albeit by the slimmest of margins this time, 40-39. DeWitt Maxwell ’06 had just seven points put worked hard for 10 rebounds in 33 minutes. Most importantly though, the Stags held the Greyhounds starting big men – Hassan Fofana and Michael Tuck – to a combined 10 points.
DEFENSE: A. Although the aforementioned defensive post play was a big help, the key to the game was shutting down Collins, who came in averaging better than 27 points per game and shooting just under 40 percent from behind the three-point arc. He finished with 26, but the Stags, through an array of defensive alignments, had a hand in his face all night and held him to 4-of-15 from three-point range. They also prevented Collins from hurting them in other ways. Though he had four assists, he failed to get any of his teammates involved and only fellow guard Marquis Sullivan (13 points) joined him in double figures.
OVERALL: A. When they desperately needed a win, they went into arguably the toughest building in the MAAC and got one. Had they lost, they would have headed home with a 3-6 league record and needed a miracle to earn a first round bye in the conference tournament. But all of a sudden, things could be looking up. They have to be happy with a 3-3 road trip in the league. If this team, and not the one that got blown out by Marist last Friday, shows up at Harbor Yard on Friday, they’ll have a chance to upset Manhattan, who after getting blown out by last-place Rider on Tuesday and falling to 7-2 in the league, is looking a lot more vulnerable than they were during a ten-game winning streak earlier this month.
Leave a Reply