The clock ticked as the Fairfield defense kept the St. Francis (NY) Terriers from getting down the court, protecting a four point lead in overtime. As the buzzer sounded, ending the game and giving the Stags their second victory of the season, the screaming students of the Red Sea rushed the court and surrounded the players.
Sophomore guard Herbie Allen said after the game that he had heard the students planned to rush the court, but was still not expecting it.
“I’ve seen it on TV a lot but never here, and when they started coming out, I was going, ‘What are they doing?’ ” Allen said, “To see them all do that, it felt really good.”
The Stags, who moved to 2-7 on the year, defeated St. Francis, who remained winless falling to 0-8 by a score of 68-64 in overtime in front of a sold out Alumni Hall crowd.
The Stags were forced into a close game once again. They played a tight game during overtime, creating a seven point lead, however, they allowed St. Francis to crawl back and tie the score.
A three pointer by senior Michael Van Schaick, who had five on the game and led the Stags with 19 points, put Fairfield in front for good with 21 seconds left in overtime.
Two free throws from Allen, who joked after that he had “ice water in his veins” extended the Stags lead to four with eight seconds left in overtime, freezing any chance of a Terriers comeback.
This time, unlike the American University game in the last Alumni Hall appearance, Fairfield maintained their composure and made big shots when it counted, giving them the victory.
Fairfield’s Head Coach Ed Cooley was pleased that the Stags came away with a victory in a game that the coaching staff looked at as one they needed to win.
“We needed this for the psyche of our team,” Cooley said, “The kids put in an unbelievable week of practice. As a staff we looked at it [as a must win] more for our kids, facing a team coming in struggling into your building and two teams trying to find an identity.”
“Hats off to our kids for fighting through some adversity and taking the lead in the second half and then holding on for dear life,” he added.
The Stags struggled on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor in the first half, allowing St. Francis to take a 29-23 lead heading into the break.
Fairfield shot just 30.8 percent from the floor, as they struggled to adjust to the Terriers’ extended zone defense. The Stags put up ten three pointers, connecting on only two.
On the defensive side Fairfield allowed St. Francis to shoot 42.3 percent. The Terriers were shooting 50 percent or better for most of the first half, but the shots as the half wound down lowered their percentage. The Stags fought back in the second half, going on a 10-1 run over the first three minutes, allowing them to take over the lead at 33-30.
Van Schaick led the charge, hitting two three pointers during that period.
“In the first half we did not make shots. We did a better job executing during the second half,” Van Schaick said.
Cooley felt that the zone defense caused the Stags to struggle in the first half.
“We hesitated a little [against the zone]. I want our guys to be aggressive, so we made a few adjustments at the half, setting some screens to free it up, and we got some easy looks and our guys made tough shots.”
The student section, which was loud all game, erupted with 15 minutes to go, as Jonathan Han `09 threw a pass to Anthony Johnson `10, who cut behind the defense, caught the alley oop and slam dunked it.
Fairfield allowed St. Francis to stay close. The Stags almost pulled away at around the 10 minute mark, when Greg Nero `10 scored his sixth straight point for the Stags.
Nero, who finished second on the team with 15 points, scored 11 of those in the second half, as he fought around double teams to get open and score in the paint.
The Terriers closed the gap and sent the game into overtime, locking down on defense and not allowing Fairfield to score in the final seconds.
The Stags had two open chances at game winners during the final eight seconds in regulation, but Van Schaick missed a three and Allen, who grabbed the rebound, missed a mid range jumper.
Despite the win, Cooley was still dissatisfied with the team’s toughness.
“We got out-toughed. That is not something that we can have for our program,” Cooley said, “We have to be tougher than that, we got out-rebounded in our own building and gave up too many offensive rebounds in critical situations. That is something that we will address tomorrow in practice.”
The Stags now hope to take the confidence found in this game into their match up with Providence College on Monday night in Providence.
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