ALBANY ‘- For the first time in his three seasons as head coach of the Fairfield Stags men’s basketball team, Ed Cooley was able to walk off of the court with a smile following the MAAC quarterfinals.
But after earning a 68-61 victory over Manhattan on Saturday afternoon at the Times Union Center, Cooley was finally able to smile at the MAAC tournament, as he picked up his first win in his three season coaching career, setting up a 6 p.m. matchup on Sunday with host and No. 1 seed Siena.
‘Truthfully this has been one of the more grueling six week streteches in my young coaching career,’ Cooley said. ‘Not just losing one of the best players in the league, but an entire frontcourt to changing your entire system of play. You can really write a story about it.’
‘It has really helped our program and our community should be really proud of our men for all they have gone through. It proves that if you stick together great things can happen,’ Cooley added.
It was also the first tournament victory in the four-year career of senior point guard Herbie Allen, who scored 17 points for the Stags. Mike Evanovich led all Fairfield (17-14) scorers with 18 points and Yorel Hawkins added a double double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Greg Nero, returning from an injured back that has kept him out since the Stags loss to Manhattan (16-14) three weeks ago, scored 11 points in just 19 minutes of play, before he fouled out.
Fairfield led at the half 26-25, but Manhattan burst out of the gate in the second half and went on a 10-0 run to take a nine-point lead with 17:07 remaining in the game. But from there the Stags took over and went on a run of their own (14-2 over the next five minutes), led by Nero, who scored eight points during that stretch.
‘At that point of time we tried to speed the game up,’ Cooley said. ‘I went to Greg and said ‘are you ready because I am about to throw you the ball five straight times,’ and he said ‘just give it to me twice because I’ll be tired by the third one,’ as long as he is on the floor he is going to touch the ball.’
Nero may not have shown up on the stat sheet as often as Allen, Hawkins or Evanovich, but his inside presence was game changing, despite a back that still bothered him, fatigue and flu-like symptoms.
‘I’m just very happy right now, this is my first MAAC tournament win,’ Nero said. ‘I’m just extremely grateful for the opportunity we had to come together as a team. This was a big hurdle for us as a group.’
As a team the Stags shot 50 percent for the floor from the game and were 15-for-25 in the second half. Allen was 6-for-10 from the floor.
‘I have been looking for my shot lately,’ said Allen. ‘I am feeling good, this is the first time getting a tournament win. I am grateful that Nero came back and the whole team is playing well right now.’
Now the Stags prepare for a semifinals matchup tomorrow with the Siena Saints, a game Cooley said he is ready for, despite the hostile environment.
‘I’ll feel just like I am at home,’ Cooley said. ‘We will play whoever, we are just happy that we are here. We don’t care who we play, we just want to play.’
Leave a Reply