The passion that has driven the seventh-seeded Fairfield men’s basketball team this season was its achilles heel tonight against the #2 Siena Saints.
A rematch nine days in the making, the Saints bested the Stags 76-61 in the MAAC Championship semifinal, ending their regular season 21-13 and 11-9 in conference play. The Saints move on to the final, set for 9 p.m. on Tuesday against Merrimack.
A loss characterized by so much passion will be taken to heart by the Stags as fuel for future campaigns. After convincingly defeating Saint Peter’s and Manhattan, Fairfield seemed desperate from the floor, scrambling to shoot under Siena’s intense defense, finishing 36% in field goals.
“I thought we wanted it so bad that we maybe played in a bit of a rush on offense,” head coach Chris Casey said of the emotional performance. “There was nothing involving selfishness, it was just guys wanting it so bad, wanting to play to win.”
After a lackluster performance in the first half, the Stags started the second half with a 40-30 deficit. They managed to tighten up their defense and showed signs of life with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 45-40, but failed to get any closer from that point on.
Siena was led by senior guard Justice Shoats and sophomore guard Gavin Doty, who contributed 26 and 25 points, respectively.
“I feel like there were times in the game [Fairfield] were trying to cut it close, but [Shoats] made a big shot, I made a big shot,” Doty reflected on the intensity of tonight’s contest. “We’re gonna do whatever it takes.”
As a unit, the Saints shot 46% from the floor and 53% from behind the arc.
“We just took it in four-minute segments and that’s how we came up with that win,” Doty said.
Capping out their season with another pair of double-doubles, Brandon Benjamin and Declan Wucherpfennig brought down 22 of Fairfield’s 34 total rebounds and contributed 10 and 13 points, respectively. Tony Williams added 12 of his own, including a few momentum-stirring shots throughout the contest.
Casey pointed out how important this run is to the future of Fairfield’s program, “You gotta start with a foundation. This group of freshmen was our first true recruitment cycle for a class, and I think they grew exponentially over the year, as did a number of our guys.”
As hopeful as the future may seem for the Stags, a few memorable losses will surely redefine this Fairfield team’s identity next fall. Most notably, tri-captain senior Braden Sparks will be a presence the younger Stags will miss, and one that the senior will cherish.
Sparks finished his collegiate career with a performance consisting of 13 points and five assists. He tallied 584 points this season, earning him seventh place on Fairfield’s single-season scoring leaderboard. The Georgia native ended his collegiate career with his 96th shot from behind the arc tonight, earning third place on Fairfield’s single-season three-pointer list.
“These are my guys for life,” Sparks said of his teammates. “They always have my number, so I appreciate all of them.”
Growing as a leader on and off the court in his two years with the Stags, Sparks reflected on the lessons he leaves with the younger Stags, “It’s kind of teaching them the ropes and showing them different spots. Even off the court, just handling business in the classroom, you know stuff like that.”
Benjamin finished his rookie campaign with eight double-doubles, 454 points scored and 333 rebounds. Reflecting on the season, Benjamin can’t help but view it from a group perspective, “I feel like the season was really a roller coaster, I feel like the team was really like a smorgasbord in a way.”
“We had a little bit of everything throughout the team going down at the end of the season, that’s when we started to put things together little by little,” Benjamin said.
This team, in turn, has taught Casey a few lessons of their own: “I have to be mindful of letting guys be themselves, and also knowing when to be strictly business. They taught me a lot about that.”
“They have no idea what a joy it was to coach them,” Casey said.
