The Fairfield Stags shooting was as cold as the weather outside on Friday night as they lost their fifth straight game, falling to the Siena Saints 74-61 at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
As a team Fairfield (2-7, 0-1 MAAC) shot 38.5 percent from the floor, while Siena (4-3, 1-0 MAAC) hit 49 percent from the field. Freshman Yorel Hawkins led the way for the Stags with a career-high 16 points, but was 4-for-10 from the field.
“We had a bad performance tonight, we were not good from start to finish, we looked lackluster, energy-less and puzzled for some reason and did not play well at all,” said Head Coach Ed Cooley. “We need to figure out who we are and where we want to go, because right now we are in a funk. It is really disturbing”
“It is frustrating, they are picked to win the league and we did not come out energized, no one wanted to step up,” said Hawkins.
The Stags took an early 4-2 lead at the start of the first half, but never came close to leading again. Siena went on a 22-8 run over six minutes to take a 24-8 lead with 10 minutes to go in the first half.
Junior guard Herbie Allen came off the bench and provided a spark for the Stags, hitting three long range shots and scoring eight points in the half, to keep Fairfield down by 10, 39-29 heading into the break.
“Herbie was a big plus for us off the bench. I talked to him before the game and told him what I needed him to do and he came out and executed what I asked him to do,” said Cooley.
“Fairfield was not shooting the ball as well as they can when the game started, but Herbie Allen kept them in it in the first half,” said Siena Head Coach Fran McCaffery “We played zone the entire night, because they are a dangerous team driving to the basket and hitting outside shots.”
Fairfield came out with energy to start the second half as Hawkins knocked down an early jumper to cut the lead to eight. The Stags brought the deficit all the way down to six points with 14:54 to go in the game when Allen knocked down two free throws.
Allen finished with 13 points on the night.
The Stags struggled against the tight 3-2 trapping zone after the point and turned the ball over five times, while only scoring seven points over the next seven minutes. The Saints extended their lead to 18 points.
Fairfield brought the score as close as nine points with 2:41 left in the game, when Michael Evanovich ’09 hit a three pointer and converted an old fashioned three point play, but that was a s close as the Stags got.
Siena pulled back away and won by thirteen.
“I saw a totally different Fairfield team today, I thought we had two very good preparation days, we knew exactly what Siena wanted to do,” said Cooley. “Against a peek-a-boo press, we froze against it and the zone.”
“They must have played a new brand of basketball today, it was basketball 2008, I guess we saw today, right now we are not a good basketball club and we have a long way to go.”
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