It was odd to say the least, but in a strange way it all made sense. Less than an hour after getting into a heated, albeit brief, nose-to-nose shouting match with St. Peter’s coach Bob Leckie, Fairfield coach Tim O’Toole sat before reporters and compared his team’s play to a Charles Dickens novel.
“It’s like the ‘Tale of Two Cities,'” he said.
What he meant was that the game he had just witnessed – a gut-wrenching 84-78 loss to St. Peter’s that pushed the Stags further toward MAAC mediocrity – had been a tale of two halves.
Much like at other times during the season, including Saturday’s Bracket Buster game against Cal. State Northridge, the Stags came out and played with a purpose in the first half and built up a double digit lead, only to fall apart in the second half and lose.
Undoubtedly, the four game home stand that the Stags just concluded with an 0-4 record was not the best of times, but the worst of times.
Just nine days after the team returned home with a very realistic chance at first place in the league, the Stags now have to win Thursday night at red-hot Iona and Saturday night against Loyola to ensure a top four finish and a first round bye in the conference tournament, which begins March 4 in Buffalo, N.Y.
“I don’t know what it is,” said Terrance Todd ’06. “It’s just heartbreaking for teams to do this night in and night out. You get frustrated.”
“We felt coming home that with this stretch of home games we’d get the top spot, he added.”
O’Toole said he too was unable to put his finger on what exactly it was that the Stags had done wrong over the course of the slump, which included a bizarre second half against Rider last Wednesday in which the Stags had a seven-point lead.
The lead vanished shortly after a delay caused by a small fire in a Harbor Yard concession stand.
“We’re going to have to keep trying to figure it out,” O’Toole said. “We play real well and all of a sudden we can’t hold a lead. You’re good enough, to get the lead, but now you’ve got to keep it. You’re not going to be any good [if you can’t keep it].”
Much like in the 78-74 loss to first place Niagara which started the Stags’ current skid, they fell far behind on Monday, this time thanks to a 23-2 St. Peter’s run during the middle of the second half, and were forced to stage a frantic last-minute comeback effort.
The Stags chipped away at the Peacock’s lead, but fell short, slipping below the upstart visitors in the standings – something that seemed inconceivable two weeks ago.
“I remember saying, ‘let’s go on home’ [for the Niagara game]. But whether you’ve got to come, whether you’re home or on the road, and be ready to play,” O’Toole said.
Todd, the Stags’ leading scorer and go-to-guy down the stretch, tried to look through the dark clouds and see what Dickens might call “the best of times” down the road.
“The tournament is a whole new season,” he said. “Anything can happen.”
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