Men's Basketball Finishes Up Run In NIT Preseason

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BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball team will finish its four-game run in the 2012 Preseason NIT Tip-Off with a game against Fordham University on Tuesday night at Stabler Arena in on the Lehigh University campus. The Stags are currently 1-2 in their first three games in this tournament, defeating Penn but falling to Virginia and Lehigh.

Fairfield received a boost from its freshman class against Lehigh on Monday night as Josip Mikulic and Amadou Sidibe combined for 18 points and eight rebounds. Sidibe scored all nine of his points in the second half, and added five of his six rebounds in the final 20 minutes as well. Mikulic scored his nine markers in the first half by making three of five shots from the floor with a pair of free throws and a three-point field goal.

Keith Matthews tallied the first double-double of the season for Fairfield with 17 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs for the forward. He was the only Fairfield student-athlete in double digits and garnered the most minutes with 36. Desmond Wade padded his team-leading assist total by tying his career high with 11 assists, accounting for more than half of the team's 20 assists against Lehigh. He has 27 assists in four games, more than double Derek Needham's runner-up total of 11.

The Rams enter tonight's game with a 1-3 record which includes a win over Penn last night in the Preseason NIT Tip-Off. Branden Frazier paced the offense in the Penn win with 19 points and seven assists. He is averaging a team-high 15.5 points per game and is tops with 15 assists in four games. Bryan Smith is the team's top three-point shooting threat, netting a team-high 13 three pointers for an average of 3.3 long-range baskets per game. He is second on the team in scoring with a 13.3 scoring average. Senior Chris Gaston is the team's top rebounder at 8.7 caroms per contest, but will be out of the mix for the next month or so with an injury. He is the fifth leading rebounder in Fordham history.

Following tonight's game, the Stags will have a couple days away from competition before returning for back-to-back road games against Big East foes. The run start with Providence on November 23 and concludes on November 27 against DePaul.

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