Game Notes
Watch on ESPN3
FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball team closes out the 2011-12 regular season when it heads to Rider University on Sunday afternoon. The game is slated for 3:30 pm on ESPN3.
The Stags are coming off a 77-72 setback to Iona College on Friday night, ending the team's seven-game conference winning streak. Fairfield needs a win on Sunday to capture the number three seed. A loss to the Broncs would place the Stags as the fourth seed in the tournament and set up a rematch with Rider, which has already clinched the five seed in the upcoming tourney.
Fairfield received a double-double from
Rakim Sanders on Friday night, his eighth double-double of the season. The senior remains the team's top scorer and rebounder, averaging better than 16 points and eight rebounds every forty minutes.
Ryan Olander tallied 15 points against the Gaels, while
Desmond Wade returned to the lineup and tallied nine points. All of Wade's points came off the three-point shot as he made three of his four attempts from behind the arc. The guard remains fourth in the MAAC for three-point percentage, netting 42 percent of his long-range jumpers this season.
Rider will close out its season at home after defeating Loyola University at home on Friday night. The Broncs bring a 12-18 overall record and a 9-8 MAAC mark into Sunday's game.
Jeff Jones is the team's top scorer with a 13.2 scoring average, while Brandon Penn and Daniel Stewart are the team's top rebounders with 6.7 caroms per contest. Stewart is shooting a team-best 56 percent from the field, while Penn represents the team's top three-point shooter with 63 long-range jumpers.
The MAAC men's basketball championship opens play on March 2, but the Stags won't play their first game until Saturday, March 3. The tourney takes place at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. Fairfield fans may have received a glimpse of the building when the Stags beat Old Dominion in early December as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Classic.
