FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- After playing three games in three different states, the Fairfield University men's basketball team will return home for the first of 15 home dates Saturday night. The Stags will host Sacred Heart University at Webster Bank Arena at 7 pm. The Fairfield University women's basketball team will open the evening with a 5 pm game against Sacred Heart at the Arena.
Sacred Heart comes off one of its most successful season in 2014-15 as the team finished the regular season with 15 overall wins and nine Northeast Conference (NEC) victories, the most overall and conference wins since the team went 17-14 and 12-6 in 2008-09. The Pioneers are off to a 1-2 start this year, beginning the season with a win over Quinnipiac in the Connecticut 6 Classic before falling to Yale University and UMass Lowell.
Scoring has not been a problem for the Pioneers, averaging 79 points per game as a team. The team has scored 76 or more points in each of its three games, highlighted by an 84-point effort against UMass Lowell. Part of the reason for the program's offensive success has been the play of Cane Broome, one of four Pioneers averaging better than 10 points per game.
Broome leads the team with a 26.3 scoring average, posting 20 or more points in all three games. He started the year with 27 points versus Quinnipiac and followed up with 32 markers in the Yale game. Jordan Allen (14.0 ppg), Quincy McKnight (11.3 ppg), and Chris Robinson (10.0 ppg) are also in double figures for the Pioneers. Broome and Robinson are tied for the team lead with six rebounds every forty minutes.
Fairfield plays five of its next seven contests at home. The stretch begins on Saturday night and also includes a game at Alumni Hall on November 27 against Columbia. The next three home games are at Webster Bank Arena and include Rider (December 4), Wagner (December 18), and Loyola Md. (December 22).
Marcus Gilbert has enjoyed an electric start to the 2015-16 season, being the top scorer in all three games. He was the co-leader with eight points at Yale, followed with a team-best 25 points at North Carolina, and continued with 18 points at Northwestern. For the season, the senior is averaging a team-high 17 points per game and has a team-leading eight three-point field goals to his credit.
Tyler Nelson is next in line with a 9.0 scoring average and remains perfect at the free throw line by making all 13 of his charity tosses this season.In other statistical categories, sophomore Jerome Segura is averaging 6.3 assists per game which places second in the conference. His 19 total assists more than double the next highest assist total in the MAAC with three players having nine assists at this point in the season. Scott King Jr. is averaging 1.8 blocks per game which ranks third in the conference.
Tickets for the Fairfield-Sacred Heart doubleheader are available at the Webster Bank Arena box office or through www.ticketmaster.com
