FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The conference weekend continues for the Fairfield University men's basketball team as it hosts Rider University at Webster Bank Arena on Friday night. Game time is listed for 7 pm.
The Broncs dropped their MAAC opener to Saint Peter's by a 73-61 score at home. Rider scored the first points of the game but the Peacocks answered with a 15-4 run that turned the deficit into a 15-6 lead. The Broncs battled back with eight straight points to pull within a point, but could not overtake the visiting team. Saint Peter's never trailed after the early 2-0 deficit. Teddy Okereafor tallied a team-high 17 points while Jimmy Taylor and Anthony Durham posted 11 points each.
Most of Okereafor's points came from three-point range, netting five of his seven attempts to account for 15 points. The guard nearly doubled his season production from behind the arc, entering the game with six three pointers in 21 attempts. He brought his three-point field goal percentage up to .393, nearly equal to his overall field goal percentage of .408. The home game provided a slight break in what has proven to be a hectic two weeks for the Broncs.
Rider will play its fifth road and sixth game overall in 14 days when it comes to Webster Bank Arena, a road trip that has sent Rider to four different cities and two countries. The Broncs spent time in Cancun, Mexico as part of a tournament that matched the Broncs versus Cleveland State and Houston Baptist. The schedule also sent Rider to Maryland, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania during the last two weeks. Xavier Lundy is the team's top scorer with 9.6 points per game, followed by Okereafor's 8.4 scoring average. Khalil Thomas is the top rebounder with 4.4 per game.
Fairfield will look to even up its MAAC record at home Friday evening. The Stags won three straight non-conference games before falling in their MAAC opener against Iona on Tuesday night. The team brings a 3-4 record into this game with two of those losses coming against teams in the top 50 RPI rankings (North Carolina and Northwestern).
Curtis Cobb finished a game as the team's top scorer, netting 16 points against the Gaels. He was one of four players to reach double figures in the game, a group which included reserve Matija Milin (13 points) as well as starters Jerome Segura (11) and Tyler Nelson (10). Seven Fairfield student-athletes have tallied 10 or more points at least once this year including all four freshman student-athletes.
Marcus Gilbert remains the team's top scorer by averaging 18.3 points per game. Nelson is next in line with a 12.0 scoring average and continues to place among the MAAC leaders in assist-turnover ratio, dishing off 30 assists against only 10 turnovers for a +3.0 mark. Segura places 27th nationally by dishing off 6.1 assists (37 in six starts), a number which ranks third in the conference as well. Jerry Johnson Jr. and Milin are third and fourth on the team for scoring by averaging 9.2 and 8.9 points per game respectively.
