FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball team plays its first home game of the New Year on Monday night, hosting Dartmouth College at Alumni Hall beginning at 7 pm. The Stags play their third game against an Ivy League opponent, splitting the first two games against the Ancient Eight.
The Big Green fell to Bryant College 62-60 at home in their last outing, bringing Dartmouth's overall record to 4-7. The team has enjoyed a great deal of success at home this year, recording three of its four wins at Leede Arena. Dartmouth has won 19 home games over the last two-plus seasons.Before the Bryant game, Dartmouth posted a 78-54 win over Longwood, the program's highest margin of victory since defeating Jacksonville State by a 76-46 score during the 2012-13 season.
Against Bryant, Dartmouth received a strong effort from freshman Evan Boudreaux, who completed a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds in 37 minutes of work. Miles Wright also chipped in with 16 points, netting two of the team's two three pointers. Boudreaux leads the Big Green in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 14.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per contest. He ranks fourth in the Ivy League for rebounding as well. The freshman has already won four Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors and needs just two more awards to tie the Dartmouth record for most ROW awards in a season. Wright represents the team's top three-point shooting threat, netting 18 of 53 attempts (34 percent). Following tonight's game, Dartmouth returns to Ivy League play by heading to Harvard. After this two-game road trip, the Big Green plays five straight home games.
The Stags dropped their second MAAC game of the season, a 72-66 decision against Manhattan College on the road. Fairfield is 1-0 in home conference games and 0-2 in road MAAC games this year. The offense sputtered against Manhattan, scoring 66 points which is the lowest road total since scoring 65 points at North Carolina. Since the Tar Heel game, Fairfield averaged 83.3 points per road game (250 points in 3 games).
Marcus Gilbert and Tyler Nelson each reached the 20-point mark against the Jaspers, posting 23 and 21 points, respectively. The Stags held a three-point lead at 41-38 with 15:46 remaining, but Manhattan went on a 13-5 run to take a 51-46 edge four minutes later. Fairfield managed to grab the lead at 56-54 but Manhattan tied the game at 56- and at 58 before a three-point field goal put the Jaspers in front for good at 61-58 with seven minutes left.
Gilbert improved his overall scoring average to 19.4 points per game while Nelson also saw his scoring average rise to 14.1 points per contest. Fairfield saw its potent bench score a season-low eight points against Manhattan, shooting 25 percent from the field (2 of 8). The bench entered the game shooting 51 percent collectively through the first 11 games of the season. Jerry Johnson scored all eight reserve points, keeping him the top bench scorer on the team at 9.2 points per contest.
