BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Head Coach Sydney Johnson saw the future of Fairfield basketball this afternoon, and the future certainly looks good for the Stags. The freshman class combined to score 59 of the team's 80 points and 45 straight Fairfield points to lead Fairfield to an 80-70 win over Manhattan College at Webster Bank Arena.

Freshman Curtis Cobb led all Fairfield scorers with 20 points while classmate Matija Milin added 19 points and nine rebounds to pace the Stags. The rest of the freshman class contributions included Jerry Johnson Jr. scored 11 points off the bench and Jonathan Kasibabu posting nine points and 10 rebounds.

And when you add in the performances of sophomores Jerome Segura and Tyler Nelson, this was another day for Fairfield's youth movement. Segura tied his career high with 11 assists while Nelson netted 12 points for his sixth straight game with 10 or more points.

Manhattan jumped out to a 7-2 lead when Tyler Nelson went to the line and made a pair of free throws with 16:28 left in the first half. Those points would be the last scored by someone other than a freshman until Nelson's jumper with 14:48 remaining in the second half. After Nelson's free throws, Jonathan Kasibabu scored the next four points to give Fairfield its first lead at 8-7. Shane Richards recaptured the lead for Manhattan with a jumper, before Cobb's three pointer pushed the Stags back in front at 11-9 with 12:47 remaining.

Marcus Gilbert and Nelson were straddled with two fouls early in the game, forcing the two veterans out of the line for most of the first half. Gilbert picked up his second foul with 9:45 left in the first half and Nelson was given his second less than a minute later. With a 21-14 lead, Coach Johnson sent out his four freshmen to play alongside sophomore Segura to battle the Jaspers. 

"Obvious Marcus and Tyler are huge parts of our program and we are following their lead," Johnson said. "I think we are comfortable and confident with a lot of different guys out there and we have had success with them. They didn't bat an eye and I didn't bat an eye because I saw the guys were playing with a ton of heart, sharing the ball, and playing confidently so we just rolled with them."

The rookies did just that as the Stags would go on to more than double that seven-point lead by halftime which and gave Fairfield momentum going into the second half.

The Stags' first half lead would reach its largest of the half after Milin's tip-in at the buzzer made the score 41-25 going into the locker room. Fairfield's lead reached as many as 18 points on several occasions in the second half, the last of which was a 59-41 score with 10:48 left in the game. From there, Manhattan sliced into the Fairfield lead over the next eight minutes and came as close as six points, 71-65, with two minutes remaining.

Fairfield responded by scoring seven of the next nine points to regain its double-digit edge at 78-67 with 19 seconds remaining before settling for the 10 point win.

Richards led all scorers in the game with 22 points, while Calvin Crawford came off the bench to score 12 for the Jaspers. Kasibabu just missed a double-double for Fairfield with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Fairfield outrebounded the Jaspers by a 44 to 18 margin in the game and at one point held a 22-5 edge in the first half. In addition to Kasibabu and Milin hitting the board hard, Cobb added seven rebounds to his effort.

"I like the mix that we have now because we have a strong senior class with great leadership and a couple of sophomores who have logged a lot of minutes so it's a terrific balance," Johnson said. "Clearly we know that our freshmen can help us continue our upward swing and that's tremendous for Fairfield basketball."

The Stags will have several days of rest before heading to Quinnipiac University for a February 13 game in Hamden. Game time is scheduled for 2 pm.