ALBANY, N.Y. -- For the second straight night, the Fairfield University men's basketball will face a team that sweptthe Stags in the regular-season. For the second straight night, the Stags will try to forget those regular-season games with a win in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament.
Last night, Head Coach Sydney Johnson led his team past Saint Peter's in the quarterfinals, setting up this afternoon's game with top-seeded Monmouth University in the tournament semifinals. Game time is slated for 4:30 pm at the Times Union Center in Albany. The game will broadcast on ESPN3 with Doug Sherman and Rob Kennedy bringing all the action.
The Hawks come into the MAAC semifinals with a 25-6 overall record, ranking in the top 15 in the nation for winning percentage (.813). After its win on Friday night, Monmouth was one of six Division I programs with at least 26 victories and just one off the national lead of 27 by Arkansas-Little Rock (as of March 4). The Hawks entered this tournament ranked fifth in the Mid-Major national poll and reached as high as number one a couple of weeks ago, the first time that the program reached that mark.
Monmouth continues its season after defeating Rider 59-48 in the MAAC quarterfinals behind 14 points from Micah Seaborn. Seaborn captured the MAAC Rookie of the Year honor following his inaugural season which included a 13.0 scoring average.
The only Hawk to average more points per game is MAAC Player of the Year Justin Robinson, who checks into this game with a 19.8 scoring average. Robinson comes off a nine-point effort against Rider in the quarterfnials but set a MAAC tourney record with eight steals. He leads the team in practically every statistical category including free throws made (170), steals (73), and three-point field goals made (73).
Fairfield advanced to the MAAC tournament semifinals with its 64-55 win over Saint Peter's last night. The Stags reach the MAAC tourney semifinals for the second third time in Head Coach Sydney Johnson's five seasons (2012, 2013), including a championship appearance in 2012). Fairfield received another stellar performance from Marcus Gilbert, who scored 20 points which is the most points he has scored in a MAAC tournament game. His three pointer with 31 seconds left sealed Fairfield's quarterfinal win, turning a three-point lead into a six-point advantage.
Matija Milin received his first career start in the quarterfinal game and responded with a near double-double (10 points, nine rebounds). The Stags led by eight points at halftime and by as many as 16 points with 12 minutes left before Saint Peter's came back to pull within three at the two-minute mark. Tyler Nelson had an impressive second half, scoring 11 of his 13 points over the final 20 minutes. Gilbert and Nelson comprise two of the MAAC”s top six scorers with Gilbert placing fourth at 17.2 ppg and Nelson ranking sixth with 16.1 ppg. Jonathan Kasibabu, fresh off his four-block effort last night, is seventh in the conference for blocks per game (1.1).
The winner of this game will play the winner of the second semifinal game between second-seeded Iona College and third-seeded Siena College for the MAAC championship. The championship game is slated for 7 pm on Monday night.
