FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The home stand continues for the Fairfield University men's basketball team as it plays the middle game of the three-game run by hosting Siena College Sunday afternoon. The Stags and the Saints will tip off at 2 pm. The game will also be broadcasted on SNY and ESPN3.
The two teams will meet for the second time this season, last playing one another during the conference's opening weekend in December. The Saints came away with the 80-73 victory behind Nico Clareth, who came off the bench to score a career-best 33 points. The Stags were paced by Tyler Nelson's 23 points and Curtis Cobb's 19 markers.
The Saints improved to 6-11 overall and 3-3 in MAAC play following its 81-74 win over Quinnipiac on Thursday night. Siena won its second straight with the decision after it broke a four-game losing streak with its 56-54 win against Saint Peter's at the Times Union Center. The team has enjoyed a great deal of success on its home court, posting a 6-1 record at its home facility, but is still searching for its first road win. The Saints started the week with five student-athletes averaging better than 10 points per game, led by Marquis Wright's 14.9 points per game. The rest of the quintet includes Javion Ogunyemi (13.6 ppg), Clareth (12.4 ppg), Brett Bisping (12.3 ppg), and Lavon Long (10.5 ppg). Bisping is the team's top rebounder, collecting 9.8 rebounds every forty minutes.
The Stags started their three-game home stand with an 86-72 setback against Canisius College despite getting another 20-point performance from Tyler Nelson. The junior netted 24 points against the Golden Griffs, his eighth 20-point game of the season and his fourth in the last six games. Nelson raised his scoring average to 20.0 once again, the third time he has hit that mark this season, and continues to lead the MAAC in scoring.
The guard is not the only MAAC leader on the Stags as Amadou Sidibe, who comes off a 12-rebound performance, remains the conference's top rebounder with his 10.3 average. The forward enjoyed his seventh double-digit rebounding total of the season against Canisius, and his first since securing 14 caroms at Penn. Curtis Cobb, the current MAAC and Met Writers Player of the Week, recorded 13 points against the Golden Griffs and extended his double-digit scoring streak to six games, the longest such single-season streak of his career. He currently ranks second among his teammates with a 16.9 scoring average.
