FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball team will open the
2019 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament on Thursday night with a match up against seventh-seeded Manhattan College at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. The game is slated for a 7 pm and will be broadcast on
ESPN3. The winner of this game will advance to the tournament quarterfinals on Friday night to play second-seeded Canisius College at 9:30 pm.
The Stags and the Jaspers will get together for the third time this season with each team winning a game in this year's season series. Manhattan opened the series with a 62-49 win at Draddy Gymnasium before Fairfield earned a 72-59 victory at Alumni Hall on February 24. The two teams will meet in the MAAC tournament for the first time since the Jaspers eliminated the Stags in a semifinal game during the 2013 tournament.
The Stags finished the regular season on the road, suffering a 62-52 loss at Saint Peter's last Sunday. Fairfield struggled early from the field, making just one of its first 11 shots from the floor, which enabled the Peacocks to open up a 20-9 lead midway through the first half. The 11-point lead would remain at halftime and a double-digit lead would stay intact for most of the second half. Fairfield made a valiant run at a comeback late in the game, scoring 10 straight points that clipped a 14-point deficit down to four points at 56-52. The Peacocks did not allow another point and made six straight free throws in the closing minute to earn the win.
Neftali Alvarez paced the Fairfield offense with a team-best 16 points with no other Stag reaching double figures.
Jonathan Kasibabu,
Taj Benning, and
Landon Taliaferro were next in line with eight points each. Taliaferro netted two more three pointers to bring his team-leading total to 88 in his 29 appearances, which places second in the MAAC. Taliaferro is also the team's top scorer through the regular season his 12.3 scoring average. Alvarez's efforts against Saint Peter's raised his scoring average to 11.3 points every forty minutes which places second among his teammates. Kasibabu remains the top rebounder on the team and second in the MAAC with his 7.5 rebounds per game.
In the NCAA stats dated through March 5,
Landon Taliaferro places 33rd in the nation with his .423 three-point field goal percentage, tied for 43rd in total three-point field goals made (88), and ranks 41st in three pointers per game (3.03).
The Jaspers finished their regular season with a 62-58 road win against Quinnipiac, halting a three-game slide. Manhattan won four of its final seven MAAC road games this season, including a weekend sweep of Niagara and Canisius. The team won both of its neutral site games this season, beating Coastal Carolina and UNC-Asheville in mid-November. Last Sunday, three Jaspers reached double figures in their win over Quinnipiac as Tyler Reynolds led the offense with 12 points. All-Rookie forward Warren Williams posted 11 points while Nehemiah Mack tacked on 10 points. Manhattan trailed Quinnipiac by a 54-49 count with 3:57 left in the game but used a 10-0 run to take control and win the contest. Samir Stewart and Mack each hit a three-point field goal during the run.
Williams leads the team in scoring with 8.5 points per game, followed by Reynolds' 8.1 scoring average. Ebube Ebube is the team's top rebounder with 4.7 per contest.
