ALBANY, N.Y. – With the second half of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) season at hand, the Fairfield University men's basketball team is trying find the alignment that will help set it up for a successful run at the end of the season. Over the last few games, one can't help but figure that freshmen
Chris Maidoh and
Allan Jeanne-Rose along with junior
Wassef Methnani will be part of the team's run.
Tonight's result did not go the way of the Stags as Siena College came away with a 65-49 win at the Times Union Center. But the aforementioned threesome certainly combined well with the usual steady play of the upperclassmen.
Jeanne-Rose set his career-high for scoring for the fourth consecutive game, netting 10 points for his first-double-digit game of his career. Maidoh came within one of his personal best with three blocks and was the team leader in rebounding with nine caroms, his fifth straight game that he led or had a piece of the lead in that category. And, Methnani flirted with his second straight double-double, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds.
"Chris continues to rebound at a high rate and the way he is rebounding the ball right now is really helping us,' Head Coach
Jay Young said. "He also blocked a few shots tonight so that was also a positive for us tonight. We gave Allan a chance a few games ago and he has gotten better each game. Wassef has really helped us out offensively over the last few games and with rebounding as well,"
Despite the performance by this trio, Fairfield still struggled offensively, having to fight for every point scored against the Saints. The Stags never led in the game and only earned one tie which came when Jeanne-Rose scored the team's first points of the game that made the score 2-2 just 90 seconds into the game.
The Saints took control of the game early when it put together a 14-4 run over the next seven minutes. Still, Fairfield showed some life when it scored the next nine points of the game, a string that was fueled by five points from Methnani who converted a three-point play and added a jumper. The Fairfield run brought the deficit to one point, 16-15, with 9:30 on the clock.
Siena rallied for seven points of its own and pushed the deficit to eight points with seven minutes remaining after Elijah Burns finished off a three-point play. Burns powered the Siena offense throughout the game, making all five of his field goal attempts including his only three-point try and adding 10 free throws in 11 attempts.
The Stags' deficit only grew throughout the remainder of the half. While Fairfield came within seven points after two Methnani charity tosses at 28-21, Siena finished off the half by scoring six of the final eight points that produced a double-digit deficit for Fairfield by halftime, 34-23.
Siena tallied the first six points of the second half which opened up a 17-point lead just three minutes into the second half. The home team's biggest lead stood at 20 points, a 54-34 score following two of Burns' free throws. The Stags managed to shave seven points off the lead late in the game and came within 13 points twice before Siena settled for the 16-point win.
"We cannot come up here to win a game against a team that hasn't lost at home and play the way we did tonight," Coach Young said. "They are a good team. We had to be special to beat them and we weren't. Our offense failed us and our defense wasn't good enough to sustain our offense so you have to give credit to Siena because they are a very talented team."
Taj Benning contributed eight points in the game, six of which came in the second half. Manny Camper chipped in 14 points for Siena.
The Stags return to the court on Sunday when they host Iona College at Webster Bank Arena. The game is scheduled for a 2 pm tip.
