Box Score
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – When Head Coach
Jay Young took a look at the final box score, the first thing that jumped out to him was balance. Nine Fairfield University men's basketball student-athletes entered the game and all nine student-athletes scored, leading the Stags to a 72-56 win over Rider University at Alumni Hall. And to cap it off, six of those players contributed from behind the three-point line.
"This was a good team win," Coach Young said. "I am really proud of the guys tonight. Everyone who checked in made a contribution. There was a good balance in the box score and that was why we were able to beat a good team like Rider tonight."
Over the last couple of games, Fairfield dug itself in a hole and had to battle back in the second half before coming up short down the stretch. Tonight, the Stags fell behind by double digits almost immediately as Rider opened up the game with a 13-2 lead seven minutes into the opening half.
Taj Benning, who has been the team's most dependable scorer as of late, was responsible for the team's first two points during that stretch.
Classmate
Jesus Cruz broke through with five straight points with a layup and a traditional three-point play that nearly cut that opening deficit in in half at 13-7. The Broncs were able to build the lead back to nine points at 18-9 but the Stags did not wait until the second half to mount their comeback this evening.
Rather, Fairfield closed out the half by more than doubling up the visitors over the final 10 minutes, outscoring Rider by a 28-13 count that made that early double-digit deficit disappear. By halftime, the Stags were on top by a 37-31 score, accounting for the most first-half points scored by Fairfield this season.
After Coach Young cited the need to make more shots after last night's game, the Stags took his request to heart by shooting 65 percent from the floor over the final 10 minutes (13 of 20) after starting the night 1 for 9 from the field. At one point, Fairfield made six consecutive field goal attempts that started with
Supreme Cook's reverse layup and carried through more than three minutes. The team made three three-point field goals during the run – one from Tsheifu Ngalakulondi,
Zach Crisler, and
Jake Wojcik -the last of which put Fairfield in front for good at 29-27 at the 3:36 mark.
"Our defense was much better tonight," Coach Young said. "whenever we can get the other team to miss, we create more opportunities on transition than we do when we are inbounding the ball after a make."
With its six-point halftime lead in hand, Fairfield nearly doubled that advantage by netting the first five points of the second half courtesy of a dunk from
Chris Maidoh and a three-point shot from Crisler. Fairfield held its comfortable lead for most of the second half, only having to weather a pair of Rider runs that brought the Broncs within a couple of possessions three times.
The first run sent Rider to within six points at 47-41 with 13:34 left after Dontrell McQuarter scored six consecutive points by himself. Cook provided some relief for Fairfield with a three-point play that pushed the lead back to nine points one possession later. The Broncs came closest after a three-point play from Rodney Henderson Jr., making the score 53-48 at the 9:26 mark.
Caleb Green put those comeback hopes on hold with two drives to the basket resulting in layups for his first points of the game, bringing the lead back to nine pints at 57-48 before Rider bounced back with successive scores. Fairfield put the game out of reach by scoring the next 10 points to create a 67-52 lead with three minutes left in the game.
Fairfield's ability to fight back showed a resolve that caught the attention of Coach Young. It's the same resiliency that has allowed Fairfield to win two of the three closeout games in the MAAC's two-game series format.
"We have showed resiliency and it just shows how we keep plugging away," Coach Young said. "The key is that we need to keep getting better and we did that tonight."
Wojcik scored a team-high 13 points to pace the Fairfield offense while Crisler ended the game with 11 points to pace the Fairfield offense. Maidoh posted 10 rebounds for Fairfield, his second straight game with a double-digit rebounding total. McQuarter and Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson were the Rider top scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Fairfield will take to the road for the next two weekends, beginning with a pair at Saint Peter's next Friday and Saturday night. The Stags will return to the road for January 15 and 16 when they head to Marist College to close out the four-game road trip.
