RIVERDALE, N.Y. – On the final night of the regular season, the Fairfield University put together their best offensive effort of the campaign as the Stags set a season-high for scoring with their 85-67 win over Manhattan College. Guard Jake Wojcik spurred the offensive showcase with a career-best 33 points which included five three pointers and a perfect 10 of 10 from the free throw line.

              "Jake really makes our offense better and he showed that tonight," Head Coach Jay Young said. "He found a good offensive rhythm tonight. He was able to get by some defenders and had some good drives to the basket."

              Wojcik was responsible for 21 of the team's 45 second-half points, netting six of 10 field goals attempts and seven free throws. The junior completed his night with five assists and three steals, both representing his personal bests in a Fairfield uniform.

              Coach Young also made a change to the starting lineup tonight, granting Jason Edokpayi his first career start as a Stag. The freshman responded with his best game of his young career with eight points along with three rebounds, a block, and an assist. The rookie netted four of his five field goal attempts and has made good on six of his eight field goals attempts this season. John Kelly also garnered eight minutes of work which set him up for his first points as a Stag, a first-half corner jumper.

              "We decided to give Jason a shot tonight and he responded," Coach Young said. "He had really been playing better in practice. We thought this would be a good game to throw the ball into him and took advantage. John Kelly also gave us some good minutes as well."

              Fairfield led for nearly the entire game with the lone exception coming in the opening minutes. The Jaspers tallied the first four points of the game before Edokpayi put the Stags on the scoreboard with a pair of paint points. After Elijah Buchanan earned those points back for Manhattan, Fairfield scored the next 11 points to double up the home team at 13-6 with 15:24 remaining. Jesus Cruz netted two three pointers during the run while Wojcik added another long-range shot.

              The Stags' lead reached double figures after another Edokpayi basket pushed the score to 23-13 at the 9:49 mark. Manhattan came as close as six points after Nick Brennen made three free throws to cut the score to 26-20 with 7:38 remaining. Wojcik picked those points back up with his own trio of charity tosses on the next possession which Supreme Cook followed with a layup that raised the lead to 11 points at 31-22.

              Fairfield's first-half lead reached 15 points after back-to-back three pointers by Wojcik and Taj Benning made the score 40-25 with 1:45 on the clock. Manhattan rallied for the final six points of the half and went into the locker room down nine points, 40-31.

              The Stags had no let down at the start of the second half either, outscoring 10-3 through the first three-plus minutes to bring the score to 50-34. The Jaspers were able to cut eight point off their deficit over the next few minutes, pulling within seven points at 52-45 after Brennen connected on two more free throws at the 12:40 mark.

              Fairfield regained its double digit lead after four consecutive free throws from Benning and Cruz with 10 minutes remaining. The Stags maintained that double figure lead for nearly the rest of the second half before pushing lead to its final margin of 18 points in the closing minutes.

              "I'm really proud of the team's effort tonight," Coach Young said. "The team grinded out a win against physical team. We had guys who responded when we needed them and that was the difference."

              Benning finished the game with 14 points while Caleb Green added 12 points and a game-high six assists to aid the Fairfield effort. Warren Williams led all Manhattan scorers with 20 points and Ant Nelson as well as Buchanan contributed 13 points to the Jasper offense.

              The Stags will now turn their attention to next week's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Basketball Championship. The tournament begins on March 8 in Atlantic City, N.J. with pairings to be announced by the conference.