FAIRFIELD, Conn. – After opening the 2022-23 season with eight consecutive games away from home, Fairfield University Men's Basketball made its long-awaited debut at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Saturday evening with a 67-55 win over visiting Saint Peter's. Caleb Fields netted 19 points as one of four Stags in double figures as the Stags knocked off the defending MAAC Champion Peacocks before a standing room only crowd of 3,516.
 
"We knew this wasn't going to be easy. As soon as I thought we might pull away, Saint Peter's came back," said Head Coach Jay Young. "We played a very gritty, proud, well-coached Saint Peter's team and we were fortunate enough to get the win – hopefully the first of many in this building."
 
The Stags bounce back from Thursday's one-possession loss at Manhattan to improve to 3-6 on the season and even their MAAC tally at 1-1. Saint Peter's falls to 4-4 and 0-2 in the opening weekend of conference play.
 
Fields play all 40 minutes on his way to 19 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the field with two three-pointers and converting 7-of-8 from the free throw line. As a unit, the Stags shot 19-of-42 (45.2%) from the floor, 4-of-11 (.36.4%) from three-point range and 25-of-31 (80.6%) from the stripe.
 
Supreme Cook grabbed 11 rebounds for the third straight game, this time also netting 11 points to post his first double-double of the campaign. Allan Jeanne-Rose matched Cook with 11 points, highlighted by the first-ever basket scored in a men's basketball game at Mahoney Arena, and Jalen Leach was the fourth Stag to score in double figures with 10 points. The output marked the second time this season that four Stags reached double-digits, the other being the second game of the year on Nov. 11 at New Hampshire.
 
"We needed to be basketball players tonight – that's what I told the guys," Young said. "This was a night where it was going to be tough to run offense, so just be players. And that what we did for the most part."
 
All six of the game's lead changes occurred in the first 8:15 of action, capped by a TJ Long step-back jumper to put Fairfield on top, 14-12. That bucket was a part of 12-2 run as the Stags opened up a 24-14 lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the way. Saint Peter's would climb back to within single digits before the intermission as Latrell Reid's layup sent Fairfield into the locker room with a 29-22 advantage.
 
Another offensive surge out of the break capped by back-to-back triples for Long and Fields staked the Stags to their largest lead of the day at 47-29 with 10:37 left, but the Peacocks answered with a 17-5 stretch to close the gap to 52-46 at the 3:54 mark of the frame. At that point, a 4-of-4 span for Fields at the line and three points for Leach boosted the margin to 59-50 with under a minute to go, and the Stags canned all eight of their free throws in the final 44 seconds – four for Jake Wojcik, two for Leach and two for Long – to close out the 67-55 final.
 
Isiah Dasher led Saint Peter's with 15 points and Reid recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.
 
"It was a great night for our University and our basketball team," noted Young. "I told these guys yesterday that it's an incredible honor, and they're going to come back here sometime in 50 years and tell their grandkids that they played in the first game here."
 
Tonight's contest was the start of a program-record eight-game homestand for the Stags. The stretch continues on Wednesday, Dec. 7 as Fairfield dives back into non-conference play with a 7 p.m. visit from crosstown foe Sacred Heart.