THE OPENING TIP
Fairfield University Men's Basketball wraps up the regular season with a trip to Jersey City to challenge Saint Peter's. Opening tip from the newly-christened Run Baby Run Arena is slated for 1 p.m.
 
THE STAKES FOR THE STAGS
Saturday's games throughout the MAAC will determine Fairfield's seeding for the upcoming MAAC Championship. With a win and a Marist loss (at Niagara), the Stags would be the fifth seed. With a win and a Marist win, Fairfield is locked into the sixth seed. With a Fairfield loss, the Stags can finish anywhere between sixth and 10th pending the rest of the day's results.
 
LAST TIME OUT
TJ Long hit his first seven three-point attempts of the night and finished with a career-high 23 points to power Fairfield to a 65-59 MAAC win over Rider on Thursday evening. The Stags also got 13 points from Jesus Cruz and 12 rebounds by Supreme Cook en route to the Senior Night triumph.
 
Long finished 7-for-9 from three-point range and 8-for-12 overall on his way to 23 points. He also ripped down four rebounds and had a key blocked shot to help ice the victory. His showing from distance fueled Fairfield's 11-for-22 performance from beyond the arc.
 
Taj Benning and Chris Maidoh each had six points, as Maidoh hammered home a pair of rim rattling dunks and shot 2-for-2 from the free throw line in the second half. Rounding out the scoring, Jake Wojcik scored five points, Cook had four and Allan Jeanne-Rose netted two.
 
Cook's 12 rebounds marked his ninth game of the year with double-digit caroms. Long added four with Cruz and Wojcik each collecting three. As a unit, the Stags were edged by a 31-29 count on the glass and an 8-7 margin in second-chance points.
 
THE SAINT PETER'S UNIVERSITY PEACOCKS AT A GLANCE
Saint Peter's enters its final regular season game with a record of 15-11 overall and 13-6 in the MAAC. The Peacocks can secure the second seed in the MAAC Championship with the victory, which they would also lock up -- regardless of their own result on Saturday -- with a Siena loss at Canisius. The Peacocks have won three straight and four of their last five.
 
Darryl Banks III paces the SPU offense with 11.2 points per game, guiding the Peacocks to eighth in the MAAC with 67.2 points per outing. Saint Peter's strength is its defense, leading the MAAC with just 63.2 points per game allowed. Reigning MAAC Defensive Player of the Year KC Ndefo protects the rim with a conference-leading 2.54 blocks per game, good for 22nd in the nation.
 
LAST MEETING: SPU 70, FAIRFIELD 59 (2/18/22 at Webster Bank Arena)
Trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, Fairfield climbed back to within one possession of Saint Peter's on three occasions. But the Stags never drew even with the Peacocks as the visitors made several run-stopping buckets and hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final 50 seconds of the game to pull away with a 70-59 victory.
 
Four Stags scored in double figures in the loss, led by 12 points for Supreme Cook to go along with a team-best seven rebounds. On the perimeter, Taj Benning and Caleb Green each netted 11 points, and Jalen Leach pitched in 10 off the bench.
 
Chris Maidoh contributed seven points fueled by three highlight reel dunks – along with three blocked shots – and Jake Wojcik and TJ Long each sank of the Stags' six three-pointers to chip in three points apiece. Rounding out the scoring, Zach Crisler corralled and offensive rebound and put-back to finish with two points.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
In 123 meetings with their most frequent opponent in program history, Saint Peter's holds a 62-61 edge in the all-time series.  The split of the back-to-back weekend in Jersey City last season was Fairfield's only road win against the Peacocks in their last eight attempts dating back to 2014.
 
Excluding seasons in which the teams only met once, the series has not been swept since Saint Peter's claimed both meetings in the 2015-16 regular season. However, the Stags responded in March of that campaign with a win in Albany in the MAAC Championship First Round.
 
TJ FROM... DEEP
TJ Long hit his first seven three-point attempts in Thursday's win over Rider. The rookie sharpshooter finished 7-for-9 with a career-high 23 points in the victory. The last Fairfield freshman to knock down seven three-pointers was Jerry Johnson Jr., who also went 7-for-9 in a win over Marist on Feb. 15, 2016.
 
UP NEXT
The final bracket for the 2022 MAAC Championship will be announced by the conference office at the conclusion of action around the league on Saturday.