FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball returns to Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Sunday, Feb. 12 for the first-ever visit to campus by Mount St. Mary's. Opening tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. with Bob Heussler and Joe DeSantis calling the action for the Stags Sports Network on ESPN3.
 
LAST TIME OUT: RIDER 58, FAIRFIELD 57
Twelve days after Rider's Allen Powell hit the buzzer beater that forced overtime at Mahoney Arena, Fairfield was on the short side of more heroics from the Broncs' senior guard. This time, Powell's baseline jumper with 7.3 seconds to go was the difference as first-place Rider topped the Stags, 58-57, in a game nationally televised on ESPNU. Supreme Cook led Fairfield with 16 points.
 
Cook's 16 points came on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and a 4-of-6 day at the free throw line. Allan Jeanne-Rose joined him in double figures with 12 points and Jalen Leach was just shy with nine. Caleb Fields netted all seven of his points in the second half.
 
Makai Willis, who got the start in place of an injured Jake Wojcik and played a season-high 24 minutes with Chris Maidoh also sidelined, scored six points and pulled down a team-leading six boards.
 
SECOND TIME AROUND
The Stags are 2-2 this season when seeing an opponent for the second time, defeating Saint Peter's and Siena while falling to Iona and Rider - all on the road.
 
Fairfield went 6-6 in return games last year - 5-5 during the MAAC regular season and 1-1 in Atlantic City. Those six wins include two "payback" victories over opponents who had earned a result over Fairfield earlier in the campaign.
 
THE MOUNT ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY MOUNTAINEERS
A 72-65 home loss to Siena on Friday dropped Mount St. Mary's to 8-17 overall and 4-10 in the MAAC. The Mount's league wins in their first year as a MAAC squad have been a home victory over Marist and road wins at Saint Peter's, Canisius and Quinnipiac.
 
Jalen Benjamin leads the Mount and ranks ninth in the MAAC in scoring with 14.6 points per game. Benjamin's scoring total has been bolstered by the third-best three-point percentage in the MAAC at 40.6 percent on an even four attempts per game, as well as an 80.7 percent success rate at the charity stripe.
 
George Tinsley ranks 10th in the MAAC with 6.2 rebounds per game. The Mount's efforts on the boards will be bolstered by Malik Jefferson, who returned from injury on Friday night and has grabbed 6.8 rebounds per game in limited action this season.
 
As a team, Rider ranks ninth in the MAAC in scoring with 62.3 points per game and slots sixth defensively, conceding 66.0 points per contest.
 
LAST MEETING
Fairfield held off host Mount St. Mary's, 63-60, for a MAAC win in its first-ever trip to the Mount on Jan. 26. Allan Jeanne-Rose led the way offensively with 16 points in the Stags' fourth consecutive win.
 
Jeanne-Rose's 16 points were comprised of a 5-for-5 day from the field and a 6-for-7 showing at the free throw line. TJ Long also netted double figures with 10 points, and Supreme Cook was just shy of a double-double with nine points and a game-best 11 rebounds. Jalen Leach also scored nine points, with Zach Crisler canning a pair of treys to tally six points and Caleb Fields also scoring six.
 
Fields and Jeanne-Rose also had three assists apiece, with Fields also shining defensively with four steals. In total, the Stags forced 17 Mount St. Mary's turnovers that led to 20 Fairfield points.
 
Rounding out the scoring, Jake Wojcik netted five points and Chris Maidoh scored two.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Prior to this season, Fairfield had challenged The Mount only once before. The 80-68 win for Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 3, 1949 was only the eighth game in the Stags' varsity history, occurring two months after incumbent Harry S Truman was re-elected President of the United States. Per the Mount St. Mary's student newspaper, the game was a home contest for the Mount despite being played in Danbury, Conn.
 
FIRST TIME WINNERS
The Mount was the last of five teams on the 2022-23 schedule that the Stags had never defeated prior to this season. Fairfield went 4-1 in those games, picking up the program's first-ever victories over Towson, Evansville and Coast Guard in addition to Mount St. Mary's while remaining winless in four tries against Wake Forest.

Of the current Division I teams that the Stags have played been never beaten, the longest active drought is now 60 years dating back to an 82-62 loss to open the 1963-64 campaign in Fairfield's first and only meeting with Pitt.
 
ON LOCKDOWN
Fairfield has ceded 60 points or fewer in 12 games this season, posting a record of 9-3 in those outings. The Stags currently leads the MAAC and ranks 44th nationally with 64.5 points per game allowed. Against MAAC opponents, Fairfield also ranks second in the league (two total points behind Siena) with 62.9 points allowed per contest.
 
TWO AT A TIME
The Stags also lead the MAAC and are 12th in the nation, holding opponents to a 28.7 shooting percentage from three-point range. Conference foes are shooting just 25.4 percent from distance against the Stags. No MAAC team has made more than seven three-pointers against the Fairfield defense, including a 1-for-13 showing by Marist and a 3-for-17 clip from Canisius.
 
The seven made treys came in the win at Mount St. Mary's, with the Mount needing 21 attempts to convert their seven triples.
 
UP NEXT
The Stags head to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to challenge Marist on Friday, Feb. 17 then return to Mahoney Arena on Sunday for a 2 p.m. meeting with Manhattan.