THE OPENING TIP
Fairfield University Men's Basketball returns to Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Saturday, Jan. 25 to host Merrimack in MAAC action. Opening tip-off from George Bisacca Court is slated for 7 p.m. with the Hall of Fame duo of Bob Heussler and Joe DeSantis calling the action for the Stags Sports Network on ESPN+.

TICKETS
Tickets for Thursday night's game are on sale now at FairfieldStags.com/TIX. Current Fairfield students can claim their free ticket with the Super Stags App.

GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS

• Lucas's 23rd Birthday Bash: Exclusive Michael Jordan themed student giveaways and raffles throughout the game.
• Coaches vs. Cancer Game: Suits & Sneakers Week

LAST TIME OUT
A 7-0 run to open overtime was the deciding stretch for Fairfield in a MAAC basketball classic on Thursday evening at Manhattan. Six Stags scored in double figures on the day as Fairfield picked up the 87-84 road victory.
 
The trio of Kyle Jenkins, Prophet Johnson and Braden Sparks shared the team high for Fairfield with 15 points apiece.

Deon Perry added 13 points with 10 each coming from Jamie Bergens and Louis Bleechmore. Johnson also hauled in 11 rebounds to register his fourth double-double of the season.
 
Johnson and Birima Seck each pulled down four rebounds from the offensive glass, sparking Fairfield to 22 second chance points. Overall, the Stags were clipped on the glass by a 43-40 count but made up for the disparity by forcing 14 Manhattan turnovers compared to just seven Fairfield giveaways.
 
The Jaspers' standout freshman Will Sydnor led all scorers with 21 points, with Wesley Robinson contributing 20 for the home team.
 
COACH CASEY ON THE MANHATTAN GAME
"Both teams played really hard and we made one more play than they did. And that's what MAAC Basketball is. Anybody can beat anybody on any night in this league, so you have to come ready to play and ready to play hard."

THE MERRIMACK COLLEGE WARRIORS
Merrimack won a 48-37 defensive battle on Thursday at Saint Peter's in which the Warriors fell behind 24-7 and then outscored the defending MAAC Champions by a 41-13 count the rest of the way. The "rock fight" victory improved the Warriors to 7-1 in the MAAC as a part of a 10-9 overall mark.

Adam "Budd" Clark ranks second in the MAAC in scoring at 19.5 points per game as well as in assists with 5.5 helpers per contest.

The Warriors' success has come from the defensive end, where they allow just 65.2 points per game, and from ball security as they lead the conference with just 8.9 turnovers per game.

ALL-TIME SERIES
This season's first meeting revived an all-time series that had been dormant since 1977 and also marked Merrimack's first victory over the Stags. Fairfield maintains a 4-1 advantage on the ledger.

The teams met three times in the 1950s but only once more prior to Merrimack joining the MAAC, due largely to the Stags joined the Division I ranks in 1964 while the Warriors remained a Division II club until 2019.

MAYBE IN MARCH?
Saturday night's game completes the MAAC home-and-home series with the Merrimack. Fairfield will have finished its 2024-25 slate against the Warriors before any contest against conference foes Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, Saint Peter's or Siena.

The Stags will not go head-to-head with the Saints until March 6 in the penultimate game of the regular season.

NEW IN TOWN
Merrimack is the lone current MAAC team that has never played at Leo D. Mahoney Arena. After Fairfield's Jan. 16 win over Niagara, all 11 other MAAC opponents have also all lost at Mahoney Arena during the building's three-year tenure.

BONUS BASKETBALL
Thursday's win at Manhattan was Fairfield's first overtime game of the season. The Stags did not play an overtime contest in 2023-24, last going to an extra session on Feb. 12, 2023 for a 76-72 win over The Mount. Fairfield is 3-0 all-time in overtime against Manhattan.

GO FIGURE
Six Stags scored in double figures in the Manhattan victory. The trio of Kyle Jenkins, Prophet Johnson and Braden Sparks shared the team high with 15 points apiece. Deon Perry added 13 points with 10 each coming from Jamie Bergens and Louis Bleechmore. The last time six Stags scored in double figures was during the 2021-22 campaign when seven players had 10 or more points in a 110-55 victory over Medgar Evers.

STAYING CLOSE TO HOME
Fairfield will play six of its last 12 regular season games at Mahoney Arena, and eight of the remaining 12 within the state of Connecticut. Visits to Rider (approx. 115 miles) and Siena (approx. 140 miles) are the only remaining regular season games that will be played more than 100 miles away from campus.

GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL
With the Jan. 16 win over Niagara, Chris Casey has now earned at least one win as a head coach against every current MAAC team. Fairfield defeated every MAAC squad, as well as the then-NEC member Sacred Heart, during the 2023-24 season. The remainder of Casey's Division I head coaching tenure came on the Niagara sidelines.

Casey earned a win over Merrimack in the Division II ranks as head coach of the LIU Post Pioneers during the 2012-13 season. This year's meeting in North Andover was his first matchup with the Warriors at the Division I level.

UP NEXT
The Stags make the short trip to Hamden to open the home-and-home with Quinnipiac on Friday, Jan. 31.