THE OPENING TIP
Fairfield University Men's Basketball concludes the regular season on Saturday night at Leo D. Mahoney Arena against Quinnipiac. The Stags will celebrate Senior Night at approximately 6:30 PM before their 7 p.m. tip-off with the Bobcats. The duo of J.J. Duke and Hall of Famer Joe DeSantis '79 will have the call for the Stags Sports Network on ESPN+.

TICKETS
Tickets are on sale now at FairfieldStags.com/TIX.

PROMOTIONS

• Senior Night - Join us to celebrate the seniors of the men's basketball program with a pregame recognition

• Lil' Stags Club Night
  • Lil' Stags Club members receive free admission (All Lil' Stags Club members must claim their free tickets in advance. Instructions will be emailed to members directly)
  • Sign up for the Lil' Stags Club here

LAST TIME OUT
Fairfield erased a 17-point deficit on Thursday evening at Siena, led by 20 points apiece from Prophet Johnson and Braden Sparks. But the host Saints made their own late push and then held off a final flurry to escape MVP Arena with a 68-64 decision.

Johnson's 20 points marked his third consecutive 20-point game. He was also one rebound shy of a third straight double-double, finishing with a team-high nine boards. Johnson shot 9-for-11 from the field and also registered a block and two steals.
 
Sparks' 20 points were a new career best for the junior, who shot 8-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the line. He filled out the stat sheet with one rebound, one assist and three steals.
 
The Stags shot 15-for-25 (60%) in the second half to finish at 26-for-52 (50%) from the field for the game. In addition to the 20 points apiece from Johnson and Sparks, Bergens had eight points, Jenkins finished with seven, Mankuei Riek notched three and the trio of Louis Bleechmore, Peyton Smith and Deon Perry chipped in two apiece.

COACH CASEY ON THE SIENA GAME
"We got off to a good start and had good possessions on both ends to close the first half. The start of the second half just put us in too big of a hole. The five guys that were on the floor for the last eight minutes played very hard and put us in a position to have a chance to win. But we needed more consistency for 40 minutes and we needed more production from our front court to win that game."

THE QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY BOBCATS
Quinnipiac clinched its second straight MAAC Regular Season Championship on Thursday with a home win over Mount St. Mary's. The Bobcats will be the top seed next week in Atlantic City.

Quinnipiac is led by double-double enthusiasts Amarri Monroe with 14 and Paul Otieno with 13. Monroe ranks third in the MAAC in scoring with 17.7 points per game and paces the conference in rebounds with 9.2 per game. Otieno adds 13.4 points per game and is second in the MAAC only behind his teammate at 8.6 caroms per contest.

EARLIER THIS SEASON
Deon Perry scored 23 points, including an electric first half showing, to lead Fairfield on Jan. 31 at Quinnipiac. But after seven ties and five lead changes, the host Bobcats made the game's final run to pull away with an 81-69 decision. Jamie Bergens added 15 point and five assists for the Stags.

Perry netted 18 of his 23 points in the first half, shooting 5-for-8 from three-point range in the stanza. He knocked down six triples in total to round out his highest scoring output of the season. Bergens hit a pair of treys on his way to 15 points, and Kyle Jenkins stuffed the statsheet with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.
 
Michael Rogan was just shy of joining that trio in double figures, recording nine points along with five rebounds. Rounding out the scoring, Peyton Smith scored five points, Braden Sparks netted three and Prophet Johnson scored two.
 
Quinnipiac was led by double-doubles from the All-MAAC duo of Amarri Monroe (27 pts., 10 rebs.) and Paul Otieno (15 pts., 13 rebs.).

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Stags and Bobcats have split the season series in each of the last two campaigns. The road team won each of the two meetings last season, while the host defended its home court in both matchups in 2022-23.

Quinnipiac leads all-time series, 15-9. Fourteen of the 24 encounters have been decided by 1-2 possessions (or in overtime).

WIN AND IN
With a win on Saturday night, Fairfield can clinch a berth in the 2025 MAAC Championship, which begins Tuesday in Atlantic City at Jim Whelan's Boardwalk Hall.

The Stags can also secure a postseason bid before they take the court, should Saint Peter's lose to Canisius in a game set for 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in Jersey City.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, FOR THE LAST TIME
As a result of the MAAC's unbalanced schedule, Fairfield went head-to-head with Siena for the first time in the penultimate game of the regular season. With exception of the 2020-21 season that was contested under strict Covid-19 policies, Thursday's game at MVP Arena marked the latest that the Stags' have met a MAAC opponent for the first time.

During that 2020-21 "Covid schedule" season, the Stags did not see Manhattan until the final two games of the regular season (and met the Jaspers a third consecutive time to start the MAAC postseason). Fairfield also did not play Monmouth until the MAAC postseason in that campaign.

STAG SPLITS
With last Friday's win over The Mount, the Stags have split the MAAC series with four opponents (Iona, Marist, Manhattan, Mount). In the other completed MAAC home-and-home sets, Fairfield picked up a sweep over Rider and was swept by Merrimack and Sacred Heart.

In Saturday's regular season finale, the Stags will look to salvage a split with in-state MAAC foe Quinnipiac.

A SEPTET OF DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Prophet Johnson's 24 points and 13 rebounds last Sunday at Sacred Heart marked his seventh double-double of the season. The last Stag with at least seven double-doubles was Supreme Cook, who had eight in his final season at Fairfield in 2022-23.