Turnovers again lead to Stags defeat

With seven minutes to go in the game and the Stags lead slowly creaping away, the same feeling that I had against Fordham, and against Rider came back. The score was 47-44, but Fairfields lead had went from seven to three and Aruturo Dubois had just ignited the home crowd with a slam dunk. I knew Fairfield was going to lose.

Then, when Dubois sent a fast break pass to Devin Austin, who slammed it down, causing the fans to erupt, I was certain the Stags were not going to be able to come back, even though they were down by just two points.

That is the problem with this Stags team, they cannot finish down the stretch. It is impossible to have any confidence in them with a lead under ten with ten minutes to go. Even against Central Arkansas the Stags looked to be a much more dominate team, but almost gave the game away. Only Fairfield's win against Canisius, which seemed to be a turning point in the season at the time, was a sure win.

After the Canisius game myself and Keith Connors discussed how it seemed that the young Stags were finally realizing what it took to win. They were strong defensively and offensively, were 1-1 in the MAAC, had bounced back from a terrible performance against Manhattan, and had a long break to rest and get ready for the rest of the MAAC.

But after this loss tonight and against Rider earlier this week, it is back to the same confusion and frustration with this team as after their first loss to the Jaspers. It is easy to see that Coach Cooley has the same frustration, as even in a brace, he dances along the sideline and cringes in frustration with every Stag turnover or missed open shot.

Cooley cannot stress enough how disappointed and frustrated he is that the team is holding almost every team they play to under 60 points and poor shooting, but still losing. The Stags season is not over yet, but as Cooley said following the game, "they need to grow up and realize that these games are valuable down the stretch."

A few notes from the game:

• Greg Nero definitely seems on his way back to his old form. After his first six games he seemed like the best player to ever come to Fairfield, but then he fell off the face of the Earth. Now Nero is back scoring and seems comfortable with his game. After the game he seemed upset about the loss, but happy to have gotten back into his groove. He feels the team will not give up and will continue fighting until they can win games down the stretch.
• Anthony Johnson hurt his ankle with about 17 minutes left in the half and did not return. Coach Cooley was unsure of his status, but felt the sprain must have been pretty bad for Johnson to not have returned, saying he is normally a tough kid who bounces back.
• Cooley was pleased with the aggressiveness that Devin Johnson, who tied his career high with 8 points, showed on the offensive end.
  
• Manhattan's Coach Barry Rohrssen, felt that the Fairfield team was improved since the last time they saw them. Although it is hard to not improve from an 18 turnover game, in which the Stags shot just 27 percent from the field and 24-18 from 3 point range.

Look for a game story on www.fairfieldmirror.com tonight or tomorrow morning.

From an empty Draddy Gym,

-Tom Cleary