Evanovich, Stags' Show Signs of Life

Three days earlier, head coach Ed Cooley witnessed his team self-destruct after halftime against an Iona Gaels team that had lost five of six games.
“Right now, we’re a team struggling with our identity,” said Cooley.
While that identity may still be in question, Fairfield did its best to put the doubts to rest – at least for one night on campus.
Mike Evanovich led the Stags with 19 points, en route to the Stags 70-64 victory over St. Peter’s College on Monday night at Alumni Hall. Jon Han also added a career-high 13 assists.
More importantly, Fairfield showed glimpses of the team that stormed out to a 3-1 conference record.
“I’m very happy with the win,” said Cooley. “We really needed that win bad.”
The Stags stormed out to a 22-14 lead and did not trail in the first half. However, St. Peter’s showed the same resiliency the Stags saw 24 days before in Jersey City.
“I don’t know what it is with St. Peter’s,” said Cooley. “We come out playing really well, and then we hit a bad (stretch).”
The two teams dueled back and forth for most of the game, with the lead changing sixteen times in the second half. Ironically, in their earlier meeting three weeks prior, St. Peter’s never led.
While pleased with the victory, Cooley still feels that his “young” team is still very much a work-in-progress.
“I felt that we were too unselfish with the basketball tonight,” said Cooley. “We had four straight possessions where we turned down open looks, particularly Jon (Han).”
“I don’t think we did a good job defensively (against St. Peter’s). When you look at the stats, it’s a little surprising that we won this basketball game,” added Cooley.

For this entire story, and more analysis on the Men's and Women's Basketball teams, check out this week's print edition of "The Mirror" (due out on Wednesday, January 23rd!)

And, as always, stay tuned for the latest news and information on all things Stags' basketball on the Mirror Sports Blog.

- Keith Connors (Photo Credit: Jon Ollwether - The Mirror)