Fairfield to Hold 'Red Out' vs. St. Peter's

The ‎Fairfield University men’s basketball team (9-8, 3-4 MAAC), on the strength of a home win, 73-68, over Niagara University (5-13, 3-4 MAAC) Friday night at Webster Bank Arena, tries for its second straight victory on Tuesday night (January 19) when the Stags host St. Peter’s (7-8, 5-1 MAAC) at their on-campus home Alumni Hall on the freshly-minted George R. Bisacca Court.

The Stags will be trying to complete a three-game sweep of the “Legacy Series” at Alumni Hall, having beaten Columbia, 82-81, in OT on November 27, and Dartmouth, 97-85, on January 4.

Tip off against Jersey City’s Peacocks is at 7:00 PM. WVOF Radio (88.5 FM) will broadcast the action, with the “Voice of the Stags” Bob Heussler calling the action, and Fairfield legend Joe DeSantis providing expert commentary.

St. Peter’s seeks its third straight triumph after defeating Marist 76-67 on Sunday following its 70-53 blowout of Canisius on January 9.

The Stags win over Niagara, which was their ninth victory of the campaign and two more than they recorded all of last season, took Fairfield above the .500 mark.

Sophomore guard Tyler Nelson was the man of the night against Niagara. He nailed a three-pointer to give Fairfield a 65-62 lead with just over a minute left in the game. The 6-3 Boston product hit two free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win, and led all scorers with a career-high 27 points.

Freshman forward Jonathan Kasibabu finalized the triumph with a pair of free throws to close out the win, adding to his three key blocks and six rebounds.

For ticket information, contact the Fairfield Athletics Ticket Office at StagsTickets@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4136.

More on the Stags:
Marcus Gilbert (19.4 ppg) has been atop the scoring leader board for Fairfield in eight games, and had 17 points. The Smyrna, Delaware product has scored more than 20 points in seven contests, and enjoyed back to back career bests of 32 and 33 points against Maryland Eastern Shore and Columbia, respectively. Gilbert is Fairfield’s second leading rebounder with 5.4 rpg.

A pair of sophomores starting at the guards, four rookies, and a strong veteran bench have complimented Gilbert’s efforts, and spurred the turnaround for the Stags under the tutelage of fifth-year head coach Sydney Johnson.

Nelson, the hero against Niagara, is averaging 4.9 ppg on the heels of his All-Rookie MAAC team selection last year. Sophomore playmaker Jerome Segura had nine assists for Fairfield against Dartmouth on January 4, matching his career best, and tops the Stags with 5.6 apg. The 5-11 Segura is Fairfield’s fifth leading scorer with 8.0 ppg

Four rookies are making major contributions for Fairfield, under-lining an outstanding recruiting class for head coach Johnson.

Freshman guard Jerry Johnson, Jr. hit five straight three-point field goals and scored 20 points for the Stags, his career best, in the early-January Dartmouth win. The 6-2 Memphis product tops the rookies with 9.4 ppg as Fairfield’s third leading scorer.

Another freshman contributor for the Stags is Curtis Cobb (Fall River, MA/Wilbraham & Monson), who scored 16 points to equal his career best against Dartmouth, and is averaging 8.5 ppg to rank fourth among Stags scorers.

Two international players in the frontcourt – Jonathan Kasibabu from the Republic of the Congo and Serbian import Matija Milin – have received significant playing time and produced. The 6-8 forward Kasibabu is the Stags Chairman of the Boards with 4.7 rpg, picking up the slack in the absence of the injured senior Amadu Sidibe. Kasibabu has added 5.7 ppg to the arsenal. The 6-9 forward Milin averages 6.8 ppg.

A strong bench includes Scott King, Jr., Coleman Johnson, Kevin Degnan, Mike Kirkland, Thomas Nolan, Matt Hill, Steve Smith and Andrew Leone, giving the Stags an outstanding reserves corps.

The highest scoring output in the five-year tenure of head coach Johnson, came in Fairfield’s drubbing of Maryland Eastern Shore in a 113-74 road runaway win on November 24. Fairfield’s previous scoring high during Johnson’s regime as head coach was 85 points. Fairfield also scored 101 points against Bucknell, and 97 vs. Dartmouth, and now averages 79 ppg.

For ticket information, contact the Fairfield Athletics Ticket Office at StagsTickets@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4136.