Fairfield Men's Basketball Hosts Niagara

The Fairfield University men-s basketball team (8-8/2-4) will try to inch above the .500 mark for the third time this season, as the Stags host the Niagara University Purple Eagles (5-12/3-3) in another MAAC matchup at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, CT. Tip-off is at 7:00 pm and the game will be broadcast on WVOF Radio (88.5 FM) with Bob Heussler painting the word picture and Joe DeSantis providing expert analysis. Fairfield came up short at home against highly-regarded Monmouth on Monday, 86-74, unable to hold off a second half surge fueled by Micah Seaborn's game - and career-high 24 points.‎ Fairfield had a 47-40 lead at halftime on the strength of 11 straight points by freshman Curtis Cobb. But Monmouth enjoyed a 46-27 run in the second half to win the by 12. Senior forward Marcus Gilbert (19.5 ppg), Fairfield's leading scorer this season, had 20 points against Monmouth. Gilbert has been atop the scoring leader board for Fairfield in eight games. 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. Tyler Nelson (Bradford, MA/Central Catholic) is Fairfield-s second leading scorer with 14.9 ppg on the heels of the 6-3 shooting guard-s 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, underlining 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 the aforementioned 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 average 79 ppg heading into the contest against Niagara. For additional information, contact the Fairfield Athletics Ticket Office at [email protected] or (203) 254-4136.