Manhattan fell to Fairfield 87-84 on Thursday night.
VINCENT DUSOVIC / COURTESY
Andrew Mannion, Sports Editor
Last Thursday, Jan. 23, the Jaspers men’s basketball team fell to the Fairfield Stags 87-84. Led by Wesley Robinson’s 20 points and nine rebounds, the Jaspers fell just short of a win against a main MAAC rival.
Both teams came into Draddy desperate for a win. The Jaspers were coming off a recent win against Niagara in comfortable fashion, 72-65, which ended their three-game losing skid and brought the team back to .500. As for the Stags, they hadn’t seen consecutive wins since Dec. 4, 2024. With a loss to Canisius in their last game, the Stags needed to find a way to get back on track.
The game started off with a closely contested match. Fairfield found itself leading by a slight margin throughout the first 10 minutes of the game. Turnovers started out costly for the Jaspers, as Fairfield started to out score them 7-0 in points off turnovers.
After Fairfield took their first timeout, they were able to extend their lead to seven. Layups from Kyle Jenkins and Deon Perry led to the Stags holding a 29-22 lead. The Jaspers then found their groove on offense, and were able to cut the lead to one at halftime.
A key statistic between the teams was how they closed out their games. Fairfield came in 6-1 when leading at the end of the halftime, with their only loss to a strong Columbia team. MU found themselves at 5-1 when leading at half, which made the one-point halftime differential important.
As the second half started, Fairfield and MU were trading points. The game remained close until a Fairfield run put them up by seven points with about 10 minutes to go in the game – this wouldn’t be enough to hold the Jaspers, though.
The Jaspers battled back to get the game still within reach. Shaquil Bender hit a big three-pointer to cut the Stag lead to just three points. After another stop by MU, Devin Dinkins pulled a 3-pointer, which he was fouled on. Given three free throws, he didn’t flinch on any of them. He drained all three, and tied the game at 72-72. The score would stand as the clock hit triple zeros, sending the game to overtime.
As the game went into overtime, Fairfield came out red hot. They scored seven unanswered points to give them a 79-72 lead with 2:30 left on the clock. The Jaspers, yet again, battled right back to the final minute. Dinkins scored seven points in the overtime period, and brought the game to 85-84 in the dying seconds.
Two free-throws from Stag forward Prophet Johnson extended Fairfield’s lead to 87-84, putting the Jaspers into a tough situation to tie the game. A Jasper miss from beyond the arc would seal the game for Fairfield.
One major factor that contributed to Fairfield’s win was their ability to create second-chance opportunities for their offense. The team finished with 17 offensive rebounds, several of which led to crucial points in the second half. Jaspers forward, Wesley Robinson, spoke on Fairfield’s aggressive play.
“Going into the game, we knew they were going to play physical and crash hard,” Robinson said. “We just weren’t able to keep them off the glass. I think something we built on is we’ve been able to score the ball really well. So going into Mt. Saint Mary’s, we just have to make the adjustment.”
Robinson’s performance was not overlooked, however. With 20 points and nine rebounds on great efficiency, he drew the praise of Jaspers’ head coach, John Gallagher.
“[Wesley’s] just so clutch, so key,” Gallagher said. “He’s just all around really becoming a great asset to the program. So we’re getting better, and the result time didn’t go our way, but I like our toughness.”
Looking ahead to Mount St. Mary’s, the Jaspers aim to turn around a five-game skid where they find themselves at 1-4. Jaspers guard, Devin Dinkins, talked about what this next game means for the team.
“We’re really just looking to get back on track and get the win,” Dinkins said. “We lost to them earlier, so we got to come out, fight and play hard.”
The Jaspers fall to now 3-5 against the MAAC, and will have a match against Mt. Saint Mary’s Saturday, Jan 25 at 4 p.m.
*Editor’s Note: By the time of publication, the next Jasper men’s basketball game will be Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. against Iona.