The Fairfield Club Men's Basketball team defeated Old Westbury at home by a score of
64-49. The Stags improve to 6-2 on the year as the regular season has started to enter
the beginning of the end. The game got off to a slow start offensively for both squads,
as the score was at an even 2-2 after five minutes gone in the first half.
Old Westbury got off to an active rebounding start on both sides of the glass, out
rebounding Fairfield early and playing with physicality. A mini 7-0 run, largely thanks to
a pair of triples by the visitors, forced the Stags to call a timeout midway through the first
half to re-group.
Coming out of the timeout, Fairfield was much more competitive in the
rebounding battle and their long ball finally started to drop. They took a late 26-23 lead
in the first with 3:52 remaining and didn't look back after that, as a dominant scoring
burst in the paint yielded a 34-29 Stag lead at halftime.
Fairfield would maintain a lead for the entirety of the second half, benefiting from
buckets in transition and a woeful shooting half for Old Westbury. After five minutes
gone in the final half, the Stags commanded a 40-29 lead. Old Westbury's squad grew
visibly frustrated and tired with Fairfield's hot start, as the Stags increased their lead to
50-36 with less than eight minutes remaining in the second half.
The Fairfield lead would only grow larger from there, as the Stags found
themselves on the winning side of a 64-49 score after the final buzzer sounded. Fairfield
freshman point guard Stephen Edwards praised the Stag's transition game, saying "We
did a good job capitalizing on fast breaks and sharing the ball down the floor." With that
being said, Edwards acknowledged that his team's performance was not without flaw:
"We gotta work on our turnovers, protecting the ball. We had a lot of sloppy play." The
Stags will look to take better care of the rock and continue their hot streak in hopes for a
playoff spot. They suit up again at home, Feb. 9, against the familiar foe Quinnipiac.