Fairfield Falls in MAAC Finale

Fairfield saw its chances of going to the NCAAs vanish when the Stags lost
to Iona in the MAAC Tournament final. The 17-16 Stags now must hope
for an NIT bid.

ALBANY–The Fairfield University men's basketball team fell to Iona College, 83-71, in the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament championship game before 3,329 fans at the Times Union Center on Monday night. Tyler Nelson paced the @FairfieldStags offense with 25 points, making six of his eight three-point field goal attempts.
 

“I am incredibly proud of our guys and our program,” Stags head coach Sydney Johnson said. “We expected to be a good team in this league this year. Our senior leadership is the reason we reached this game. And we have a lot of young guys who will build on what Tyler [Nelson], Jerome [Segura], and Jared [Harper] started.”
 

Iona grabbed an 8-3 lead just three minutes into the game. After the Gaels’ lead reached seven points, Fairfield started to cut into the deficit beginning with a driving layup from Jesus Cruz.  Nelson made one of his three pointers, cutting the Iona lead to 17-15 with 12:16 left in the first half. 

Ferron Flavors Jr. dropped in a three pointer from the corner that pushed Fairfield into the lead for the first time at 20-19 with 9:29 remaining. Iona recaptured the lead briefly before the Stags scored five straight points to take their biggest lead of the game at 28-24 with seven minutes left in the first half. Nelson scored off a three pointer and Wassef Methnani added a jumper that made the score 28-24.

The two teams battled back and forth for the next three minutes with the teams eventually pulling even with one another at 35-35 at the 4:38 mark. Iona finished the half with an 8-2 run including Zach Lewis' buzzer-beating layup that sent the Gaels into the locker room with a 43-37 advantage.

Iona was able to double its halftime lead with a 7-1 start to the second half that quickly brought the deficit to double figures at 50-38 with 17:05 on the clock. The lead reached 20 points just six minutes later at 64-44 following Deyshonee Much's three pointer. But the Stags managed to make a solid run at the Gaels the rest of the way, pulling as close as six points after Jonathan Kasibabu's layup brought the score to 75-69 with one minute left in regulation.

The Gaels finished the closing seconds contest at the charity stripe, extending their margin of victory to 12 points at game’s end.

Jerome Segura came off the bench and dished off eight assists for the Stags, moving into ninth place all-time at Fairfield with 417 career assists. Cruz and Wassef Methnani each scored 14 points for the Stags. Roland Griffin came off the Iona bench to lead all scorers with 29 points, including a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe.
 

With the win, Iona improves to 20-13 and qualifies for the NCAA Tournament as MAAC champion. The Stags fall to 17-16 and must hope for an NIT invitation.

—Staff Reports