“At first, I thought we were going to call a timeout,” Fields said. “But I looked at coach [Young] and he was like, ‘go,’ and then I looked up and I saw the mismatch. My teammates trusted me at that moment and I just made the shot.”
On a night when Fairfield (4-6) didn’t shoot the ball well from three (4-of-23), it received clutch shots down the stretch from Fields and Supreme Cook, who combined for 33 of the Stags’ 61 points and sparked a game-closing 7-0 run. None of those shots were more timely than Fields’ last-second floater, of course, which sealed the local rivalry game for Fairfield and kept the Stags undefeated against Sacred Heart in the all-time matchups at 9-0.
“We just somehow gutted that thing out,” Young said. “We just made a couple more plays than they did.”
Young was proud of the defensive effort from his team on a night when it held Sacred Heart to 14 points below its scoring average. The Stags stopped the Pioneers on their last five possessions of the game, most notably the last one, which forced Sacred Heart’s Mike Sixsmith into a contested layup that didn’t come close and set the stage for Fields’ game-winner. They also held Sacred Heart’s leading scorer Nico Galette to 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
“We always say defense wins us games, offense just tells us by how many,” Young said. “Tonight, it was not a lot from our offense, but I thought our defense stepped up.”
The Stags jumped out to an 8-0 lead to open this game, which proved to be their largest of the night. It started with threes from Jake Wojcik and Fields, and then an offensive rebound and putback for Cook on a night when the Stags outscored the Pioneers on second chance points by a 16-9 margin. However, the Pioneers battled back and didn’t succumb to the homecourt advantage of their opponent.
Sacred Heart took its first lead of the night at 16-15 off a jumper from Raheem Solomon, and most of the Pioneers’ baskets early in the game came on drives to the hoop despite the lengthy presence of Cook and Chris Maidoh. Former Siena Saint Aidan Carpenter was a big spark plug off the bench in only his second game of the season due to injury, and he found holes in the Fairfield defense to attack. The crafty guard showed good confidence in his game, and was one of the reasons why the Pioneers were able to dig themselves out of the early hole and only trail 32-27 at halftime.
In a game of runs, Sacred Heart went on its best one midway through the second half to open up a 49-40 advantage. The damage was done from 3-point range, with Sixsmith hitting back-to-back triples and Joey Reilly hitting one of his own to create some separation. The backcourt mates combined to hit five of the Pioneers’ six threes on the night, with all five of those long balls coming in the second half.
Still, it wasn’t a question if Fairfield would make a final run, but more so if it would be too little, too late. Despite turning the ball over 15 times, the Stags made big plays when needed on both ends, led by Fields and Cook.
“We’re a Jesuit school and my prayers were answered when we got Caleb,” Young said of his star guard, who left Bowling Green to come to Fairfield. “He’s been fantastic for us, and Supreme is getting better every day.”
Cook was especially effective down the stretch, as his putback slam cut the Sacred Heart lead to one with 5:44 left. Then, with 1:19 left in regulation, Cook ended a 6-0 Pioneers run with a finish through contact that trimmed the lead to two to set up Fields’ heroics in the final minute. Cook finished with his second straight double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
“I just want to go out there and play smart and do what’s best for the team,” Cook said when asked about the height advantage he had against Sacred Heart. “I obviously want to take advantage, but not at the expense of the team.”
The Stags were boosted by 18 bench points, led by nine from Maidoh, and outrebounded Sacred Heart, 47-34. Fairfield did some little things better than Sacred Heart on a night where the final scoreline was a tossup. The end result was the Stags improving to 2-0 on their new home court at Leo D. Mahoney Arena, which they have quickly taken a liking to.
“I think if this game was played anywhere else, we probably wouldn't win it,” Young said. “We had a good crowd and good atmosphere again, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Both Young and Sacred Heart head coach Anthony Latina reiterated their interest in playing the game again next year after just watching their teams play in front of a crowd of 2,819. According to Young, this game has always been a no-brainer to play.
“When I got the job here, I didn’t understand why we weren’t playing Sacred Heart on a home-and-home basis,” said Young, whose team also won 71-61 at the Pitt Center last season. “I called Ant and said if you can play in November or December, that’s exciting and creates some buzz, then that’s what we got to do.”
With Fairfield’s new home and Sacred Heart’s plans to renovate the Pitt Center, Latina is confident the rivalry won’t have to find a neutral site anytime soon.
“This is a beautiful building, God bless them,” Latina said. “It's a good opportunity for both communities and it’s been a competitive game the last two years, unfortunately we’ve been on the short end of it.”
Everything about the new arena has been a dream come true so far for Fairfield. The feeling of winning there won’t get old anytime soon, and the current eight-game homestand could potentially even be a turning point in the season if all goes well. The Stags’ next challenge will be a matchup with in-state adversary Yale (8-2) on Monday night.
“We really just want to set a tone and create an identity for ourselves,” Cook said. “I think it’s going to be a big stretch for us.”
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