Yale runs away from Stags in Fairfield’s first home loss

Supreme Cook throws down slam as Fairfield faced Yale on Monday. (Photo by Fairfield Men’s Basketball)

By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The first 20 minutes of basketball on Monday night had the makings of a memorable rivalry game, albeit one that was more defensive-minded. 

Fairfield found cracks in Yale’s play and had the Bulldogs searching for a level of stability that would allow them to settle in and play their preferred brand of basketball, one grounded in a kinetic pace and a package of cunning movements from their Swiss army knife guards. 

When the Yale ambush eventually came in the second half, the Stags didn’t know what hit them, and the end result was a 77-64 triumph for the Bulldogs on a night where they were without their top player, Matt Knowling. 

Any offensive confidence Yale was missing in the first half, it made up for by more than doubling its output of 24 points in the opening stanza with 53 in the second half. The story of the second half was the dominance of Yale’s triumvirate of guards in August Mahoney, Bez Mbeng, and John Poulikidas, who torched the Stags for a combined 52 points. They got after the Fairfield guards defensively and began forcing turnovers that helped open up the game. With Yale already coming alive, Mahoney drew a clear-path foul that had to be reviewed by officials before it was called. Mahoney proceeded to knock down two free throws, and then got his money’s worth with another three on the same possession. Mahoney scored all 14 of his points in the second half, and Yale never looked back from there, outscoring Fairfield 27-15 the rest of the way. 

“Just turned the ball over on a stupid play and tried to save a basket there,” head coach Jay Young said of Chris Maidoh’s intentional foul. “We couldn’t do anything cleanly.”

The Stags went over 10 minutes without a field goal until Jake Wojcik got a shot to go with 1:14 left, but by that time, the damage had been done. The Yale defense simply put Fairfield in a vise in that second half, and Young didn’t mince words about his own team’s performance after giving a tip of the hat to the visitors. 

“Completely disgusted with our defensive integrity tonight,” said Young, whose team got beat down the court several times in the second half. “We just got outplayed so badly and their guards got to the rim whenever they wanted.” 

The number 53 is one that stood out while Young sat in front of reporters and tried to process everything. 

“I don’t know if we’ve given up 53 points in a half since I’ve been here, and we’ve played some good teams,” he said. “Yale’s obviously a very good team, but just really disappointed in our effort in the second half.”

Fairfield couldn’t ask for more from Supreme Cook, who had to be a workhorse just to keep things close at times. He had 17 points and eight rebounds as he was pitted against EJ Jarvis and Yussif Basa-Ama of the Yale frontcourt. Cook had a good motor on this night, and punctuated his introduction with a mean one-handed tomahawk slam with 49 seconds left that eventually sent the Stags into halftime with a 29-24 lead. Allan Jeanne-Rose had his best game of the season with 16 points and James Johns, Jr. added eight off the bench before fouling out. All in all, the Stags didn’t hit enough shots after connecting on a couple of important shots in the first half to stay out in front. Caleb Fields had a season-low four points after sitting out practice all week with a sickness, according to Young. It was only the second time all season an opponent held Fields to under 10 points. 

Some of the team numbers were unsightly. Fairfield shot 38 percent from the field, and were outscored 44-22 on points in the paint in the process. The Stags ended with just eight assists, right on par with their season average.

“We’re getting shots, we have guys who just haven't hit them this year for whatever reason,” Young said about his team’s shooting woes, which includes 27 percent 3-point shooting. “I’m okay with that, but you have to go down on the other end and have some integrity.” 

Fairfield has had promising starts in each of its three home games thus far. The Stags led Saint Peter’s 24-14, jumped out to an 8-0 start against Sacred Heart, and on Monday night, put Yale in a 23-11 hole. But it’s not about how you start games, it’s about how you finish them. To date, Fairfield has been outscored in the second half in all but two of its 11 games, with Monday being the toughest setback. 

“We have just not gotten consistent play from our backcourt, and it’s frustrating,” Young said.

This was the start of a home-and-home series between the two schools, with Yale head coach James Jones basking in the opportunity to play the Stags again. The last time both schools played was in 2015, when Yale blitzed Fairfield, 70-57, at Detrick Gymnasium in New Britain in the now-defunct Connecticut 6 Classic. 

“This is a great environment,” Jones said about the Stags’ new home court. “The fan sections on both ends were into it.” 

Jones restated his intentions to keep trying to find in-state games, even though it hasn't always been easy with his Yale program consistently regarded as a top flight mid-major opponent. He hopes this game was the start of more local rivalry games. 

“Everyone has been invited to the party except for us,” said Jones, whose Bulldogs sit at 9-3. “It would be wonderful if we could play every team in the state of Connecticut, or half of them at least.”