Jay Young brings Fairfield into MAAC tournament on heels of stout defensive effort against Manhattan before rubber match with Jaspers. (Photo by the Hartford Courant)
Tuesday’s second of two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament games will certainly not be for the weak at heart.
Immediately after Quinnipiac and Iona lock horns for the right to meet top seed Siena in the quarterfinals, a pair of defense-minded programs will match wits in the nightcap, with Fairfield battling Manhattan to determine the dance partner for second-seeded Monmouth just days after the Stags and Jaspers split their back-to-back series at Draddy Gymnasium.
“It certainly has enabled us to stick around games and try to win them at the end, but for us, that’s everything,” Fairfield head coach Jay Young said of his defense, among the more stifling units in the MAAC on that side of the basketball. “If we hold teams to under a point per possession, we have a chance to win, and in all seven wins, we’ve done that. If we don’t do that, we’re going to struggle. We talk about it all that time, and if we continue to defend and rebound, we’ll have a chance with anybody.”
“Even when we had our early season struggles, thought we could be a good basketball team. I thought we tried to do too much early with a new group, but as we settled down and got a little better with our defensive assignments and guys kind of got more familiar with us, we’ve been a better basketball team for sure. It’s a good time for us to be playing well, but I still think we have some room for improvement.”
Unlike last year, however, the Stags are more than just a one-trick pony. The infusion of transfers Jake Wojcik and Zach Crisler to an outfit boasting a pair of capable seniors in Taj Benning and Jesus Cruz has turned Fairfield back into the multifaceted attack seen under Young’s predecessor, Sydney Johnson, only with more of a grinding edge about this iteration.
“They’ve been great additions, two very cerebral basketball players and obviously players who can stretch the defense,” Young said of Wojcik and Crisler. “Both guys have really relied us on that end of the floor, and it’s helped us defensively. We didn’t have the opportunities to do that last year because we struggled shooting the ball, but they’ve been great additions to our team.”
“It took them a little while to get going. It was a unique situation for both these guys, we didn’t know if we were going to have them for the year, and then on the bus ride up to Niagara, we found out we were going to have them. They’ve been playing much better, and if they shoot the ball well for us, we’re going to have a chance to win.”
On the other side of the court, Manhattan rolls in having dropped eight of its last ten, an uncharacteristic cold spell for a team accustomed to playing its best basketball in February and March. But as Steve Masiello attests, the Jaspers have been in most games, just on the short end of the wheel of fortune.
“I don’t think we’re playing our best basketball by any means, but I think we’re playing good basketball,” he insisted. “You look at you lose in overtime to Monmouth, double overtime at Quinnipiac, overtime to Marist, within one shot of tying Saint Peter’s, you go on and on...I thought we played good up at Siena. We know we’re there, we’re just not doing the little things.”
“You've got to really own the now and understand your reactions. We saw that firsthand when we went to our bench against Monmouth in the second game and they kind of weren’t ready to play, so to speak, for whatever reasons and that cost us the games. When we go to our bench, we haven’t been ready to play, and that’s been uncharacteristic of us.”
Manhattan did receive good news Monday in the form of two all-conference selections, as both Warren Williams and Anthony Nelson garnered third team recognition, a feather in the cap of the latter, who has embraced his role as the leader on and off the floor for a team who is always a tough out no matter the circumstances.
“I think that’s why he came here,” Masiello said of Nelson, the Seton Hall transfer. “He came here to be that guy. He’s showing what we can do, he’s just got to do it a little more consistently at times, and it’s got to be something he’s doing on a nightly basis.”
So too is the Jaspers’ need to execute the meticulous nuances of each game, which Masiello has repeatedly harped on the importance of as the season winds down, with few precious opportunities left to right the ship.
“I look at it like we’re four or five plays away,” he elaborated. “You have to teach winning, you have to teach guys winning plays. There’s moments in games that are crucial turning points, and we’ve got to make plays in those moments.”
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