Feb. 11, 2007
BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Stags defense showed up in force once again and it enabled the men's basketball team to complete a season sweep against Loyola College with a 67-59 on the road. Fairfield kept Loyola to 11 points under their season scoring average, and yielded just 20 points in the first half.
Michael Van Schaick provided most of the team's offense with 26 points, just one marker off his career high. He tallied 17 points in the second half, and netted three of four long-range jumpers. Van Schaick also improved on his conference-leading free throw percentage by hitting all eight attempts, as the Stags shot 75 percent from the line (21 of 28).
The Stags trailed early in the game by a 3-0 score after Gerald Brown opened the game with a three-point basket, and again by a 5-4 margin. Greg Nero hit a three pointer on the team's next possession to regain the lead at 7-5, the first of two three-point hoops for the freshman. Nero entered the game with just one trey on the season. That basket started a 10-0 run that resulted in a 14-5 advantage with 13:50 remaining.
Fairfield ran its lead to as many as 13 points at 24-11 with 5:30 in the half after Marty O'Sullivan's free throw. However, the Stags did not score a hoop over the final six minutes of the half which enabled the homne team to pull within four points by halftime, 24-20.
A quick start to the second half enabled the Fairfield lead to improve to double digits again at 33-23 with 17:31 on the clock, the last part of the run coming off Devin Johnson's traditional three-point play. The lead remained in double figures for most of the second, reaching a peak of 19 points at 53-34 with 7:50 remaining. The Stags still held a substantial lead at 63-50 at t he 2:56 mark, but Loyola had one more run left.
The Greyhounds pulled to within four points after Josko Alejevic's layup with 1:09 remaining, but the Stags answered with a pair of Van Schaick free throws and an emphatic one-handed tomahawk slam by Anthony Johnson that pushed the lead to eight points, 67-59.
Anthony Johnson and Greg Nero each finished in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Omari Isreal tallied a team-high 13 points for the Greyhounds.
