March 2, 2002
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Ajou Deng scored 17 points and Fairfield came back from a 17-point first-half deficit to defeat Manhattan 81-74 Saturday night in a quarterfinal game in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.
Fairfield (12-16) will face Siena in the semifinals on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Deng's biggest basket may have been his last one. With the Stags holding a 70-69 lead with the ball, Sam Spann missed a jumper from the foul line. Deng grabbed the rebound in a crowd and put it right back in off the glass to make the score 72-69 with 1:45 remaining. That basket started a six-point spurt by Fairfield from which Manhattan (20-8) never recovered.
The game was a fitting end to a wild day at the MAAC tournament. The top three seeds were eliminated, and each underdog - Canisius, Siena and Fairfield - rallied from double-digit deficits to win.
Early in the second half, Manhattan held a 49-33 lead but the Stags were able to chip away at it until Jeremy Logan tied the game at 63 with a 3-pointer with 6:15 left.
After that the Stags were in control as they forced the Jaspers into some rushed shots and held Manhattan leading scorer Luis Flores, who finished with 21, scoreless over the final 6:40.
Eleven of Flores' points came during the first 14 minutes, when the Jaspers were able to open up a 30-21 advantage. After Ajou Deng hit a jumper from the baseline to pull Fairfield within seven, Manhattan ran off 10 straight points to make the score 40-23 with 2:47 left in the half.
Flores hit all six of his field goal attempts in the first half and went 5-of-6 from the foul line to help Manhattan to a 44-31 halftime lead. The Stags hurt themselves by turning the ball over 11 times in the opening half.
Spann and Nick Delfico each had 11 for Fairfield.
Dave Holmes had 17 for Manhattan, while Von Damien Green added 15.
