Jan. 30, 2007
FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Head Coach Ed Cooley and the Fairfield University men's basketball team learned who their opponent will be for the February 17 game which is part of the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBuster event. The Stags will host the College of William and Mary at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The game time has not been determined. Fairfield is playing in its third BrackerBuster event, hosting Cal State Northridge in 2005 and traveling to Loyola-Chicago in 2006. Game time has not been determined.
William & Mary currently owns an 11-10 overall record and a 4-7 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Tribe put together a seven-game winning streak earlier in the year which helped the team record one of its best starts in school history. After the win streak, the Tribe dropped six of its next seven games which includes a 90-68 loss to Virginia Commonwealth on the road.
Adam Payton leads the team in scoring with a 13.2 scoring average, slightly higher than Laimis Kisielius' 12.4 points per game. Both Payton and Kisielius have been the team's leading scorer in nine games this year, with Kisielius accomplishing the task in each of the last two games. David Schneider is the team's top three-point shooter with 35 long-range jumpers in 18 games.
The two teams will meet for the first time in more than 30 years. The only meeting between Fairfield and William & Mary came during the 1973-74 campaign. The Stags posted a 77-57 decision at Alumni Hall.
All eight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) will participate in the BracketBuster. The rest of the conference schedules sees Canisius at Coastal Carolina, Iona at Delaware, Loyola at Tennessee State, Manhattan at Eastern Michigan, Colgate at Marist, Liberty at Niagara, Murray State at Rider, Saint Peter's at Tennessee-Martin, and James Madison at Siena.
The Stags' next game is this Friday night when they travel to Canisius College for a conference matchup. Game time is slated for 7 pm.
