Feb. 27, 2000
Fairfield, Conn. -- Head Coach Tim O'Toole and his 1999-2000 Stags will open the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament against Manhattan College on Saturday, March 4 at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y. The third-seeded Stags finished the regular season with a 13-14 overall record and a 11-7 MAAC mark while the sixth-seeded Jaspers concluded their season with a 12-14 overall record and a 9-9 MAAC slate.
The Stags and the Jaspers split their season series this year with the home team winning each of the meetings. Manhattan opened the series with a 100-93 victory, despite the effort of Darren Phillip and his 21 points and 13 rebounds. Fairfield picked up a win in the last match-up as Sam Spann tallied a career-high 17 points to help the Stags earn an 85-77 win.
Fairfield enters the tournament by winning three of its last four games, including the victory over Manhattan. The Stags are led by senior co-captain Darren Phillip, who leads the squad in both scoring (16.0 ppg) and in rebounding (14.0 ppg). He remains the nation's leading rebounder and also leads the country in double-doubles with 22. The center brings a streak of 17 straight double-doubles into the tournament.
Jermaine Clark places second on the team with a 12.5 scoring average and represents the team's top three-point shooter with 51. Freshman Jeremy Logan ranks third among his teammates with a 10.4 scoring average, having scored 10 or more points in four of his last five games.
Manhattan, losers of three straight contests, boasts the talents of forward Durelle Brown. The junior leads the team with a 21.3 scoring average and is among the team leaders with 6.0 caroms per contest. Freshman Bruce Seals is the team's second leading scorer with 14.8 points every forty minutes. He finished his rookie season by leading the MAAC in three-point field goals, netting 71 during the regular season.
The winner of the Fairfield-Manhattan game will play the winner of another quarterfinal game between second-seed Iona and the winner of the #7 seed-#10 seed play-in game. The semi-finals are slated for Sunday, March 5 at noon and 2:30 pm. All the action will be played at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y.
