The Fairfield Stags pulled an inside straight on the final weekend of the regular season and beat out Canisius to earn the fifth and final first-round bye in this weekend’s conference tournament. Sydney Johnson’s crew made the trip to western New York trailing the Golden Griffins by one game with two left to play, but would have to win the bye outright as Canisius held the advantage in a tiebreaker. Continue reading “MAAC Tournament Primer: Fairfield”
A mere eleven days after Fairfield squandered a 14 point second half lead against in-state rival Quinnipiac, the Stags nearly outdid themselves by letting a 16 point advantage slip away on the Bobcats’ home court. However, the heroics of Tyler Nelson and Jerry Johnson Jr. helped Fairfield avoid disaster and avenge their previous loss with an 89-86 overtime victory in Hamden Friday night. Continue reading “Fairfield 89, Quinnipiac 86 (OT) – Call It A Rivalry”
Amidst the wins and losses, the stories of the individual players that inhabit mid-major basketball often get lost in the shuffle.
Amadou Sidibe was a good sophomore player on a bad Fairfield squad in 2014-15 (7-25). The next season was worse, believe it or not, because early in the season Sidibe developed knee problems that he was never really able to shake as the Stags limped to an almost identical 7-24 mark.
Sidibe underwent surgery after that campaign, and hoped to be ready to go by the start of his senior season in 2015-16, but he wasn’t quite 100 percent so the staff and doctors were cautious. Only a month later, it still wasn’t improving and eventually the decision was made to shut him down for the year, turning him into a well-dressed 6’9” cheerleader, a role he embraced as Fairfield went 19-14 (12-8 in the MAAC) and returned to the postseason (CIT).
Continue reading “Fairfield 69, Rider 67: Amadou Sidibe Gets Just Rewards”
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