ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Marist men’s basketball suffered a close 65-61 loss to Fairfield to get knocked out of the MAAC Conference Tournament. Sophomore center Max Allen II had a chance to tie the game with under 10 seconds left but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
“We gave it our all, we just weren’t good enough,” said Marist head coach John Dunne. “They played better than us in the second half.”
Graduate student guard Caleb Fields poured in 22 points to send Fairfield to the MAAC Championship for a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Stags shot a meager 39% from the floor and 21% from three-point range, but forced 13 Marist turnovers to secure the win.
“We had some costly turnovers through the course of 40 minutes,” said Dunne.
Graduate student forward Javon Cooley left everything on the court, leading Marist with 14 points and five rebounds. Allen II followed him with 12 points and freshman guard Jadin Collins added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
“It’s been overall a great experience but I’m a little bit upset that we came up short,” said Cooley, reflecting on his Marist career.
These two teams split the regular season matchups with Marist defeating Fairfield two weeks ago 58-55, the Stags’ only loss in their last seven games. Fairfield outlasted Iona to advance to the semi-final and Marist completed a 15-point comeback in the second half to defeat Niagara for the second time in six days.
Fairfield did not score for the first three minutes of the game and the Red Foxes moved to a 7-0 lead. Graduate student forward Alexis Yetna broke the ice for Fairfield, but Marist did not miss a shot in the first five minutes.
Fairfield responded with an 11-0 run to take their first lead. Marist did not score for over three minutes and racked up six turnovers with under 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
Cooley ended the run with two consecutive corner threes and was up to nine points. Cooley then hit his fourth three-pointer on a heat-check shot, a deep attempt from beyond the arc.
“He’s one of the top five special people I’ve ever coached, he’s awesome. You don’t ever have to worry about him,” said Dunne. He handles his business, has a side business [Chain Reaction], and he’s just laser-focused in life. The kid’s going to be successful.”
A layup by freshman guard Jadin Collins forced a Stags’ timeout as Marist regained the lead 25-19. Fairfield missed their last eight shots, struggling to create good looks.
Senior guard Kam Farris knocked in his second three-pointer to open a double-digit Marist lead and cap a 15-1 run, helping the Red Foxes shoot 6-8 from deep with five minutes left in the first half.
A three-pointer by Fields cut the deficit to four with one minute remaining. Marist’s eighth turnover led to a Fairfield bucket to bring the game to a one-possession margin at halftime, 32-30.
Freshman guard Josh Pascarelli nailed two three-pointers early to push the Red Foxes’ lead to seven. A Collins score extended a 12-2 Marist run over four minutes of play in the second half.
Freshman forward Peyton Smith finished a three-point play to cut the Red Foxes’ lead to four with 11:39 remaining, then Fields got Fairfield within three points with a drive to the rim.
Fields tied the game with a three-pointer, eclipsing 20 points on the night to cap a 9-0 Fairfield run that spanned over four minutes. Marist called timeout with 5:12 left in the game, in the middle of a five-minute scoring drought.
The Stags gained the lead with a backdoor cut and finish by senior guard Jalen Leach. The Red Foxes, now without a field goal for over seven minutes, allowed the Stags to build a four-point lead with under three minutes remaining.
Sophomore forward Jaden Daughtry broke the drought by scoring in the paint to bring Marist within two. Marist forced a shot clock violation with 17 seconds providing the Red Foxes with a chance to tie with a two or win with a three.
Allen II missed the front end of a one-and-one and Leach came up with the rebound with five seconds left then drew a foul.
“We are basketball players. We don’t make every shot. That shot wasn’t the reason why we lost the game,” said Cooley.
Leach converted both free throws to seal the game, sending Fairfield to the MAAC Championship.
“It’s not much to it, man. I don’t like losing,” said Collins. “Me being a freshman, coming in new, and [Cooley] being like a big brother to me and playing hard for me. It hits hard that we lost this one and that I’m not going to be able to play with Javon [Cooley] and Kam [Farris] again.”
Marist did not make a field goal for over nine minutes in the second half and shot 37% in the second frame after leading by nine points with 10 minutes left in the game. Fairfield leaned on their defense to get back into the game, and timely scoring pushed them over the hump.
“They switched everything and they’re long,” said Dunne. The switching bothered us and when we did get the ball in the paint they were really coming down and crowding Max [Allen II] on every catch.”
The Red Foxes have a lot to look forward to with a young team that has proved capable of winning games. Marist’s top four scorers from this season will return barring any transfers, allowing them to build on the success this season.
“Those guys grew so much through the course of this year,” said Dunne. “I’m excited about our future, but every team is different and I’m going to miss this team a lot.”
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo and graphic from Jaylen Rizzo
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