Men suffer loss in BracketBusters

After three consecutive CAA victories, the Tribe stepped outside of the conference to face Fairfield University as part of the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters Tournament and fell to the Stags 45-61 Saturday in Bridgeport, Conn. The loss drops the College to 15-12 overall while remaining at 8-8 in CAA play. The College mustered only 13 first-half points and could not overcome an eight-point halftime deficit.

p. “We were just very poor offensively,” Head Coach Tony Shaver said in a post-game radio interview. “[We were] poor with the ball and shot selection.”

p. The Tribe shot an abysmal 23.8 percent in the first half as they missed 15 of 21 field goals, allowing the Stags to take the lead. A 13-3 run spanning seven minutes, 35 seconds gave Fairfield a 10-point lead with 1:43 remaining in the first half. Despite shooting 30.8 percent in the opening stanza, the Stags took an eight-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

p. After a low-scoring first half, the offenses of both teams came alive and combined to score 72 points. The Tribe bettered the Stags in terms of second half shooting percentage — 59.1 percent to 54.2 percent — but the College’s 16 total turnovers kept Fairfield in control.

p. The Stags’ lead grew to 13 by the 14:00 mark, but the Tribe responded by outscoring Fairfield 12-4 over the next 3:42. Freshman Danny Sumner came off the bench to score four points during the spurt, cutting the deficit to five; however, the College would get no closer as Fairfield converted on its next six possessions to extend the lead to 14. On three of those possessions, the Stags connected on three pointers and they finished the day 7-24 from three-point range. The Tribe, however, hit only two three-pointers on 2-16 shooting from behind the arc.
Two Tribe players — senior Adam Payton and sophomore Peter Stein — reached double figures, scoring 16 and 10 points respectively.

p. The College’s BracketBusters loss reflected a down day for the CAA, as the conference as a whole lost seven of 12 match-ups; however, the conference’s top four teams went 3-1. Hofstra University snuck past Holy Cross College 65-64 while Old Dominion University knocked off the University of Toledo 73-70. Drexel University defeated Creighton University 64-58. Virginia Commonwealth University fell at home to Bradley University 64-73.

p. The Tribe returns to CAA action tomorrow night as they travel to Philadelphia to take on Drexel.

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