Fairfield Almost Shocks Georgetown

After watching the way that the men's basketball team played against St. Francis (NY) on Wednesday night, it was difficult to expect anything but a blow-out against Georgetown.

The Stags came out and shocked everyone by playing with the Hoyas for 38 minutes of the game, nearly upsetting the No. 5 team in the nation. In the end, Fairfield fell 61-49, but the score did not reflect the true nature of the game. A 7-0 run in the final two minutes stretched the score and sealed the game for the Hoyas.

Fairfield was led by junior point guard Jonathan Han, who scored 17 points and freshman Yorel Hawkins, who had 11. The Stags were held to just 16 points in the second half, after scoring 33 in the first half, matching the 33 points by Georgetown.

Quotes and Notes:

• Fairfield Head Coach Ed Cooley: "For 38 minutes, that was the best we've played all year. We shared the basketball, we limited our turnovers, we tried to limit possessions by Georgetown...we wanted to shorten the game up a little bit. We knew we had to shoot a high percentage in order to steal a win on the road against, in what I think, is the best team in the country."
• Georgetown Sophomore Guard Jeremiah Rivers on defending Jonathan Han: "You could tell after a while it looked like he wanted to get the ball out of his hands a little, I felt. But, he's a great point guard, so I didn't see too much frustration in him. He was obviously trying to get the ball to the other guards...I was just trying to do my best staying in front of him, cause some havoc for him. I was trying to just cause some problems for their offense, not necessarily just him."

• Fairfield played out with senior forward Mamadou Diakhate, who stayed back in Fairfield with a concussion.
• Senior Marty O'Sullivan made his first start of the season and was effective all game guarding 7'1 center Roy Hibbert. O'Sullivan is an excellent on ball defender against a true center like Hibbert.
• Sophomore Anthony Johnson was obviously frustrated by the size of the Hoyas frontcourt as he was 0-for-8 from the floor and had just four rebounds.
• Fairfield had just three turnovers and shot 8-for-19 from three (Han had 2 turnovers and was 4-for-6 from behind the arc). Turnovers and poor shooting cost the Stags the game against St. Francis, but nearly won them the game against a much better Georgetown team. If Fairfield can protect the ball and hit shots like they did against Georgetown in MAAC play, they will be a tough team to beat every time out.

-Tom Cleary