"Free throws falter as NU men fall to Fairfield"

[FU73]

From the NIAGARA GAZETTE:

Thursday night, hosting the Fairfield Stags in a battle to stay out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basement, the Purple Eagles shot an abysmal 44 percent from the free throw line in a 72-66 loss that sent them to the bottom of the league standings.

“You can’t blame it all on free throws,” said NU coach Chris Casey. “They’re not trying to miss them. I thought in the opening parts of the game, had we made a few, we would’ve put ourselves in a position where we would’ve been ahead.”...

“We had some opportunities in the first half to try to stretch a lead and make them play from behind and we did not do that,” Casey said. “We have to make a few more free throws and a few more shots and play from in front rather than behind the whole game....

“We wanted to try to get the game going a little bit faster in the second half and I thought to some degree we did,” Casey said.”....

Johnston hit another 3-pointer behind a screen to push the lead to nine with 2:09 left and the Stags his 5 of 9 free throws to seal the win.

“That’s a big three,” Mason said of Johnston’s deep make, “but we just got to keep playing. We can’t just quit when that happens.”...

www.niagara-gazette.com/sports/x1196449740/Free-throws-falter-as-NU-men-fall-to-Fairfield

[01041949bob]

You know as good as we played and a much needed win, NU would have beat us if they made a decent # of FT's--so we can't get to carried away and remember this is a bad team--but lets enjoy as we have had so little to be happy about--GO STAGS

[stags10]

I disagree, we had a comfortable 10 pt lead in the last 90 seconds. We decided to make sure Antoine Mason got his 20 points and were letting him waltz to the rim for layups.

[FU73]

MAAC Standings (2/21/14):

Iona 14-2 17-8
Manhattan 13-4 20-6
Quinnipiac 13-4 18-8
Canisius 12-5 18-10
Rider 9-7 13-12

Marist 8-9 11-16 .407
Siena 7-9 11-16 .407
Saint Peter's 6-11 10-16
Monmouth 4-13 10-18
Fairfield 3-14 6-22
Niagara 3-14 6-22

Stag MAAC wins: Manhattan, Monmouth, Niagara

Stag Schedue:
2/22/2014 * Canisius College Buffalo, N.Y. A 2 pm
2/25/2014 * Saint Peter's University Jersey City, N.J. A 7 pm
2/28/2014 * Marist College Bridgeport, Conn. H 7 pm

Monmouth Schedule:
Sat, Feb 22 Saint Peter's * the MAC - West Long Branch, N.J. 7:00 p.m. on ESPN3
Fri, Feb 28 Niagara * the MAC - West Long Branch, N.J. 7:00 p.m.
Sun, Mar 02 Siena * at Albany, N.Y. (Times Union Center) 2:00 p.m.

Niagara Schedule:
2/22/2014 * Quinnipiac Niagara Univ., NY 3:00 PM
2/28/2014 * Monmouth West Long Branch, NJ 7:00 PM
3/2/2014 * Saint Peter's Jersey City, NJ 2:00 PM


MAAC Tournament:

Session II: Thursday, March 6, 2014 - Men's First Round
1 #8 vs. #9 --- 5:00 p.m.
2 #7 vs. #10 --- 7:00 p.m.
3 #6 vs. #11 --- 9:00 p.m.

Session IV: Saturday, March 8, 2014 - Men's Quarterfinals
4 #1 vs. Winner Game 1 ESPN3 12:00 p.m.
5 #4 vs. #5 ESPN3 2:30 p.m.
Session V: Saturday, March 8, 2014 - Men's Quarterfinals
6 #2 vs. Winner Game 2 ESPN3 6:30 p.m. Recap Box Score
7 #3 vs. Winner Game 3 ESPN3 9:00 p.m.

[nashvillestag]

At this point trying to pick the best opponent to play in the tournament is a useless exercise IMO. Let the chips fall where they may. On the other hand I am begging the Stags to stay out of the #11 slot based on the time that seed would get to play their game. First game at 5:00PM, no accounting for 30 minute warmup between games probably means the last contest won't begin until 10:00 PM in the best case scenario!

[JoeStag]

I don't know who is the best opponent, but we are likely to open with Marist or Siena, with an outside chance of playing St Peters. And then 2nd round is either Iona, Manhattan or Quinnipiac.

I would like to get to the 2nd round and play Quinnipiac..... just to be the one that eliminates them.

[ctghostman]

If we get to the semi's, then there's a decent argument that this was a semi-successful year.