Courtesy of SaintPetersPeacocks.com
BRIDGEPORT, CT – The Saint Peter’s men’s basketball team led for over 38 minutes in a 69-55 convincing win on the road over Fairfield University on Tuesday night at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, CT. The Peacocks have won three straight and four out of their last five games to improve to 5-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and 9-8 overall. With the win, the Peacocks also move into second place in the conference standings.
“I think it all starts with Trevis Wyche, he’s been playing like a senior leader point guard, he’s been outstanding the last few games,” said head coach John Dunne. “It was a total team effort. We’ve got to continue to keep a team first mindset. I thought our mentality defensively was very good even though we did give up a couple of transition buckets there that we have to try to eliminate come our next game. It was nice to see Antwon Portley get his rhythm back. I thought that was a nice stretch of shot making by him when they were starting to make a run; that kind of deflated them. But total team effort. I am proud of them but we can’t celebrate to much because we have Siena in just a couple of days that we have to get ready for.”
Back-to-back threes by Wyche (Neptune, NJ/Saint Peter’s Prep) and Nnamdi Enechionyia (Springfield, VA/St. James School (Samford)) got Saint Peter’s out to a 6-0 lead early. Freshman Quinn Taylor (Amarillo, TX/Tascosa) added a three-point basket, extending the lead to 11-4 just under 15 minutes in. Wyche drained another three and Taylor scored on a reveres layup to give the Peacocks their first 10-point lead at 18-8 (12:08). In the first 10 minutes of action, the Peacocks hit 4-6 three-pointers (66.7%) while Fairfield hit 1-7 (14.3%) and held a 20-13 lead.
The Peacocks used a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 26-13 after a mid range jumper by Antwon Portley (Lancaster, TX/Lancaster), then a layup by Samuel Idowu (Brooklyn, NY/Lafayette Educational Complex) on a feed from Wyche, followed by an Enechionyia layup. Fairfield cut the deficit under double figure scoring four straight points making it, 26-17 with 7:45 on the clock. The Peacocks quickly responded by putting together a 10-0 run, with Cavon Baker (Queens, NY/New Hope Academy [Md.] (Houston)) making eight of the points, to extend the lead back up to double figures at 36-17 with just under five minutes before the half. Fairfield again responded to the Peacock run and answered with a 10-2 run to close out the half, and make the halftime score 38-27. The Peacocks added a couple more three-point baskets to its total for a 6-9 (66.7%) total and also hit 16-30 (53.3%) field goals in the first 20 minutes of action.
Just like the first half, Saint Peter’s opened with back-to-back threes-pointers. Nick Griffin (Rockville, MD/Col. Zadok Magruder (George Washington)) hit the first and Wyche followed with the next. Wyche added a nice transition layup, extending the Peacock lead to 46-29 around the 16-minute mark. Fairfield put together an 11-2 run in response, cutting the Peacock lead to 48-40 (11:34). After an eight minute field goalless drought, Portley single handedly ended it and stopped the Stags run, scoring the next seven Peacock points, and giving Saint Peter’s a 55-40 lead. The Peacocks added six, while the Stags scored eight over the next six minutes, giving the Peacocks a 61-48 lead with five minutes left to play in the game. Throughout the last five minutes of play, the Peacocks outscored the Stags 8-7 never allowing Fairfield to get within 10 points and securing the road victory.
Wyche led all-scorers with 17 points and added four rebounds and three assists. Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, PA/Math, Civics and Science Charter) was the other Peacock to score in double figures, scoring 12 points, and grabbing six rebounds, and three assists. Portley added nine points, while Baker finished with eight points.
Fairfield had three players score in double figures led by Jerome Segura’s 13 points. MAAC leading scorer Tyler Nelson who entered the game averaging 19.5 points per game, was held to his second lowest point total this season, with 11 points. Jerry Johnson was the third double-digit scorer for the Stags with 10 points.
The Peacocks return home for three games beginning on Thursday night against Siena on ESPN3 with tip time set for 8p.m. That game will be game three of the of six games in 12 days, and seven games in 15 days period.
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