NCAA News Wire
Wofford 54, Fairfield 36
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Playing for the first time since losing by 50 to Duke, the Fairfield Stags opened the home portion of their schedule on Friday night with a 54-36 loss to the Wofford Terriers at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn.
The first half left plenty to be desired from both sides. Wofford (2-1) went to its locker room leading 20-12 at halftime, but the two teams combined to shoot an anemic 13 of 49 from the floor.
In addition to poor shooting, Fairfield (1-2) was plagued in the first half with as many turnovers (12) as points.
It only got worse for the Stags in the second half. Fairfield missed its first 13 shots from the field before a dunk by junior guard Marcus Gilbert with 7:16 remaining cut the deficit to 40-24.
The Stags’ field-goal drought began with 3:30 left in the first half and lasted 16:14. Fairfield finished the game making only 9 of 39 (23 percent).
The Terriers were led by senior guard Karl Cochran, who posted a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Wofford junior forward Justin Gordon scored a team-high 11 points off the bench and senior forward Lee Skinner contributed eight points and eight boards.
As for the Stags, Gilbert was among the few bright spots with a team-high 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field. Junior forward Amadou Sidibe finished with six points and a team-high eight rebounds, and freshman guard Tyler Nelson provided seven points off the bench.
This was the first of three games both teams will play in Bridgeport this weekend as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Next up for Fairfield is a matchup with Sam Houston State scheduled for Saturday night after Wofford’s game against South Dakota.
