FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- A championship game is at stake when the Fairfield University men's basketball hosts Mercer University in the semifinal round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Saturday night. The two teams will face each other at Alumni Hall beginning at 7 p.m.
This game marks the first-ever meeting between the Bears (24-10) and the Stags (22-14), and is the first-ever meeting for Fairfield and a team from the Atlantic Sun Conference. Fairfield comes off a 67-61 win over Robert Morris University on Wednesday night. Mercer advanced to the semifinals with a come-from-behind win at Old Dominion, defeating the Monarchs by a 79-73 count the same night.
Justin Cecil is the team's top scorer with 11.5 points per game, one of three Bears in double figures. Langston Hall is next in line with 11.3 points per contest, followed by Jakob Gollon who contributes 10.2 points every forty minutes. Gollon also represents the team's top rebounder, collecting 5.8 rebounds per outing. The team features two student-athletes who have tallied more than 100 assists this season, namely Hall with 139 and Gollon with 116.
Rakim Sanders remains the team's top scorer and rebounder overall with 16.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. The senior has put together one of the best seasons in school history with 599 points and 300 rebounds. He needs one more point to become the third player in Fairfield history to reach 600 points in a season, joining Troy Bradford and Tony George. He would be the first 600-point, 300-rebound student-athlete in school history.
The winner of this game will play the winner of Oakland University-Utah State University, which is being hosted by Utah State on Sunday evening. The location and game time will be announced after the semifinal games.
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