Contrast Of Styles In Thursday's ESPN3 Matchup
MAAC Sports
EDISON, N.J. – It will be a contrast in styles when the Niagara University men’s basketball team travels to Bridgeport, Conn., on Thursday, Jan. 16 to face Fairfield University in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN3 at 8:30 p.m.
The contest will feature the nation’s leading individual scorer, Niagara's Antoine Mason, who will be pitted against one of the top-ranked defensive teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the Fairfield Stags.
Mason is averaging 28.3 points per game, and has led both the MAAC and NCAA Division I in scoring for a majority of the 2013-14 season. The 6-3, 210-pound Mason has scored 30 or more points in eight of Niagara’s 17 games, and leads the nation in free throws made (157), free throw attempts (206), field goals made (148) and field goals attempted (328). Mason poured in a career high 39 points in a win over Brown, the 10th highest individual .scoring output in the NCAA this season.
The Purple Eagles (4-13, 1-5) average 78.5 points per game and are the third highest scoring team in the MAAC.
On the converse, the Stags (3-13, 0-6) lead the MAAC and are No. 55 nationally in field goal percentage defense, as opponents have hit .401 of their shots from the field. (By contrast, Niagara is in 11th in the MAAC in field goal percentage defense, allowing its opponents to hit .493 from the field.) The Stags have allowed 69.9 points per game, the second stingiest output in the MAAC (behind No. 1 Saint Peter’s at 68.2 points per game).
Sophomore forward Marcus Gilbert leads the Stags in scoring, averaging 13.1 points per game. Senior forward Maurice Barrow, who was last season’s MAAC “6th Man of the Year” chips in with 11.8 points per outing.