Coming off of an utterly shocking win over the Iona Gaels, Saint Peter's came into the MAAC tournament as a wildcard. Tonight against Fairfield, they made a statement that they are not a fluke and will be a force to be fought, using balanced scoring and strong defense to pummel Fairfield 63-33.
No starter scored in double-figures, but the slack was made up by two forces off of the bench. 6'8" center Quadir Welton led scoring with 13 points, along with 7 rebounds, pummelling the Stags down low, and Travis Wyche contributed 12 points with 5 rebounds. Star senior Desi Washington had a very poor shooting night, going 2-10 for 6 points, but the all-around contributions by his teammates kept the lofty lead intact.
Fairfield was simply a mess in this one, as Marcus Gilbert led the Stags with 12 points on 2-9 shooting, getting most of his points from the charity stripe. The New Jersey-based college team shot 22.7% from the field in the game, taking many ill-advised deep shots to keep themselves in an insurmountable hole.
If Saint Peter's can keep up this balanced scoring, and get Desi Washington hot, they may be a team of destiny for this tournament. They will square off against Matt Lopez and #2 Rider on Saturday.