Holy (blank)!!!
Yeah, I know it’s late but geez, when a team comes back from 27 points down to win a game in overtime and that team is Fairfield, you’ve got to shout it out loud (KISS reference).
Fairfield 101, George Mason 96 (OT)
Amazing.
Ed Cooley just called me at 12:15 a.m. as the bus bringing back the Stags was crossing the Delaware bridge.
“Dog, we were dead in the water,” he said.
Myself, I was at the Carrie Underwood concert at the Arena with my daughter Robyn and was constantly checking the score. The halftime score I saw was 49-30 George Mason.
I checked again … 80-73 Mason … then it was 85-84 Mason … then I saw 98-95 Fairfield in OT and I was shouting “Holy (Blank)”.
What happened? I asked Cooley when he called.
“We started making plays and they started getting a little tight,” Cooley said.
He told me that Mike Evanovich hit a 30-footer with 0.8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it to OT. He also said that the GM defender hit Evanovich in the (ahem, privates) and it wasn’t called. “We should have won in (blanking) regulation,” said Cooley.
Cooley told me that the Stags were down 27 with 16:02 to play.
That marks the BIGGEST COMEBACK IN POSTSEASON PLAY … EVER. In NCAA. In NIT… EVER.
Checking the George Mason website, Fairfield trailed 63-36 before Evanovich went crazy. He finished with a school-record NINE 3-pointers, including one from NBA distance with 1 second left that tied the game at 87-87.
Evanovich went 10-of-15 from the floor, including 9-of-14 from 3-point range for those 32 points. Anthony Johnson had 25 points and 11 rebounds and Derek Needham added 21 points. Fairfield outscored George Mason 57-38 in the second half and 14-9 in the OT to win its 23rd game of the season.
Depending on what happens tonight between Harvard and Appalachian State, Fairfield is in line to host, let me repeat that … TO HOST a second round game, possibly on Monday night at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
This goes out to all Fairfield students and alumni … if the Stags host this second round game … SHOW UP!!!!! Go to Harbor Yard and scream your lungs out!!! This team deserves it.
