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GAME NOTES: Members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference square off at Draddy Gym tonight, as the Manhattan Jaspers entertain the Fairfield Stags.

The Stags are coming off an exciting 79-75 overtime win against Rider on the road on Friday night, pushing the team to 10-5 in league play and a game over .500 (7-6) away from home as well this season. The victory also kept the team's trend of alternating wins and losses intact over the last seven decisions.

As for the Jaspers, they too won their most recent outing three nights ago with a 66-60 decision over the Iona Gaels on the road. The triumph was the second in the last three games for a team that has just three wins altogether since just before Christmas.

The Stags won the first meeting of the season between the teams with a narrow 88-85 decision last month at home in Connecticut. As a result, Manhattan now leads the all-time series by a count of 44-38.

Anthony Johnson erupted for 27 points and 14 rebounds on Friday night as he and the Stags slipped by the Rider Broncs on the road in New Jersey by four points. Derek Needham was the only other double-digit scorer for the visitors as he delivered 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the floor. Needham, who leads the team in scoring with 16.2 ppg and has handed out a team-best 138 assists as well, now needs just 22 points to break the Fairfield freshman scoring record, currently held by Joe DeSantis at 327 points and set during the 1975-76 campaign. Johnson is responsible for another 14.9 ppg, which means he is the only other player averaging double figures since Yorel Hawkins went out with a season-ending injury.

Manhattan let the Iona Gaels get out to a three-point lead in the first minute of their meeting on Friday, but from there the contest belonged to the Jaspers even though they were on the road. Rico Pickett scored a game-high 24 points, Darryl Crawford added 14 and Mohamed Koita 10 points for Manhattan as the team converted not only 50 percent from the field but also 7-of-12 behind the three-point line to offset 16 turnovers. A starter in only 14 games this season, Pickett has managed to turn his efforts into 17.8 ppg to lead the Jaspers after 25 contests. Not much of a three-point shooting team this season, Manhattan has made just 109 three-point attempts, with 39 of those being attributed to Pickett. Crawford checks in with 14.8 ppg as the team weakly generates 64.4 ppg this season.

With only weeks left in the regular season, every game at this point in the MAAC is critical. Unfortunately for the Jaspers, they simply don't have the firepower to keep up with teams like Fairfield these days.