GAME NOTES: The Manhattan Jaspers are off to a cold start to the season, but will look to turn things around starting with a road matchup against the Fairfield Stags in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference battle at Webster Bank Arena on Friday.

Manhattan has dropped two straight contests to Northeastern (65-51) and George Mason (64-63), which ended on a 75-foot 3-point desperation shot for the Patriots. The only win for the 1-4 Jaspers was a 78-63 defeat of Binghamton.

Fairfield is in the same boat as Manhattan entering this clash, having lost its last two games played. The Stags find themselves at 2-5 with wins over Central Connecticut State and an overtime bout against South Dakota. They are coming off a 72-66 overtime loss to Bucknell.

These two conference rivals have met 92 times on the court, with Manhattan holding the all-time series lead, 49-43. The last meeting took place back in January in Bridgeport, which the Stags won, 71-67.

Manhattan and George Mason were knotted at 28-28 at the end of the first half, and the Jaspers held the two-point lead with the final seconds winding off the clock in the team's last outing. But a three-quarter court desperation heave for the Patriots fell through the net as the buzzer sounded, leaving the Jaspers empty-handed in a tough-to-swallow defeat. Shane Richards tallied 18 points to lead the team, while Tyler Wilson netted 15 points with a team-high seven assists in the contest. The Jaspers shot 43.9 percent from the floor, and defensively held George Mason to 36.8 percent shooting.

Richards is one of two Manhattan players this season through five games to average a double-digit scoring total. The forward enters the game against his conference rival with a 15.8 ppg mark. The other player to sport a double- figure scoring average is Emmy Andujar, who comes in scoring 10.8 ppg with a team-best 6.6 rpg mark. Manhattan is scoring 65.2 ppg, which hasn't been enough to keep up with the 70.0 ppg opponents are averaging against the Jaspers this season.

Fairfield held a 24-18 advantage over Bucknell in the Stags' most recent outing. However, the Bison made a second-half comeback by shooting 47.6 percent from the floor to knot the game as the clock wound down. In the extra session, Bucknell connected on 5-of-6 from the floor, and made 13-of-14 from the free-throw line to down the Stags in Bridgeport. K.J. Rose led Fairfield with 26 points in the loss, adding seven rebounds to his stat line. Marcus Gilbert contributed 17 points with seven boards, but also had six turnovers in 34 minutes of action.

Gilbert has been the most consistent player this season for Fairfield, serving as the only player to average a double-digit point total. He enters the clash with Manhattan averaging 14.0 ppg on 50 percent shooting from the floor. Rose's 26-point outburst didn't help the guard reach a double-digit scoring average, as he checks in with 8.4 ppg and a team-best 16 assists. Amadou Sidibe leads the Stags in rebounding at 8.1 boards per outing. Fairfield is managing a meager 60.0 ppg this season, and is allowing opponents to score 71.6 ppg.

Neither of these teams appears to have much positive direction in the early season, and neither is getting much help from its role players. The home advantage will help Fairfield out in this one, but the team will have to play strong defense against a pair of strong forwards in Richards and Andujar.