MAAC_Program_2026_V11_Pages

2025–26 FAIRFIELD MEN’S BASKETBALL

QUICK FACTS LOCATION FAIRFIELD, CT NICKNAME STAGS COLORS RED YEAR FOUNDED 1942 PRESIDENT MARK R. NEMEC, PhD ATHLETIC DIRECTOR PAUL SCHLICKMANN HOME ARENA LEO D. MAHONEY ARENA (3,500)

MEN’S ROSTER No. Name

Cl.

Pos. Ht.

Wt.

Hometown/High School/Previous School

0 Eric Mejia

So. G 6-3 195 Washington Hts., NY/Our Savior Lutheran/Monroe University

1 Deuce Turner

Gr.

G 6-2 185 Coatesville, PA/Malvern Prep/UC Santa Barbara

2 Nasir Rodriguez

Fr. G 6-4 210 Long Island City, NY/Msgr. Scanlan/Northfield Mount Hermon G 6-4 200 Harlem, NY/Canterbury School/University of Rhode Island G 6-0 185 Villa Rica, GA/McEachern/Indian Hills Community College Sr. Jr.

3 Cam Estevez

4 Braden Sparks

5 Matt Curtis

Jr.

G 6-4 185 Ellington, CT/Northwest Catholic/Avon Old Farms

7 Ryan Zan

R-Jr.

F

6-6 225 Princeton, NJ/Rutgers Prep/La Salle University

8 Tony Williams 11 Halon Rawlins

Fr. Fr.

G 6-1 160 Norwich, CT/Norwich Free Acad./Putnam Science Acad.

G/F 6-6 220 Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional

13 Noah Best

R-Jr.

G 6-5 175 Bronx, NY/Mount St. Michael Academy/Fordham University

15 Isaac Munkadi

So.

F F

6-10 200 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Bridgeport Prep

20 Brandon Benjamin

Fr.

6-8 235 Newark, NJ/Bergen Catholic/St. Thomas More

PLAYER TO WATCH Braden Sparks has set the pace for Fairfield Men’s Basketball as one of the top scorers in the MAAC and one of the top three-point shooters in all of college basketball. The senior started the campaign with 25 points at Penn State and continued to pile up buckets, leading the Stags in scoring, three-pointers, and three point percentage. Sparks has totaled more than 1,000 points in his collegiate career with more than two-thirds of those tallies coming in two seasons at Fairfield. Sparks began his career at Mercer, earning playing time in 21 games with six starts for the Bears. He played the 2023-24 campaign at Indian Hills Community College, where he helped lead the Warriors to a 29-6 record, culminating in a trip to the NJCAA National Semifinals. Sparks netted a career-best 27 points in the Region XI Championship Game. basketball and baseball at Fairfield. After graduating cum laude in 1968, he began a career in coaching at Brooklyn Prep before entering the college ranks at Hawai'i in 1975. After 10 seasons as an assistant coach, he became the head coach at Xavier in 1985. In nine seasons at Xavier, he won five Midwestern Collegiate Conference (Horizon League) Championships and five MCC Coach of the Year Awards. He went on to coach Providence for four years, including a trip to the 1997 Elite Eight, and completed his career at Virginia for seven years. Gillen led the Cavaliers to the 2001 NCAA Tournament, rounding out his career with nine NCAA postseason trips. Gillen was also an assistant coach for USA Basketball's "Dream Team II" that won gold at the 1994 FIBA World Championships. NOTABLE ALUMNI Peter Gillen was a three-year student-athlete in

21 Tanner Ostop

Jr.

G 6-0 165 West Hartford, CT/Northwest Catholic G 6-0 185 Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius

22 Luke Davidson

Sr.

24 Joe Ganton

Jr.

G 6-4 185 North Caldwell, NJ/West Essex

25 Michael Rogan

R-Jr.

G/F 6-6 210 Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs/South Kent School

33 Peyton Smith

Jr.

F

6-10 270 Hudson Falls, NY/Hudson Falls

44 Declan Wucherpfennig Fr.

G/F 6-7 215 Teaneck, NJ/Bergen Catholic

Head Coach: Chris Casey (Western Connecticut State ’86) – Third Season Assistant Coaches: Glenn Braica (Queens ’89) – Third Season, Taj Benning (Fairfield ’21) – Third Season,

Matt Knezovic (Hartwick ’18) – Third Season, Matt Scott (Niagara ’18) – Second Season Director of Basketball Operations: Chuck Asetta (Fairfield ’23) – Third Season Graduate Assistant: Bobby Steinberg (Fairfield ’24) – Second Season

HEAD COACH CHRIS CASEY College basketball veteran Chris Casey is in his third season as head coach of Fairfield Basketball after four years as an assistant with the Stags. 2025-26 is Casey’s 40 th consecutive season coaching college basketball. He has been to seven NCAA postseason tournaments at the Division I, II and III levels and has recruited or coached more than 30 all-conference players and 11 conference major award winners. In his first season leading the Stags, Casey guided Fairfield to a 24-13 record – the second-most victories in school history. Fairfield finished second in the MAAC regular season at 14-6 and advanced to the MAAC Championship Game. Casey was a finalist for the Hugh Durham Coach of the Year Award. Previously as a head coach, Casey was a part of the MAAC for six years at Niagara from 2013-19. He took over the helm in Western New York following a three year stretch at LIU Post highlighted by back-to-back East Coast Conference Championships and NCAA postseason appearances. He was the 2012 ECC Coach of the Year and Met Writers Division II Coach of the Year.

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