Wildwood Catholic grad enjoys historic outing in Fairfield victory

Posted: January 8th 2024

Wildwood Catholic graduate Caleb Fields of Fairfield tied a program record with 10 three-pointers in scoring a career-high 33 points in a win over Marist Sunday.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Caleb Fields has played in a lot of basketball games at various different levels over the course of his successful playing career.

There’s no doubt he’ll never forget the one he played in on Sunday.

The Wildwood Catholic High School graduate and Fairfield University guard tied a program record for three-point shots, set a career high in scoring and surpassed a scoring milestone all in Sunday’s game, leading the red-hot Stags to an 82-61 win over Marist.

Fields shot 10 of 18 on three-point shots and poured in a career-high 33 points in the victory. The 10 made three-pointers tied a program record set by Landon Taliaferro in December 2019.

“First, I have to thank God for the opportunities because I feel like my trust in Him and my belief in Him has given me the opportunity to play this game,” Fields said in a telephone interview. “I work on my game every day and I believe in myself and I know my teammates believe in me. The shots I was making are shots I work on every day in practice. I was just hitting open shots, to be honest.”

Fields said he had an inkling something special was going on late in the game.

“At the last media timeout, one of our grad assistants came up to me and started to say something and then he was like, ‘Never mind,’” Fields said with a laugh. “I thought then that I might be close to something. I made a three right after that and then we got a steal and I missed my last one. I didn’t know I was close to a record then but then after the game he told me he wanted to say something but that he didn’t want to mess it up for me by doing that.”

Wildwood Catholic graduate Caleb Fields of the Fairfield men's basketball team holds his niece, Siyenna, after his 33-point performance against Marist Sunday.

Fields also went over the 1,000-point mark in the contest, bringing his college career scoring total to 1,021 points.

Fields scored 503 points in two seasons at Bowling Green before taking a medical redshirt season as a junior due to an injury. Granted an additional season of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fields transferred to Fairfield prior to last scholastic after earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bowling Green. He’s now just three spring semester classes away from earning a masters degree in business administration management while finishing the second of his two seasons of eligibility with the Stags. Fields has now scored 518 points so far with Fairfield.

Fields’s historic effort on Sunday helped Fairfield (9-6 overall, 3-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) win its eighth straight game.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing basketball,” Fields said. “I’ve been through a lot of adversity. I’ve had some injuries and I’ve gone through coaching changes. We all just trust each other so much and that’s made this really fun.

“It’s a blessing to play this game. I’m having so much fun being with the guys and playing.”

The 6-2 Fields is averaging 13.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists so far this season. He leads the team in minutes per game at 32.1 and is tied for first in three-pointers made with 37. Fields is shooting 83.3 percent (30 for 36) from the foul line.

“No matter how many minutes I get or how many shots I get in a game, I just try to make sure I give 100 percent effort every time I’m out there,” Fields said. “The great thing about this team is that everyone’s excited and everyone’s happy with each other’s successes. They’re happy for me if I’m going well and we’re all happy when someone else is doing well, too.

“We have no negative energy in the locker room. That’s what makes it so much fun. Everyone’s out there happy to be playing with each other and for each other.”

A 2018 graduate of Wildwood Catholic, Fields led the Crusaders to the first of three straight Cape-Atlantic League championships as a senior. He averaged 21.1 points and 4.6 rebounds as a senior, finishing his high school career with 1,674 points.

Fields will get to finish his college playing career close to home, as the MAAC Championship Tournament will again be played at Convention Hall in Atlantic City March 12-16.

“The future’s not promised so I never want to look too far ahead,” Fields said. “You just try to go about everything day by day. If everything works out leading up to that, it’ll be great to play in front of my friends and family back home. Hopefully, we can put on a show and win a championship in front of all those people. It would definitely be a special moment.”