Box Score

            Five Fairfield student-athletes reached double figures as the Fairfield University men's basketball team posted its first road win of the season with a 74-55 win over Austin Peay State University. Two freshmen reached double digits as Marcus Gilbert tallied a personal-best 11 points while Josip Mikulic added 11 off the bench. Gilbert earned his first start of the game, joining classmate Amadou Sidibe in the starting lineup.
 
            The Fairfield freshmen played a role in the first half as the class combined for 18 of the team's 36 points and five of the Stags' first eight points. After Keith Matthews' opened the game with a three-point play, Marcus Gilbert's three pointer and Mikulic's basket enabled Fairfield to build an 8-5 lead.
 
            Austin Peay found its range from outside the arc, hitting back-to-back three pointers that fueled an 8-0 run that pushed the Governors in front at 13-8. The Stags answered with their own 7-0 spurt that erased that deficit and regained the lead at 15-13. Freshman Coleman Johnson provided the final points in that run with a jump hook at the 11:27 mark.
           
            The game was eventually tied at 15-15 and two more times at 17 and 19, the last coming at the 7:16 mark. The lead changed five times over the next three minutes the last of which was a 26-24 Fairfield lead after Gilbert's three pointer. After Austin Peay tied the game on Herdie Lawrence's jumper, the Stags scored eight straight points with six of those points coming off Mikulic's two three-point shots, making the score 34-26. The eight-point lead remained intact at intermission with the score standing at 36-28.
 
            Mikulic and Gilbert led all scorers with eight points each in the opening half, while Anthony Campbell tallied seven points for the Governors' offense.
 
            The Stags opened the second half with a three-point field goal from Gilbert to press the lead back to double figures at 39-28. Austin Peay cut into the lead with a 9-3 spurt which made the score 42-37 with 15:59 remaining. The Governors would pull as close as four points at 48-44 after AJ Lynch's jumper with 11 minutes remaining.
 
            Fairfield took full control of the game from that point with a 10-0 run over three minutes that raised the lead to 14 points at 58-44. Four different Stags scored in the run with Maurice Barrow leading the way with four points.  The Fairfield lead would reach as many as 23 points with a minute remaining as the scoreboard read 74-51.
 
            Needham just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine assists while Barrow was the fifth Stag in double digits with 10 points. Travis Betran led all Austin Peay scorers with 17 points, followed by Will Triggs' 11 points.
 
            The Stags completed their season-opening eight-game road trip with a 4-4 record and look forward to their home opener on Friday, December 7 against Canisius College at Webster Bank Arena. The game also represents the Stags' Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opener.