UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Senior Maurice Barrow scored a team-high 14 points as the Fairfield University men's basketball team played battled national champion University of Louisville before falling 71-57 at Mohegan Sun Arena in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Tip Off Classic.

The Stags were not intimidated by the third-ranked Cardinals and quickly threw a solid defense that kept the visitors off balance for a good portion of the first half. Fairfield fell behind 2-0 but answered with six straight points that put the Stags in front 6-2 with 13:29 remaining in the half. Coleman Johnson, Lincoln Davis, and Amadou Sidibe were responsible for the points, the last of which forced Head Coach Rick Pitino to call a time out to regroup.

Fairfield continued to play strong defense which allowed the Stags to build its lead to 9-4 after Barrow made his first three pointer of the game at the 11:54 mark. Louisville put together a solid run that would tie the game at 9-9 following Chris Jones' layup with 10:51 remaining. Lincoln Davis made one of two free throws to push Fairfield back in front at 10-9, the second time that the freshman gave his team a lead in this game.

The Stags' lead evaporated after Louisville scored nine of the next 12 points to take an 18-13 lead with seven minutes remaining. Still, Fairfield would not go away and continued to run at the Cardinals, coming within two points at 20-18 after Steve Smith netted a three-point field goal at the 4:50 mark. The Cardinals finished the half with a 17-5 run that gave the nationally-ranked team a 37-23 lead at intermission.

The second half saw Louisville continue to pad its lead, going ahead by as many as 23 points at 51-28 with 11:22 remaining. The Stags would not relent though and began to chip away at the deficit, slowly but surely. A pair of free throws by Barrow capped a 8-0 run that brought the score to 51-36 as the senior was responsible for six of those eight points.

When the Cardinals recaptured its 20-point lead later in the half, Fairfield fought back again. With the score 64-43 with four minutes remaining, the Stags tallied six straight points, all of which were off the hands of Marcus Gilbert. The sophomore converted a three-point play and added a three-point field goal to make it 64-49 with 3:41 on the clock.

Fairfield would eventually bring the deficit to its final margin at 14 points after Smith's three pointer at the buzzer made the final score 71-57.

Marcus Gilbert finished the game with 11 points, while Malcolm Gilbert was the team's top rebounder with eight. Malcolm also added three blocked shots and pair of assists to the cause.

Jones was the Cardinals top scorer with 15 points, followed by Montrezl Harrell's 14 points and Wayne Blackshear's 11 markers.

Fairfield will play the University of Richmond in its final game of the Classic on Sunday afternoon, which will be available on ESPN3. The game time is scheduled for 3 pm and will follow the Louisville-North Carolina game which will be played at 1 pm.