BRIDGEPORT, Conn. --- You would have to forgive Matija Milin if he seemed a little distracted during the day. While his teammates were locked on tonight's match up with Loyola University Maryland, Milin's thoughts were focused on environmental politics as the junior faced a midterm exam before the game.

It may be an unconventional approach to prepare for a game, but the junior certainly made it work as he recorded his third career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Fairfield University men's basketball team to a 64-52 win over Loyola.

"I just felt good tonight," Milin said. "I had a big midterm today so school took a big part of my day. I didn't think about the game all day so maybe that helped."

Whether it was the exam or some other factor it really didn't matter to Stags Head Coach Sydney Johnson who watched his junior take control for the final 30 minutes of the game.

"Matija is a special player and we need him to have a special season,' Johnson said. "So it was good to see what he did tonight especially when we struggled early in the game."

Those struggles became quite apparent through in the first 11 minutes of the game as Fairfield found itself doubled up by its guest, 16-8, with 9:35 on the clock. The Stags missed 11 shots during that stretch of time including six three-point attempts which allowed Loyola to find its footing.

Fairfield finally found its shooting touch over the final minutes of the opening half which allowed the team to go on a 19-3 run that sent the Stags into the locker room with a 30-21 lead at halftime. Ferron Flavors Jr. made back-to-back three pointers during the stretch that broke a 20-20 tie at the four minute mark and provided Fairfield with the lead for good.

"I really felt locked in all game and my teammates always seem to find me when I'm open especially when we are in transition," Flavors Jr said. "Those shots really helped us push out and take control of the game."

In the second half, the Stags opened the second half with a 13-5 run that gave the team its biggest lead of the game at 43-26 with 15:29 on the clock with Milin scoring five of those points. Loyola fought its way back into the game by cutting the deficit to eight points at 43-35. The Stags scored seven of the next nine points to push the advantage back to double digits at 50-37 as Milin once again put five points on the board during the decisive stretch.

Flavors Jr. just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds while Nelson and Jonathan Kasibabu added 12 points for Fairfield. Loyola's Andre Walker led all scorers in the game with 27 points.

Now Fairfield will turn their attention to the first road game of the year, heading to West Lafayette, Ind. for a match up with Purdue University, currently ranked 20^th in the Associated Press College Rankings. Milin is looking forward to the match up for reasons other than basketball.

"It's going to be a big game for us to play a team like Purdue," Milin said. "I actually have a Serbian friend who is a freshman there so it will be fun for me to catch up with him."

Part of that catching up may just have to include how well he did on his environmental politics exam.