Box Score

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. -- It was a game where the Fairfield University men's basketball team scored in spurts but in the end there were not enough of those quick bursts of offense resulting in a 96-77 loss to Rider University at Alumni Gymnasium on Friday night. Throughout the game, the Stags tried to cut into the Rider lead and did so often but could never come closer than 10 points as the Broncs used their offensive runs to offset any Fairfield string of points.

In the first half, Fairfield held an early lead at 11-9 just five minutes into the game before Rider put together 10 consecutive points to take its biggest lead at that time, 22-13. The Broncs continued to build on that advantage until it reached 17 points at 33-16 before the Stags reached down and came up with an exciting run during which they cut the deficit to eight points at 39-31 with 2:47 on the clock.

But by the end of the first half, Rider found its way back to a double-digit lead and took a 50-34 advantage into the locker room, despite Nelson's best effort of 11 points. Jonathan Kasibabu also enjoyed a strong opening 20 minutes with seven points and a few rebounds.

The second half started well for the home team as Rider erased a half-opening three-point play by Kasibabu with eight straight points, six of which came on back-to-back three pointers by Frederick Scott. The two long-range jumpers showed promise for the redshirt freshman as the forward would go on to score 12 points in the second half.  The Broncs would lead by as many as 24 points at 72-48 with 12:46 remaining in the half

But as is the makeup of the Fairfield team, the Stags kept their wits about them and began to slice away at that disadvantage. Fairfield used a 14-2 spurt to cut that deficit nearly in half which brought the score to 74-62 at the 9:16 mark. Six different Stags contributed to that run with Taj Benning and Aidas Kavaliauskas each putting four points on the board. For Kavaliauskas, the points represented the first of his Fairfield career as the guard made his collegiate debut this evening.

Rider scored nine of the next 12 points to push the lead back to 83-65 which pretty much ended Fairfield's comeback hopes.

Nelson finished the game with a team-high 21 points, making seven of 12 shots from the floor with three coming from behind the three-point line. One of those long-range jumpers resulted in a rare four-point play which kick-started a personal run of eight straight points for the senior. Kasibabu ended the contest with a strong 13 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.

Head Coach Sydney Johnson received several good performances from his freshmen once again with Wassef Methnani pacing the newcomers by scoring eight points and grabbing nine rebounds along with five assists and three blocks. Benning also chipped in with seven points with two assists and two blocks in 25 minutes of work.

Scott came off the bench to lead all Rider scorers with 25 points, while Stevie Jordan registered 18 points for the Broncs.

Fairfield has a quick turnaround this weekend, heading to Iona College on Sunday afternoon to complete the conference weekend.