Watch
Listen
Live Stats
Game Notes

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The road portion of the Fairfield University men's basketball regular-season schedule is all but finished as the team has just two away dates left on its 2017-18 slate. The first of those two road contests takes place Monday night when the Stags will finish up its two-game road swing in upstate New York with a match up against Canisius College. The game will be the first and only meeting between these two teams this season.

The Griffs are battling for the top spot in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings, only a half-game behind Rider University. Canisius brings a 17-9 overall record and an 11-2 MAAC mark while Rider sets the pace with a 12-2 conference record. Fairfield owns a 10-14 overall record and a 5-8 MAAC mark and has won three of its last four outings.

Fairfield saw its three-game winning streak come to an end with its 95-83 loss at Niagara on Saturday. The Stags trailed for most of the game but had several runs that kept the game close through the beginning of the second half. The Purple Eagles used a 13-4 run over a four-minute span that turned a five-point deficit into a 14-point margin with 11 minutes remaining in the game. The Stags came as close as 11 points during the second half before falling by the final margin of 12 points.

Tyler Nelson led all Fairfield scorers with 17 points and added three assists in his 33 minutes of work. Ferron Flavors Jr. and Aidas Kavaliauskas each added 14 points in addition to Jonathan Kasibabu's 11 points. Nelson saw his season scoring average fall to 21.6 points per game but still leads the MAAC in scoring. Flavors Jr. just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds against Niagara, which elevated his scoring average to 11.9 and his rebounding average to 3.0 per game. Jonathan Kasibabu remains the program's top rebounder with 5.1 per game. Kavaliauskas dished off six assists against Niagara, the fifth time in his 11 appearances in which he had six or more assists in a game.

Canisius plays its third straight home game tonight, already picking up victories against Siena and Quinnipiac. The Griffs picked up their ninth home win of the season with a 71-64 decision over Quinnipiac, the most home wins for the program since 2014-15. Canisius is one-half game out of first place in the MAAC standings as its 11-2 conference mark trails only Rider (12-2). Jermaine Crumpton posted a team-high 14 points in the win over Quinnipiac, his 22nd straight double-digit performance. Isaiah Reese registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory, his second double-double of the season and the third of his career.

The game was a see-saw affair that wasn't decided until the Griffs used a 7-0 run that erased a one-point deficit and put the team in the lead for good. Malik Johnson, who scored 10 points in the game, went 8 for 8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to secure the win. Crumpton leads the team in scoring with 16.8 points per game, slightly better than Reese's 16.3 average. Reese is also the team's top rebounder at 5.3 per game.