BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball will finish up its four-game road swing with a Sunday afternoon game at Canisius College, the team's 10th game away from home in 13 dates this season. The game is scheduled for a 2 pm tip at the Koessler Athletic Center. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+. Sunday's contest also concludes a two-game Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) road trip to upstate New York.

The Stags opened the MAAC season with a 75-66 loss at Niagara Friday night. The setback ended a run of back-to-back road wins for the Stags and also evened up Fairfield's road record at 3-3. All four of the team's wins have occurred away from campus this season, registering three road wins and one neutral site victory. The Purple Eagles' 75 points are the most surrendered by the Stags in regulation this season, one point more than Maryland's point total in mid-November. Loyola Maryland scored 84 points but 16 of those points came in overtime.

Vincent Eze and Wassef Methnani posted 16 points to pace the Fairfield offense on Friday night. Methnani scored his points off the bench, the most tallied in a game by a Fairfield reserve this season. Landon Taliaferro scored three points against Niagara, the second game in which he missed double figures this year. Taliaferro, who leads the team in scoring with a 14.7 scoring average, also missed double digits with eight points at Holy Cross but still owns a 15.0 scoring average on the road. Jesus Cruz is next in line with his 14.1 scoring average.

The Stags received strong play from the front court against Niagara, scoring 38 of the team's 66 points. Of those 66 points, Fairfield posted 44 points in the paint. Chris Maidoh (3 for 5), Vincent Eze (6 for 9), Wassef Methnani (8 for 12), and Kevin Senghore-Peterson (0 for 3) combined to make 17 of 29  field goal attempts for a .586 field goal percentage. Senghore-Peterson added six rebounds against the Purple Eagles and is averaging 5.8 rebounds over his last three appearances.

The Golden Griffs  suffered their second MAAC loss in as many tries, falling to Manhattan by a 71-67 score at home. Canisius dropped its last four games coming into today's contest including a one-point setback to Siena on the road. A home loss is not the norm for the Golden Griffs, winning 19 of 31 games at Koessler Athletic Center since the 2017-18 campaign. Before Friday's game, Canisius had scored 70 or more points in four straight games highlighted by its 80-72 win over Holy Cross at home and averaged 76 points per game during the four-game stretch.

Majesty Brandon leads the team in scoring, coming off his team-best 15 points against Manhattan. The junior guard leads the team with a 13.4 scoring average, followed closely Malik Johnson's 13.2 points per game. Scott Hitchon completes the top scoring trio, netting 10.4 points every forty minutes. Johnson also leads the team in rebounding (5.1 rpg), assists (5.8 apg), and steals (2.8 spg).

Fairfield will return home for three games beginning next week with a match up against Marist College on January 8. The game will be played at Webster Bank Arena beginning at 7 pm. The other two home dates will be played on campus at Alumni Hall as Fairfield hosts Manhattan College on January 10 and Saint Peter's on January 15.