FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball team will finish up a pair of season series this weekend on the road, traveling to Marist College on Friday night followed by an afternoon game against Saint Peter's University on Sunday. The Stags are looking to earn a split with Marist after dropping the January 8 meeting against the Red Foxes at Webster Bank Arena. 

The Stags dropped a 78-54 game against Iona in their last outing. More than half of the Stags 54 points came off the hands of Taj Benning (16 points) and Vincent Eze (14 points). Benning was the team's top scorer for the fourth time in the last nine game. Eze returned to double figures for the first time since posting 13 points against Marist on January 8. Eze also contributed a team-best seven rebounds, six of which came off the offensive glass.

With Eze's help, the Stags collected nine more offensive rebounds which they turned into eight points. The Stags have excelled on the offensive glass over the last eight games, grabbing 96 offensive rebounds for a 12.0 average. Fairfield has averaged nearly one point per offensive rebound over the eight-game stretch, scoring 89 points off those 96 second chances (11.1 points per game). 

Landon Taliaferro leads the team in scoring with 12.8 points per game, a number which ranks 13th in the MAAC, while Jesus Cruz records 11.0 points every forty minutes which places 19th in the conference statistics. In addition to Eze's team-leading rebounding total, Chris Maidoh and Taj Benning are also doing well on the boards with 5.0 and 4.5 caroms per contest, respectively.

Since the last time these two opponents met on January 8, the Red Foxes have won five of nine games for a  .555 winning percentage. That percentage is  tied with Siena for the second highest among MAAC schools since that date, surpassed by a .600 mark from Rider (6-4) and Monmouth (6-4). The Red Foxes have won four of their last six games including an overtime decision over Manhattan. Marist is 3-0 at home over the last six dates with the last victory at McCann Center coming against Saint Peter's on February 7.

Marist has found its shooter's touch with three of its four highest scoring totals this season coming in the last six outings - 83 points vs. Iona, 75 points vs. Manhattan, and 72 vs. Saint Peter's. Against the Peacocks, Jordan Jones paced Marist with 18 points while Braden Bell came off the bench to post 15 points. Michael Cubbage added 12 points to the win which raised his team-leading scoring average to 10.3 points per game. Tyler Sagl is next in line with his 9.2 scoring average.  Cubbage also represents the team's top rebounder with 6.0 per game and also leads the squad with 3.1 assists per contest.

Following Friday's game, the Stags will look toward their match up with Saint Peter's University on Sunday afternoon. The Peacocks currently own an 8-5 MAAC record which places them in a first-place tie with Rider. Fairfield picked up a 61-51 win over Saint Peter's in the first meeting of 2019-20 behind a game-high 15 points from Taj Benning.