FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Facing one of the conference's top offensive teams, the Fairfield University men's basketball team put forth one of its best defensive efforts of the season which resulted in the Stags posting a 66-53 win over Canisius College on Saturday night. It was a fitting way for the Stags to close out their time at Alumni Hall as the men's team played their final game at the on-campus facility.
The Golden Griffs headed into the night with a five-game winning streak, a run that saw the team average better than 75 points per game including 80 against Fairfield just 24 hours earlier. It marked the fifth time in six victories that Fairfield held its MAAC opponent to under 60 points with the lone exception coming in the Stags' 77-70 win over Quinnipiac earlier this month.
"I was really pleased with the defensive effort tonight," Head Coach
Jay Young said. "I think Canisius is a very talented team and has a lot of offensive weapons. We need to set the tone on the glass and we did that tonight. We kept them away from second chance opportunities and gave ourselves more opportunities with 16 offensive rebounds. That was the key for us tonight."
With the exception of the first points of the night, Fairfield led for nearly the entire night. Armon Harried started the Griffs with a basket just seconds into the game before Fairfield reeled off 11 straight points to take early control. At the heart of that opening run was
Jesus Cruz as the senior contributed with a three-point play and another basket that capped the rally at the 14:43 mark.
Cruz navigated the lane all night long, find ways to circumvent Canisius defenders and finding a way to exploit even the smallest spaces on his way to the basket. The senior came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points by netting six of 10 shots and five free throws. His performance tonight marked the third double-digit effort as a reserve in the last four games, averaging 10.5 points per game during the stretch.
"Jesus was very good for us tonight," Coach Young said. "They pressured us and overplayed the passing lanes which gave Jesus some opportunities around the basket. We all know how good he is five or six feet from the basket. He made some shots tonight and they helped us out offensively."
Fairfield continued to hold its double-digit advantage through the majority of the first half and finally settled on a lead of a dozen went it went into the locker room. But the Stags lost a halftime lead last night so Coach Young knew that a repeat performance on both ends of the court was not an option. And much to his delight, his team responded with another solid effort that would end with Canisius shooting just 33 percent from the floor.
Fairfield shot 44 percent in the second half and 41 percent for the game but those numbers were enhanced with the second chances that it created by crashing the boards after shots. Freshman
Supreme Cook accounted for four of the 16 offensive rebounds as he ended the game with 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Stags converted those second chance opportunities into 12 points which helped keep Canisius at bay as the Griffs did everything they could to work their way back into the game. The visitors came as close as seven points but could never break that threshold in the second half.
Jake Wojcik also turned in a stellar second half by scoring 14 of his 16 points after halftime.
Zach Crisler also helped the cause with nine points and three rebounds during his 27 minutes on the floor.
Jacco Fritz just missed a double-double for Canisius with nine points and 10 rebounds while Malek Green came off the bench for the second straight night to pace the Griffs' offense, netting 14 points. Majesty Brandon was next in line with 13 points despite not being among the starting five this evening.
Fairfield returns to the hardwood next weekend against the MAAC's top scoring offense in Monmouth University. The two-game series starts a four-game road swing that ends the regular season at Manhattan College one week later.
