LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Five players scored in double figures to guide Fairfield University Men's Basketball to an 88-81 win on Sunday afternoon against MAAC preseason favorite Rider. Jalen Leach paced the scoring with 22 points, while Peyton Smith notched his first career double-double.
 
With the win, Fairfield improves to 2-6 on the season and an even 1-1 in the MAAC. The Broncs fall to 1-7 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
 
"We've been right there in the last few games and come up short, so it's great to finish one off – especially a MAAC road game against a talented and experienced team like Rider," said Interim Head Coach Chris Casey. "Every guy that checked in today contributed a big shot or a big board or a big stop. That's what we need and that's what we're capable of going forward."
 
Leach carried the Stags' scoring load in the first half, amassing 16 of his 22 before halftime. He shot 7-for-11 from the floor and was perfect on both of his three-point attempts and all six of his free throw tries.

Matched up primarily with MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Mervin James, Smith matched his career high with 16 points and set a pair of new career standards with 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
 
Jasper Floyd added 15 points, Caleb Fields scored 11, and Brycen Goodine led the bench scoring with 10.
 
To round out the scoring, James Johns Jr. knocked down two treys en route to seven points, Louis Bleechmore scored five and Jack Brown had two.
 
As a unit, Fairfield shot 26-for-50 (52%) from the field, 9-for-19 (47.4%) from distance and 27-for-32 (84.4%) from the free throw line.
 
In addition to Smith's 10 rebounds, Fields collected six and Bleechmore hauled in five. The Stags were edged on the glass, 44-33, with Rider collecting 24 offensive rebounds en route to 23 second chance points.
 
Mervin James led Rider with 27 points on 10-for-24 shooting with Allen Powell adding 17 for the Broncs.
 
The lead changed eight times over the opening 12 minutes, culminating with a Leach jumper to put the Stags in front 30-29. Leach had 16 of Fairfield's first 30 points to fuel the early effort. The Stags led by as many as eight in the period, with the score settling at 48-42 at the break.
 
An 11-4 run out of the intermission extended the Fairfield lead to 59-46 with 15:42 to go. The Broncs climbed back to within five at 63-58 before Goodine stopped the spurt with a three-pointer to extend the cushion back to 66-58. When the tenacious Rider squad cut the deficit to 68-64 a few minutes later, free throws by Johns, Floyd and Leach all kept the Stags scoring climbing, and Goodine knocked down another dagger trey to make it a 76-66 game.
 
The Broncs made a final run with two Powell free throws cutting the score to 80-77 with 2:17 left. Leach had the answer with a turnaround in the paint. A minute later, James hit a pair from the stripe but, after a timeout, Leach threw a home run ball to a sprinting Goodine, who finished at the rim to run the score to 84-79 as action entered the final minute. Leach, Fields and Smith each contributed points from the free throw line in the last minute to help the Stags ice the 88-81 final.
 
Today's game opened a three-game road swing for the Stags. Fairfield will also visit Yale (Dec. 6) and Sacred Heart (Dec. 9) before returning to Mahoney Arena to host Wagner on Sunday, Dec. 17.