UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball was unable to recover from an early deficit, falling to Yale by a score of 91-66 at the Naistmith Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena. Noah Best and Makuei Riek each scored 13 points – a new career high for both Stags – in the contest.
 
Best's career-high 13 points came on 4-for-6 shooting from the field. He knocked down his only three-point attempt and made all four of his free throws. For Riek, the 13 points were the first 13 of his collegiate career and all came in the second half to spark Fairfield's best offense stretch of the day.
 
Louis Bleechmore also reached double figures for Fairfield (2-4) with 11 points.

"I thought for the last 30 minutes, we competed really well. But for the first 10-11 minutes we didn't. We didn't make plays, we didn't make shots, and we didn't get stops," said Head Coach Chris Casey. "When you're playing against a good team, you can't leave points out there. And defensively, we have some things to work on, including defensive rebounding."
 
Yale (4-3) got off to a fast start with the game's first 11 points. Sparked by a 5-for-5 showing from three-point range by All-Ivy sharpshooter John Poulakidas, the Bulldogs led by as many as 24 points in the opening stanza. Fairfield made the final push of the half with a Prophet Johnson rebound and putback for two and a Deon Perry floater to beat the buzzer and send the Stags into the locker room facing a 46-26 margin.
 
The Bulldogs started the second half on a 7-3 run to take a 24-point advantage, before Riek scored the first five point of his career to start a run for the Stags. Isaac Munkadi added two free throws, Braden Sparks canned a triple and Riek had six more during the stretch; all told, it was a 16-6 run for Fairfield to cut margin to a more manageable 59-45 count with 12:14 to go.
 
The 14-point deficit held to a 63-49 score with 9:08 to go, at which point the Bulldogs embarked on an 11-1 spurt to reclaim the largest lead of the day at 74-50. The Stags continued to put points on the board, but Yale responded to each surge with points of their own to close out the 91-66 final.
 
In addition to Fairfield's three scorers in double figures, Spark had seven points, Johnson scored six and the duo of Perry and Jamie Bergens netted five points apiece. Munkadi finished with three points and Michael Rogan knocked down his only shot from the floor – a three-pointer – to add three points to the Stags' tally.
 
Poulakidas led all scorers with 22 points. Bez Mbeng facilitated the Yale offense with seven points and 11 assists.
 
Fairfield Men's Basketball concludes action at the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-Off tomorrow with a 1 p.m. meeting with Vermont. The Catamounts are 3-3 on the season following a 75-71 win over Delaware today in Uncasville.