FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A season-best, sold-out crowd of 3,561 fans was on hand at Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Sunday after Fairfield University Men's Basketball turned an eight-point halftime lead into a convincing 88-64 win over visiting Siena. Jalen Leach led the scoring effort with 21 points as 11 Stags contributed to the final point total.
 
With their third straight win, the Stags improve to 18-10 on the season and 12-5 in the MAAC. Fairfield claims first place by a half-game over 11-5 Quinnipiac, who the Stags defeated in Hamden on Friday to split the season series. The Stags' 18 wins and 12 MAAC wins are the program's most since going 19-14 with a 12-8 conference mark in the 2015-16 campaign.
 
"In the first half, Siena did a good job of slowing us down," said Interim Head Coach Chris Casey. "But we were able to push the pace more after halftime, and we're in a situation where we have more guys than they do right now, and that helped us pull away. I thought we played great basketball in the second half."
 
Siena falls to 4-23 on the year and 3-13 in MAAC play. The Saints were without four projected starters on Sunday due to injury and illness. The Stags completed the season sweep of the Saints for the first time since 2017-18, having previously posted another 24-point win over Siena, 93-69, on Jan. 5 in Albany.
 
Leach's 21-point performance follows a 27-point effort in Friday's win at Quinnipiac. The senior guard has reached the 20-point plateau in 11 contests this season, including eight of Fairfield's 17 MAAC games to date. He was also one rebound shy of a double-double with a career-best nine boards.
 
Brycen Goodine, who torched Siena for 40 points at MVP Arena on Jan. 5, canned three three-pointers on his way to a 15-point performance. Caleb Field had four treys en route to 14 points, and Louis Bleechmore was just short of double figures with nine. Also in the post, Peyton Smith chipped in eight points.
 
Jasper Floyd scored six points and stuffed the statsheet with five rebounds, seven assists and four steals. He is only the second Stag in program history with 70 steals in a season, four short of the record 74 thefts amassed by Kyle Commodore in the 1998-99 campaign.
 
Matt Curtis added five points, Alexis Yetna scored four and a trio of Stags each netted two points – Birima Seck, James Johns Jr. and Luke Davidson. Davidson's layup capped the scoring as the first two points of his Fairfield career.
 
Led by Leach's nine rebounds, the Stags had a 37-34 advantage on the glass. Fairfield has won the rebounding battle in each game of its three-game streak after being behind of tied in the battle of the boards in seven consecutive outings.
 
Mason Courtney and Brendan Coyle paced the Siena scoring with 13 points apiece, while Giovanni Emejuru added 11 for the Saints.
 
Fairfield Men's Basketball is back in action and back on ESPNU on Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at Marist. The Red Foxes are 15-10 overall and 10-6 in MAAC play after a 69-60 loss at Saint Peter's this afternoon. The Stags claimed the first meeting with the Red Foxes, 82-61, on Jan. 7 at Mahoney Arena.