NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball rallied to cut a 24-point deficit down to just one point on Sunday afternoon at Merrimack, but the host Warriors held on and pulled away to close out a 74-63 final. Braden Sparks scored 21 points to lead four Stags in double figures.
 
With the loss, Fairfield falls to 5-5 overall and 0-2 in the MAAC. Merrimack moves to 5-6 with a 2-0 conference mark.
 
"I thought we showed some fight after a bad start, but you have to be ready to play hard from the opening tip-off," said Head Coach Chris Casey. "We found the guys that wanted to do that midway through the first half and went with them for the rest of the game. They fought hard to bring us back."
 
The 21 points for Sparks complete his third consecutive 20-point game and his fifth of the season. He knocked down five of Fairfield's seven three-pointers.
 
Brandon Benjamin posted his third double-double with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, including eight from the offensive glass. Tony Williams came off the bench to contribute 13 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Declan Wucherpfennig had 10 points, five rebounds, and three assists, and Eirc Mejia rounded out the scoring with two points.
 
Halon Rawlins did not factor into the scoring but contributed to the Stags' 38-28 lead on the glass with five boards in 19 minutes off the bench.
 
Merrimack led the game wire-to-wire, racing out to a 19-0 lead before Williams lifted the lid for Fairfield with the first of his two three-pointers. The Warriors built a margin as large as 29-5 in the first half before Sparks hit three straight from downtown to fuel an 11-1 run that cut the deficit to a more manageable 30-16 count. Another six-point surge that featured to Benjamin layups pulled the Stags to within six points at 34-28, and Fairfield eventually headed into the intermission trailing, 39-30.
 
The Stags started the second half with a Williams three-pointer; Wucherpfennig added back-to-back buckets and Benjamin converted a second-chance layup to make it an early 9-1 run that pulled Fairfield to within a point at 40-39. After two Merrimack free throws, Benjamin scored again to bring the score to 42-41, but Fairfield went scoreless for the ensuing six minutes of action as Merrimack rebuilt a double-digit cushion at 53-41.
 
Sparks connected from three-point range to start Fairfield's final push, followed by a Benjamin layup and then a three-point play for the big freshman, trimming the margin to 53-49 with 6:49 left. But once again, the Warriors had an answer as Merrimack needed just over three minutes to reconstruct a 65-52 advantage with under four minutes to play en route to taking the 74-63 final.
 
Kevair Kennedy led Merrimack with 20 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Tye Dorset added 19 points for the hosts.
 
The Stags return to non-conference action and return to Mahoney Arena next Sunday, Dec. 14 to host Monmouth.
 
Tickets are on sale now at FairfieldStags.com/TIX.