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Box Score

Canisius Canis 11-21,7-13 MAAC

Fairfield Fairf 15-17,8-12 MAAC

Canisius Canis

11-21,7-13 MAAC

Final

Mar. 08, 2022

Fairfield Fairf

15-17,8-12 MAAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Canisius Canis	20	30	50
Fairfield Fairf	31	41	72

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 3/8/2022 11:20:00 PM

Men’s Basketball Falls to Fairfield in Opening Round of MAAC Basketball Championship

GAME RECAP
Jesus Cruz scored a game-high 19 points to help lead the seventh-seeded Fairfield Stags to a 72-50 victory over Canisius in the first round of the 2022 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championship Tuesday night at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Taj Benning and Caleb Green added 15 and 10 points, respectively, for the Stags, who will face second-seeded Saint Peter's in the quarterfinal round Wednesday at 9:30 p.m.

Junior Akrum Ahemed led Canisius with nine points, while senior Malek Green chipped in eight points. Freshman Xzavier Long had a game-high 10 rebounds for the Golden Griffins, who conclude the campaign with an 11-21 record.

Canisius struggled to open the contest, as the Griffs made just three of their first 13 shot attempts from the floor, allowing Fairfield to open a six-point lead, 12-6, over the opening 8:00.

Defensively, the Griffs held Fairfield scoreless for a 6:18 stretch, forcing eight consecutive missed shots from the field. Canisius was able to cut into Fairfield's cushion and trailed by just three points at 18-15 following a layup by sophomore Siem Uijtendaal, but that would be as close as the Griffs would get the rest of the way, as the Stags closed out the remaining 5:21 of the opening frame on a 13-5 run to take a 31-20 advantage into the locker room at intermission.

Junior Armon Harried opened the scoring in the second half with a layup before Fairfield extended its lead to 43-22 behind a 12-0 run over 3:39 of game action.

An 8-3 Fairfield spurt put the Stags ahead by its largest margin of the contest, 59-34, with 7:27 left in the contest. Canisius used a 12-4 run to trim Fairfield's advantage to 63-46 with 3:15 left. The Stags, however, used a 9-4 spurt over the final 3:09 to lock up the victory.

Canisius shot 26.6 percent from the field and 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from 3-point range in the losing effort. Senior Jordan Henderson added seven points and a team-high three assists, while Harried was good for six points and six rebounds. For the game, Canisius out-rebounded Fairfield by a 42-35 clip, but the Stags ended the night by outscoring the Griffs 38-22 in the paint.

Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon's Postgame Comments
"I thought we dug ourselves a big hole in the first half. We had missed free-throws, we missed lay-ups and we just could not get them stopped enough to get back in the game."

"We got in too much foul trouble early on. We had three guys with two fouls in the first half and that really put us in the hole. I thought we took some rushed threes, but a couple of them were really good looks that we just didn't make. We also had a couple of really good looks at the rim, but we just didn't finish. Give Fairfield credit, they got up and blocked some of those shot attempts, too."

"We had a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries, a lot of things these guys had to fight through all year long. We had some guys who were called on to play heavy minutes. I am really appreciative of the collective effort of these guys. We came in here on a three-game win streak. We were fighting through things all along the way. I am thankful for the effort."

GAME NOTES
• This was the 93rd all-time meeting between these two Jesuit rivals, and Fairfield leads the series 53-40. The Stags' win was their fourth-straight over Canisius, dating back to the 2020-21 campaign.
• Tuesday marked the fifth MAAC Tournament meeting between the two schools. Fairfield leads that portion of the series 3-2.
• The Griffs fell to 13-7 all-time in the first round of the MAAC Men's Basketball Championship.
• Tuesday was the first time all season where a Canisius player did not record double-digits in the scoring column.
• Long is the first Canisius freshman to record 10-or more rebounds in his MAAC Tournament debut since Isaiah Reese had 11 boards against Saint Peter's on March 3, 2017 in Albany, N.Y.

For complete coverage of Canisius men's basketball, please follow the Griffs on social media at @Griffs_MBB on Twitter and Instagram.

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