Courtesy of FairfieldStags.com.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Derek Needham scored a game-high 20 points and was one of four Fairfield University men’s basketball players in double figures as the Stags won their third straight game with a 69-58 decision over Drexel University.
The Stags did with defense as they have through this current three-game run. The team held Drexel to 38 percent shooting from the floor, 20 percent from three-point range and under 60 points for the second time in 10 games. Fairfield forced 12 turnovers, seven of which were a result of seven Stag steals with Colin Nickerson accounting for four of those thefts.
Fairfield jumped out to an early five-point lead as Needham tallied the first five points of the game and Nickerson finished the opening run with a steal and layup. Drexel chipped away at the lead by scoring six straight points to take the lead for the first time at 8-7. The Dragons continued to lead for most of the next five minutes, holding a three-point advantage on two occasions.
Maurice Barrow‘s three-point play erased the second of those three-point leads to tie the game at 19-19. A pair of Nickerson free throws and a jumper from Keith Matthews continued the run to give the Stags their biggest lead to that point at 24-19 with 3:53 left in the half. Fairfield would see a pair of points shaved off that advantage by intermission, heading into the locker room up by a 28-25 score.
Drexel started the second with a pair of free throws to pull within a point at 28-27 which started a stretch which would eventually allow the Dragons to regain the lead at 38-36 at the 13:56 mark. Desmond Wade quickly erased that deficit with a three-point shot to push Fairfield in front at 39-38, which started an 11-0 run that would raise the lead to nine points at 47-38 with nine minutes on the clock. Wade scored the first eight of those 11 points with another three-point shot and a layup.
Fairfield secured a double-digit edge after a layup from Needham made the score 49-39 which Maurice Barrow followed with his first three pointer of the season raised the score to 52-39 at the 6:18 mark. Drexel came as close as five points at 61-56 with 1:51 remaining, but the Stags ended any comeback hopes with five consecutive points to regain an 11-point lead.
Needham made two three-point field goals in the first half, the second of which set the Fairfield school record for career three-point field goals made at 231. He eclipsed Greg Francis’ (class of 1997) standard of 230.
Fairfield does not put on the uniforms again until Saturday, December 22 when it heads to St. Joseph’s University for a 2 pm game in Philadelphia. The game represents the first of five straight road games that sends the Stags to Philadelphia, Norfolk, Buffalo, and Baltimore over the next three weeks.
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