Feb. 5, 2006
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Terrance Todd scored a team-high 14 points, while freshmen Jonathan Han and Herbie Allen added 11 and nine points, respectively, leading the Fairfield University men's basketball team to a 68-64 victory over Niagara University. It marked the second straight home win for Fairfield, which returns to the road against Siena College on Tuesday night.
The Stags led throughout most of the game, with the exception coming early in the game. Niagara jumped out to a two-point lead after Clif Brown hit a three-point basket to push the Purple Eagles in front at 8-7 with 16:45 remaining in the first half. J.R. Duffey made one of two free throws to extend the visitors' lead to two points at 9-7, but the lead evaporated quickly when Todd hit a layup with 14:23 left on the clock, tying the score at 9-9.
Geoff Middleton placed the Stags back in the lead with a layup on Fairfield's next possession, making the score 11-9 with 13:51 remaining in the first half. The layup was the first of nine straight for the Stags which made the score 18-9 at the ten-minute mark. Fairfield secured its first double digit lead when DeWitt Maxwell dunked the ball with 7:13 on the clock, raising the score to 24-13. Fairfield's lead eventually reached 14 points at 34-20 at the one-minute mark, before it settled for a 10-point half time lead.
The Stags kept their double-figure lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half, improving its advantage to 14 points at 53-39. Han tallied five straight points to close that run. Niagara began to cut into the lead from that point, netting seven straight points to make the score 53-46. After Fairfield briefly pushed the lead back to 10 points at 59-49, Niagara went on an 10-3 spurt to pull within three points, 62-59 with 1:53 on the clock.
Fairfield would not allow the visitors to come any closer, thanks to key free throw shooting by the freshmen back court. Han (2 for 4) and Allen (4 for 4) made six of their eight combined free throws to keep Niagara from making any more runs.
Brown led all scorers with 22 points, while J.R. Duffey and Lorenzo Miles each tallied 13 points for Niagara.
