Dec 28, 2002
BRONX, N.Y. -- Deng Gai and Michael Bell came off the bench to score 20 and 17 points, respectively, as the men's basketball team (5-3 overall) posted a 91-83 win over Fordham University (1-8 overall). The Stags won their third consecutive game, while the Rams fell for the eighth straight time.
The Stags jumped out to a double-digit lead with a fast start, running the score to 21-9 with 14 minutes remaining in the first half. Eight different Fairfield players scored during the run, including six markers from freshman DeWitt Maxwell.
The double-digit lead remained for the next five minutes, 27-16, but the Stags' offense stalled from that point. Fairfield scored just eight points over the final 12 minutes of the half, which allowed Fordham to secure the lead at halftime, 37-33. Maxwell scored a team-high eight points by making all three field goal attempts and both free throw tries in the first 20 minutes.
Fairfield battled back to tie the game at 40-40 off Kudjo Sogadzi's jumper with 18:07 left in the second half. Fordham answered with a 10-1 run over the next two-plus minutes, making the score 50-41, as Michael Haynes and John Blackgrove each hit a three-pointer during the stretch.
The pendulum swung back in Fairfield's favor over the next two minutes, as the Stags quickly erased the nine-point deficit and regained the lead following Bell's three-pointer with 13:22 remaining. Over the next four minutes, the two teams combined for five lead changes and five ties, before Fairfield secured the advantage for the rest of the game. Bell's three-point shot pushed the Stags in front for good at 63-60. The Red and White would lead by as many as 11 points later in the half (78-67 with 4:55 remaining), before the team settled for the eight-point win.
Maxwell finished the game with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Nick Delfico added 10 markers for Fairfield. Four Fordham players tallied 15 points in the game - Mark Jarrell-Wright, Ashanti Burke, Glenn Batemon and Michael Haynes.
