Loyola 66 Fairfield 65

The Fairfield University men's basketball team (12-4, 5-1 MAAC) ended their 11 game winning streak as they were edged by the Loyola Greyhounds (7-9, 3-3 MAAC). Click for a complete recap and boxscore.

The Least You Should Know:
-This is the first loss for the Stags since late November when they were defeated by St.Joseph at the Webster Bank Arena. Speaking of streaks, this is the first time they lost at Loyola since 1998. They previously had a 13 game winning streak on the road against the Greyhounds.

-This is by far the most points that they allowed to a MAAC team and the most points given up since November 15th when they lost to Rutgers. This is the second most allowed in any game on the season.

-Ryan Olander sat after he picked up his fourth foul, he only played 28 minutes on the game. When he went on the bench Justin Drummond went on a tear and scored 7 points.

-The Stags did have a chance at the end of the game but Ryan Olander could not hit the three pointer, and the Greyhounds followed with a dunk off the inbounds (even though it might have been a 5 second violation)

This was a bad game all over. The defense really struggled as Loyola seemed to be able to score at will, and they did hit alot of clutch threes when they needed it the most. Without Olander, the Stags seemed very thin and Loyola took advantage and really killed the Stags in the paint and all over on offense.

The key stat is of course: 8-19. That is what the entire team did at the free throw line. It was really embarrasing to say the least. They were getting better at the line in recent games but obviously not here. Needham, Edney, and Hawkins who are the team's best free throw shooters went a combined 4-12 from the line. Inexcusable as those three players should be your leaders that step up in crunch time, but Fairfield seemed to be lacking leaders down the stretch.

Before the game the team watched the match between Buster Douglass and Mike Tyson and the coaches explained that they could become like Mike Tyson and just settle to be good, or they could stay hungry. Obviously, they got knocked out.

Player of the Game: Derek Needham with a team high 14 points (4-7 from 3) and 4 assists.

Up Next: The Stags travel to Rider to play the Broncs on Monday 1/17 at 7 PM.