GAME NOTES: The Fairfield Stags make their first stop on a three-game road trip at the Koessler Center tonight, as they take on the Canisius Golden Griffins in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. The Stags closed out a three-game homestand on Sunday by losing to Niagara by a 73-61 score. The loss brought the squad's short two-game win streak to a stop, as it dipped to 7-13 overall and an even 5-5 in conference play. Fairfield now heads away from home, where it has gone 3-2 against conference foes thus far. As for Canisius, its miserable season continued on Sunday with a 66-44 setback at Marist. It was the third loss in a row for the Griffins, who dropped to a dismal 3-17 overall and an equally as bad 1-9 in conference play. As far as the all-time series goes, Fairfield owns a 34-29 edge over Canisius and that includes a 70-51 victory in a meeting that took place exactly a week ago.

The Stags turned the ball over 16 times and made just 5-of-18 shots from behind the arc, as they were downed by Niagara this past weekend. The team also had a little trouble at the charity stripe, converting on a mediocre 20-of-31 attempts. Anthony Johnson paced Fairfield in the loss with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Mike Evanovich and Herbie Allen chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Jonathan Han was limited to just six points, but he did hand out a team-high nine assists. For the season, Han is the only player on the roster currently averaging in double figures, with 10.8 ppg. He also leads the team in assists (6.0 apg) and steals (33), and he is knocking down 46.8 percent of his attempts from long range. As a team, the Stags have fared well from three-point territory this season, connecting on 37.1 percent of their tries. Unfortunately, Fairfield is averaging just 63.3 ppg, despite the solid three-point shooting.

The Golden Griffins shot a horrific 25.9 percent from the floor, including a poor 7-of-25 showing from downtown, as they were blown out at Marist over the weekend. Canisius also had trouble hanging onto the ball, committing 17 costly turnovers. Despite going just 3-of-16 from the floor, Frank Turner finished with a team-best nine points in the setback. For the season, Turner is the only player scoring in double digits at the moment, with 12.2 ppg. He is also dishing out a team-best 4.4 apg and his 24 steals are also tops on the squad. Overall, Canisius has struggled greatly at the offensive end of the court, averaging a mere 58.4 ppg behind a lackluster 38.3 percent shooting from the field.

Fairfield is simply the better team here and it should be able to get past a Canisius club that hasn't shown much life this season.