Fairfield turns its attention to conference play after defeat

Alex Morales and Elijah Ford each had 15 points to lead Wagner (6-2) to a 63-50 victory over Fairfield 63-50 in a men’s basketball game Thursday afternoon in Bridgeport.

Caleb Green led the Stags (8-5) with 11 points, Chris Maidoh scored 10 and Taj Benning had nine rebounds.

The game featured six ties and nine lead changes

Fairfield completed the nonconference portion of the schedule with six wins — its most since the 2015-16 season. The Stags are 2-0 in the MAAC.

“We knew coming in that we were going to have a very difficult game against a very good team,” Fairfield coach Jay Young said. “Wagner is a very talented team, and I’m sure that they’re going to win a lot of games in their conference, and they beat us at some of the things we knew they excel at. They got to the free-throw line and did a good job on the offensive glass, and we just couldn’t get anything going offensively. There’s a lot for us to improve on as we get back into league play. We’ll get right back to work after Christmas and focus on the things that will make us a better basketball team.”

Green hit two of Fairfield’s six 3-pointers.

The Stags were lost the rebounding battle for just the second time this season, 38-31. Fairfield had nine offensive rebounds and scored 10 second-chance points. Wagner made up the difference by turning 12 Stags turnovers into 15 points.

The game was the start of a four-game homestand for the Stags, who have three MAAC contests at Webster Bank Arena coming up. Fairfield hosts Manhattan (8-3, 1-1) on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. and then welcomes defending MAAC Champion Iona (10-2, 2-0) on Jan. 2 at 1 p.m.

The homestand wraps up on Jan. 7 against Marist.