BRIDGEPORT, CT – Monmouth University Men's Basketball (11-6, 3-3 MAAC) picked up critical late stops on the road to grind out a key MAAC victory Tuesday night, topping Fairfield University (8-10, 2-5 MAAC) 61-58 behind 16 points from George Papas. The win is Monmouth's nation-leading eighth on the road this season.
 
Jake Wojcik's two triples gave the home team an early six-point lead in the second, which was immediately answered by a 6-0 Hawks run to tie at 42. MU then scored eight straight to take a 53-47 lead with 7:23 to go, and led by seven after a Walker Miller poster dunk with 3:48 left. Fairfield scored the next six to trim the lead to two before Marcus McClary got to the rim to make it a four-point affair. Jesus Cruz hit a three to cut it to one and after Fairfield got it back, Taj Benning drove to the rim before a key block from Miller got it back to MU. Myles Ruth hit two clutch free throws before the Hawks got one final stop, forcing a long contested three that came up short.
 
Papas and Jake Wojcik traded threes early, with each hitting three in the opening minutes, before a Fairfield 9-0 run gave them a 17-10 lead. MU fought back later in the period, eventually taking the lead on the heels of a 7-0 run sparked by Jarvis Vaughan's first basket of the season, a wing three. The Stags scored the final five points before intermission to lead 33-31.

NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"It feels good to get back on the other side. Jay's team is a really, really good team. We're trying to make people miss, sometimes you have good defensive numbers but you didn't make them miss. We need to force the misses, that's when I'm happy with our defense." – Head Coach King Rice

"This win was huge. This was a get back game for me, I've been looking forward to this one since they ended our season last year. I told our team we're going to come in with energy and win this game with defense." – Senior George Papas
 
-Monmouth wins its nation-leading eighth road game of the season.
-MU snaps a four-game losing streak.
-The Hawks move back to .500 in the MAAC at 3-3.
-Jarvis Vaughan posted his first points of the season, scoring five.
-Myles Ruth had three steals, a season-best.
-Monmouth is the second MAAC team to reach 11 wins this season.
-The win is Monmouth's first in 2022.
-MU has won three of five over Fairfield.
-The game was the first regular season matchup between the schools since March 4, 2020.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU limited Fairfield to 30.4% shooting in the second half.
-Monmouth outshot Fairfield overall 49% to 43%.
-The Hawks outrebounded the Stags 33-22.
-MU dominated points in the paint, 32-18.
-The Hawks and Stags each put three in double figures.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth hosts Manhattan Sunday at 2:00 p.m. to open a four-game homestand.