Fairfield Uses Balanced Attack To Defeat Howard
Fairfield, CT—December 7—Alphonso Leary and Anton Dickerson each scored 11 points, but the first half inside game and the second half perimeter game proved to be too much as Fairfield University defeated Howard University, 72-52 in a non-conference game at Alumni Hall.
The Bison (1-8) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before the Stags (5-3) woke up and reeled off 11 straight points. Howard, which suited up only nine players, refused to wilt and kept within striking distance until Fairfield closed the half with a 13-5 run to take a 36-24 lead to the locker room.
The Bison hurt themselves with 11 first half turnovers that the hosts converted into 12 points. Barrow led the way with 8 points while Hawkins, Nickerson and Nero tallied six points each for Fairfield which shot 54 percent from the field.
Howard was led by sophomore reserve forward Gary Lawrence, who led his team with 7 points and Leary, who added 6.
With Howard concerned about the inside game in the first 20 minutes, the Stags began to find the range from beyond the three-point line. After going 0 for 4 in the first half, Fairfield converted on 5 of 11 in the final stanza.
Any chances that the Bison had of a comeback was diminished when the Stags opened the second half with an 11-5 run and secure their fourth straight win.
Yorel Hawkins muscled his way for a game-high 16 points while Colin Nickerson and Maurice Barrow scored 11 and 10, respectively Derek Needham dealt out 13 assists while adding seven points.
Lawrence scored eight off the bench for the Bison and led his team with 7 rebounds. Mike Phillips, who came into the game with back-to-back doubles, scored only 2 points and grabbed a rebound, while Dadrian Collins, who averages 11.4, was held to 5 points. The 11 points by Leary was a career high for the freshman.
A bright spot for Howard was the play of the bench which scored 17 points after being shut out the past two games.
NEXT UP: Howard is off for 15 days before taking the court again in a home contest against Loyola (MD) on December 22 at 7 pm in Burr Gymnasium.