Box Score JERSEY CITY, N.J. – A balanced offense attacked powered Saint Peter's past Fairfield 69-58 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's basketball action on Saturday.
Marvin Dominique (Miramar, Fla./Miramar) paced the Peacocks (11-13, 5-8 MAAC) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Trevis Wyche (Neptune, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) added 12 points while Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, Pa./Math, Civics and Science Charter) tallied 10 points and seven rebounds and Tyler Gaskins (Roswell, Ga./Centennial) also chipped in 10 points in the winning effort.
Marcus Gilbert powered the Stags (6-17, 4-9 MAAC) with 28 points, including his 1,000th career point while Mike Kirkland registered 11 points in the loss.
Saturday's game was the first meeting between the two teams since last year's series that saw senior Desi Washington (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) hit the game-winning 3-pointers in the final 3.3 seconds of a game three times against the Stags. There was no real drama surrounding the outcome in the first meeting of 2015 after Saint Peter's took the lead in the first half and never looked back to end a two-game losing streak.
With the game tied at 8, the Peacocks 16-2 run to take the lead for good at 24-10 in the first half.
Gaskins gave Saint Peter's the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 15:05 on the clock to break an eight-all standstill. Coleman Johnson answered with a jumper at 13:50, but then the Peacocks rolled off the next 13 points to take a 14-point lead with 7:17 on the clock.
Rodney Hawkins (Baltimore, Md./Mount Zion) started the string of 13-straight points with a trey at the top of the key at 11:54 before Elisha Boone (Laurelton, N.Y./Abraham Lincoln) kissed the ball off the glass 34 seconds later for a six-point lead. Wyche made the score 19-10 after a triple at 10:41 before Welton made 1 of 2 at the line for a 10-point lead with nine minutes left in the stanza. Elias Desport (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium) scored in the paint at 8:18 and Jamel Fields (Albany, N.Y./Cheshire Academy) made two free throws to cap the run with 7:17 on the clock and a 24-10 advantage,
Fairfield ended their six-minute scoring drought with a back-to-back treys by Steve Smith and Tyler Nelson to key a 10-2 run that also saw Smith hit a second basket from behind the arc to trim the margin to 26-20 with 3:18 left in the first half.
Boone responded with a layup at 2:57 before Hawkins made the second of two free throws at 2:20 and Welton scored in the lane at 1:31 for a 31-20 lead to help Saint Peter's go into the locker room with a 33-23 advantage.
The Stags trimmed the margin to eight points twice to start the second half. With the Peacocks leading 39-31 with 14:40 left, Saint Peter's went on a 16-4 run to take its largest lead at 52-35 wit 9:48 remaining. Dominique and Boone each had four points in the spurt to pace the Peacocks.
Fairfield cut the margin to 11 points and 10 points in the final four minutes, but could not trim it to single digits the rest of the way and the Jersey City team earned its fourth-straight win in the series. The squad has won four straight against the Staggs for the first time since 1993-95.
Boone added eight points on the day while Hawkins chipped in six points off the bench. Saint Peter's had 10 of its 11 players that saw minutes score a point on the afternoon and the squad shot 50 percent for the third time this season from the floor.
Prior to the game the Peacocks honored Dominique, who reached the 1,000-point plateau against Iona on Jan. 31. The senior has now posted 844 of his 1,017 career points in a Saint Peter's uniform.
Both the Saint Peter's and Fairfield coaching staffs' wore blue puzzle piece pins to support Autism Speaks through the Coaches Powering Forward for Autism program. This weekend coaches across the country are wearing the pins to help raise awareness and money for Autism Speaks and their mission to help families challenged with autism today.
The Peacocks return to action at the Yanitelli Center on Monday at home against Siena. Game time is 7 p.m.
