Box Score ALBANY, N.Y. – Saint Peter's nearly made a comeback from 16-points down, but Fairfield held on to earn a 64-55 decision in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Quarterfinals on Saturday.
Trailing by 16 points with 14:13 left, the Peacocks (14-16) stormed back with a 21-8 run to make it a three-point game with 65 seconds left. Marcus Gilbert then hit a wide-open 3-pointer from the right side of the court to seal the Stags (19-12) victory and end a two-game losing streak against Saint Peter's in the postseason.
Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, Pa./Math, Civics and Science Charter) paced Saint Peter's with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Trevis Wyche (Neptune, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) added 13 points and Antwon Portley (Lancaster, Texas/Lancaster) chipped in 11 points in the loss.
Gilbert, who had 17 points in the first half after posting 18 points in the two games this season against the Peacocks, powered Fairfield with 20 points. Tyler Nelson registered 15 points and Matija Milin chipped in 10 points in the winning effort.
Fairfield jumped out to the advantage and held on after a furious comeback attempt from Saint Peter's to move onto to a date with top seed Monmouth on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
The Stags took their largest lead at 50-34 after a basket by Kevin Degnan at 13:51. The Peacocks then scored 21 of the next 29 points to make it a three-point game twice. Welton paced the spurt with seven points while Wyche added six points.
Wyche trimmed the margin to 56-53 on a jumper with 2:10 on the clock, but Nelson hit two free throws with 1:18 left to restore a five-point edge. Portley drained a jumper with 65 seconds left, Gilbert nailed a wide-open 3-pointer and the Peacocks could not get any closer the rest of the way.
Saint Peter's struck first in the game in the first half with a trey from Portley 18 seconds into the tilt.
Fairfield then scored the next nine points to take a 9-3 lead thanks to baskets from four different players.
After Chazz Patterson (Brown Mills, Md./Trenton Catholic) trimmed the margin to 19-14 on a jumper at 9:51, the Stags went on a 16-4 run to take its largest lead at 33-18 with 5:45 left in the first half. Gilbert had 11 points in this stretch.
The Peacocks then closed the half on a 7-0 spurt to go into the locker room trailing 35-27. Wyche started the run with a jumper at 3:36 before Welton scored the final five points on a free throw with 3:09 left and layups at 2:35 and 1:25 to make it an eight-point game at the half.
Fairfield started the second half on a 15-7 run to extend its lead to 50-34 with 14:13 left. Nelson powered the spurt with five points. Saint Peter's showed its fight and came back to make it a three-point game in the final two minutes, but the Stags held on for the win.
This marked the fourth-straight year the two teams met in the postseason. Fairfield won the tilt in 2013 before Saint Peter's won the last two years with all three meetings coming in the MAAC Tournament Opening Round.
Elias Desport (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium) finished the game with eight points and six rebounds in his final collegiate game. The senior finishes his career with 283 points and 271 rebounds in his four-year career.
Saint Peter's posted its third conference winning season under 10th-year head coach John Dunne and the 12 wins were the most under the coach. With the exception of Desport, the Peacocks return everyone on the roster and will add three transfers that sat out this season due to NCAA Division I transfer regulations in 2016-17.
