Road to MAAC-achusetts

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Erik Etherly had 10 points and seven rebounds to lead Loyola back into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994 with a 48-44 win over Fairfield Monday in the MAAC championship game.

The second-seeded Greyhounds (24-8) trailed by four at halftime, but opened the second half on an 11-1 run.

Loyola held Fairfield without a point for almost 8 minutes and then held on for its fifth win in six games.

Rakim Sanders scored 12 points and Ryan Olander had 11 for Fairfield (19-14), which upset the tournament’s top seed, Iona, in Sunday’s semifinals. Maurice Barrow added 10 points and 13 rebounds in the losing effort.

Loyola shot just 33 percent, but held Fairfield to 29 percent and just six second-half field goals.

Fairfield missed its first 13 shots after intermission and went 7:48 without a point, before a foul shot by Desmond Wade.

A jump shot by Etherly capped the run and gave the Greyhounds a 37-31 lead.

Colin Nickerson broke the Fairfield field-goal drought with a layup, but a 3-point play by Jordan Lathem stretched the lead back to seven.

It was 47-41 when Wade hit a fall-away 3-pointer to cut the Greyhound lead to just three points with just more than 2 1/2 minutes left. Fairfield had several chances to tie the game, but missed three 3s in the last minute.

Shane Walker’s foul shot gave the Greyhounds their final margin of victory.

Etherly, who scored 21 points in each of Loyola’s first two tournament games, picked up two fouls in the first 90 seconds of this one. But Loyola used a 10-2 run to go up 16-9 midway through the fist half.

Fairfield responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game as the Stags had success going inside. An assist, a blocked, shot and two free throws from Olander put Fairfield up 23-20, and his 3-pointer and another blocked shot helped send the Stags into the half up 30-26.

The Stags scored just 14 points after halftime.

The two teams split their regular-season meetings, each winning on the other’s home floor — Loyola by three points in Bridgeport on Jan. 13 and the Stags beat the Greyhounds 68-51 in Maryland on Feb. 12.

That was one of three losses in the Stags’ final four regular-season games. But Fairfield came alive during the tournament, avenging a regular season-ending loss to Rider in the opening round, and stunning top-seeded Iona by 10 points in Sunday’s semifinals.

Fairfield has been playing without its starting point guard, Derek Needham, who broke his left foot on Feb. 24 in a loss at Iona, and Wade, the backup, picked up his third foul early in the second half.

Loyola, the tournament’s second seed, breezed through their first two games in the tournament, beating Niagara by 13 points and Siena by 10. This was the just the Greyhounds second trip to the conference finals. They beat Manhattan in the 1994 championship game

Fairfield, which was playing in its seventh conference championship game, has not been to the NCAA tournament since winning the MAAC title in 1997.

The Greyhounds are just one win from tying the school record for victories in a season, set back in 1948-49. This is their first 20-win campaign as a Division I program.

Fairfield’s women lost earlier in the day to Marist in the women’s conference final.

Scott Machado paced Iona with 24 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Mike Glover contributed 19 points and eight rebounds, and Lamont Jones registered 16 points.

Fairfield will make its seventh appearance in the MAAC Men’s Basketball Championship game on Monday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN2. The Stags have won three MAAC titles (1986, 1987 and 1997).