Nelson with 18, Fairfield holds on to edge Siena 70-69

Feb 22, 2018, 03:00 am

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Tyler Nelson scored 18 points with six rebounds, three assists and three steals and Fairfield rallied in the second half and held on to edge Siena 70-69 on Wednesday night.

Ferron Flavors Jr. added 14 points with seven rebounds for the Stags (13-15, 8-9 Mid-American Athletic Conference) who have won three straight. Jonathan Kasibabu had 13 points and five rebounds and Aidas Kavaliauskas had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Fairfield trailed 36-30 at the break but a Kavaliauskas 3-pointer evened it at 42-all with 14:43 to play. Flavors sank a 3 to give the Stags a 55-53 lead with 7:49 left and a layup by Kevin Senghore-Peterson and two Flavors free throws pushed it to 67-60 with 49 seconds remaining. Siena's Christian Bentley drained a 3-pointer with two seconds to go for the final score.

Kadeem Smithen scored 16 points with six rebounds to lead the Saints (8-22, 4-13) who have lost the last three.