Junior Juan Mendez had a team-high 17 points in the loss to Fairfield.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Fairfield used 65.2 percent (15 of 23) second-half shooting to hand the Niagara University men’s basketball team a 69-59 loss Saturday afternoon at the Gallagher Center in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action.

Dewitt Maxwell led Fairfield (14-8, 7-4 MAAC) with a season-high tying 22 points while three other Stags also reached double figures. Kudjo Sogadzi scored 16 points while Michael Bell and Tyquawn Goode each added 10 points.

Junior Juan Mendez (Montreal, Quebec) led Niagara (14-7, 8-4 MAAC) with 17 points and a game-high three blocked shots. Seniors Tremmell Darden (Las Vegas) and James Reaves (Rochester/Edison Tech) scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Behind the play of Darden (nine points) and Mendez (eight points), Niagara took a 33-30 lead at the half. Freshman Lorenzo Miles (Washington, D.C.) hit a three-point field goal from the corner to give the Purple Eagles a 25-17 lead with 8:09 remaining in the first half. That lead was Niagara’s largest of the game.

Fairfield took a 38-36 lead with 16:58 remaining on a three-point field goal by Michael Bell and the Stags, who made eight of their first 12 field goal attempts, never trailed again. Niagara, on a conventional three-point play by Mendez, tied the game at 48 with 10:43 to play. Fairfield responded with five-straight points and Niagara could not get any closer than two points for the rest of the game.

Junior Alvin Cruz (Rio Pedras, Puerto Rico) sank a three-point field goal off of an in-bounds play with 2:24 left to bring Niagara within two, 60-58, but Sogadzi made two free throws and Niagara turned the ball over on its ensuing possession to squash the Purple Eagles’ comeback hopes.

Niagara returns to action Feb. 14 when it plays Saint Peter’s in Jersey City, N.J. at 2 p.m.