Fairfield’s Second-Half Rally Beats Loyola Marymount

Loyola Marymount took a 7-minute 30-second plunge Monday, Fairfield University riding a second-half rally to an 82-75 victory at Fairfield, Conn.

With the deficit at its greatest, at 54-40 with 15:23 to play, Fairfield called time out. From there, the Stags (5-2) responded with a 21-6 run to a 61-60 lead with 7:53 left.

“Fairfield just didn’t give up tonight,” Loyola Coach John Olive said. “They played harder than we did. They played with more passion and with more intensity. We lost our poise on defense, and then we felt it slip away in the second half.”

Drew Henderson, who scored a season-high 20 points and had 16 rebounds, led Fairfield, which outrebounded Loyola, 46-24.

“They absolutely crushed us on the glass, and if we can’t rebound, we can’t win,” Olive said. “They executed down the stretch when they needed to and we didn’t. We’ve got a long, long way to go.

“Our rebounding tonight was atrocious.”

Loyola (3-5) was led by Bill Mazurie, who had a personal-best 26 points, including 13 of 16 from the free-throw line.