Right before you dig into some turkey, let’s dig into some MAAC results over the past few days. Iona plays Florida State on Thanksgiving night in Orlando (9pm on ESPNU).

MAAC Monday: Mon-defeated

Fairfield 72, American 56. Fairfield turned a two-point halftime deficit into a big win by shooting a 72.2% effective FG% in the second half. Yorel Hawkins led the Stags with 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting. Fairfield was out rebounded by American by 10 but forced the Eagles into 20 turnovers.

Manhattan 73, Florida Atlantic 66. The Jaspers never surrendered the lead in their second win of the season. Antoine Pearson led the way with 18 points, Darryl Crawford and Patrick Bouli each had 12 points.

The MAAC is 3-0 on Mondays this year.

Tuesday: British Strike for Rider & Loyola

Rider 88, Florida A&M 73. London-native Justin Robinson scored 23 to lead Rider in their first game outside the United States, an 88-73 victory over Florida A&M. Rider opened up with an 18-4 run to start the second half to turn a 2 point deficit into a 12 point lead. The Broncs were able to force 19 turnovers on a winless team.

Loyola (Maryland) 58, Dartmouth 41. Loyola had a scary situation going into the second half with Dartmouth hanging close. They saved their best for late: going on a 14-1 run and not allowing a point in the final 5:41 in Loyola’s second road victory of the year. Northampton (England) native Shane Walker posted his first career double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds on 5 of 12 shooting. Brett Harvey was Loyola’s only other double digit scorer with 10 points on 4 of 11 shooting. Harvey made Loyola’s only three pointer of the night.

Canisius 73, Buffalo 71. Frank Turner nailed a jumper with one second to go to finish a 7-0 run and give the Golden Griffins their 2nd win in a row. Canisius was able to close a halftime deficit of 10 by shooting a 56.6% effective FG%. Julius Coles led the Griffs with 26 points on 9 of 16 shooting, going 4 of 7 from behind the arc. Turner had a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Greg Logins (14 points, 5 of 12 shooting) made a three with 14:33 to go off an assist from Turner to give the Griffs their first lead since 3-0.

Long Island 77, St. Peter’s 71. Two starters fouled out and St. Peter’s could not shoot well enough to beat Long Island in a 6 point loss. The last lead the Peacocks held was with 13:54 to go off a Wesley Jenkins (11 points) three pointer. Jeron Belin led the Peacocks with 22 points. Darius Conley and Ryan Bacon both fouled out for St. Peter’s, who only made 11 of 19 free throws on their end. Their 28 fouls are the most for the Peacocks in a game this year.

Wednesday: Tyrone Lewis Returns

Niagara 74, Mount St. Mary’s 64. Tyrone Lewis returns after a 4 game absence, scoring 18 with 5 three pointers, in a 10 point win for the Purple Eagles. Niagara went on a 15-6 run to take a tie score to a 9 point lead to end the first half. Both teams combined to go 14 for 48 (29.1%) from three point range: each team shot 24 threes. Niagara’s road win ended Mount St. Mary’s 11 home court win streak.

Fairfield 81, Howard 60. Fairfield got off to a hot start, shooting an effective FG% of 63.3% in the first half, and put away Howard quickly in an 81-60 rout. Yorel Hawkins led the way for the Stags with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting. Sophomore Mansfield native Ryan Olander scored 14 points off the bench and had a team-high 4 of Fairfield’s 6 blocks.

Manhattan 69, American 62. Manhattan used a 12-2 run in the second half to break free from a tie score. Darryl Crawford helped too with 26 points and nailing seven of 11 free throws to seal the deal for the Jaspers. This was the Jaspers first road win on the season.

Sam Houston St 80, Rider 68. Rider could not stop Southland Conference favorite Sam Houston State who went on a 9-0 run within 2 minutes in the 2nd half to get ahead of Rider. Ryan Thompson led the Broncs with 23 points which moved him to 10th on the all-time scoring list. Rider went only 7 of 24 from behind the arc to finish their two days in Mexico.