Sacred Heart cruises past Fairfield 71-58 in 1st round of MAAC Tournament

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Amiri Stewart had 18 points to lead Sacred Heart to a 71-58 victory over Fairfield on Tuesday night in the first round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.

The seventh-seeded Pioneers (15-17) advance to play No. 2 seed Merrimack in a Wednesday quarterfinal.

Stewart added eight rebounds and six assists for Sacred Heart. Tanner Thomas totaled 14 points and six rebounds. Anquan Hill scored 12 on 5-for-10 shooting.

Braden Sparks led the way for the 10th-seeded Stags (12-20) with 16 points and seven rebounds. Jamie Bergens pitched in with 10 points and five assists. Prophet Johnson contributed eight points, 10 rebounds and five steals.

Sacred Heart took the lead with 19:21 left in the first half and never looked back. The score was 39-29 at halftime, with Stewart racking up 10 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.