Derek Needham scored a career-high 29 points as second-seeded Fairfield held off seventh-seeded Canisius 67-57 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals on Saturday night.
Anthony Johnson added 16 points and a pair of blocks for the Stags (21-9), who advanced to face the winner of the Iona-Niagara quarterfinal in Sunday's semifinals.
Greg Logins had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Golden Griffins (15-17), who also got 15 from Frank Turner.
Fairfield used a 31-5 run to take a 35-14 halftime lead, but Canisius cut the lead to 39-33 on Turner's drive with 12:45 to play.
Canisius got within 42-37 at the midway point of the second half, but Needham, a freshman, drained one of his five 3-pointers.
Turner was ejected on a flagrant technical foul with 5:09 remaining after the referees checked a replay that showed Turner hit Needham.
