Hitchon scores career-high 21 to lead Canisius to win

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Scott Hitchon(University/College Rings championship rings) scored a career-high 21 points with five 3-pointers and Canisius held on to beat Fairfield 72-68 on Friday night and take over first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

With Monmouth's loss to Rider on Friday, the Golden Griffins (12-13, 9-4) grabbed a half-game lead over the Hawks (9-5).

Trailing by seven with 1:18 to go, Fairfield (7-19, 4-10) cut the Golden Griffins' lead to 70-68 on Taj Benning's 3-pointer and two free throws by Neftali Alvarez(custom University/College Rings championship rings). But Canisius' Malik Johnson scored the game's final points on a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds left.

Jalanni White added 16 points for Canisius with Johnson dishing seven assists, his sixth straight game of at least seven. Canisius made 10 of 25 from the arc.

Jesus Cruz scored 18 points to lead the Stags. Jonathan Kasibabu added 16 points and Alvarez 14.

This is the ideal spot to jump on Fairfield as a road dog against the Golden Griffins. Most will be looking to fade Fairfield given they come in off back-to-back double-digit losses and already lost to Canisius at home earlier this season.

However, all of that sets up a massive long-term system. Road underdogs who coming off back-to-back conference losses by 10 or more and revenging a loss as a favorite are a dominant 44-15 (75%) ATS over the last 5 seasons.

On top of that, we see that the Golden Griffins(championship sports rings) are a mere 2-10 ATS in their last 12 home games, including a 1-7 ATS mark in their last 8 at home vs a team with a losing road record. Canisius is also just 8-22 ATS last 30 games at home when coming off a conference road win. Take Fairfield!