Remember that 6-for-11 shooting from 3-point range that Fairfield had in the first half against Virginia? Along with strong rebounding, it was all that was keeping the Stags close to the Cavaliers in the opening round of the NIT.
Well, that aim got off when Fairfield moved to the opposite end of the floor. The Stags shot just 1-for-10 from long range in the second half and Virginia caught a little bit of momentum to down Fairfield 54-45. The Cavaliers will move on to face the winner of Penn and Delaware.
It wasn't just the long range shooting that failed the Stags, it was shoot from anywhere. In total, they made just five shots after the break, and shot 20.8 percent from the floor. Virginia wasn't shooting much better (33.3 percent), but it it hard to overcome such a dismal performance from Fairfield.
Josip Mikulic finished with 13 to lead Fairfield, and Desmond Wade and Derek Needham each finished with 10 in the loss. Virginia's Joe Harris came out of the break hot, and had 15 points to lead all scorers.