Merrimack hosts Fairfield after Sparks' 22-point showing

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Fairfield Stags (5-4, 0-1 MAAC) at Merrimack Warriors (4-6, 1-0 MAAC)

North Andover, Massachusetts; Sunday, 1 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Fairfield visits Merrimack after Braden Sparks scored 22 points in Fairfield's 70-66 loss to the Manhattan Jaspers.

The Warriors have gone 2-0 at home. Merrimack has a 1-0 record in one-possession games.

The Stags are 0-1 against MAAC opponents. Fairfield gives up 76.8 points to opponents while being outscored by 2.2 points per game.

Merrimack is shooting 37.6% from the field this season, 7.9 percentage points lower than the 45.5% Fairfield allows to opponents. Fairfield's 40.9% shooting percentage from the field this season is 6.3 percentage points lower than Merrimack has allowed to its opponents (47.2%).

The matchup Sunday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Ernest Shelton averages 3.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Warriors, scoring 15.5 points while shooting 36.7% from beyond the arc. Kevair Kennedy is shooting 44.4% and averaging 14.3 points.

Sparks is scoring 16.8 points per game and averaging 3.9 rebounds for the Stags. Declan Wucherpfennig is averaging 11.8 points.

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