Heading into their Greater Miami Conference showdown at Wade E. Miller Gymnasium, Middletown and Fairfield had two views of the final grind down the stretch.

The Middies entered sitting on top of the GMC and were looking to put a little more distance between themselves and the Indians. Fairfield was trying to get back to eye level with the Middies.

It’s a whole new ballgame now.

Fairfield attacked in waves, using a physical defense and long scoring runs to draw even with the Middies in the GMC with a 64-45 win Friday night.

Fairfield’s win, coupled with Hamilton’s win over Sycamore, leaves the GMC with a five-way tie for first with Princeton one game back of the pack.

The Indians had a 10-0 run to close the first half, but the most damaging came midway through the third quarter – a 13-0 run that turned a slim 31-28 lead into an insurmountable 44-28 advantage.

Middletown, which trailed 27-19 at the break, had cut the lead to 31-28 with 5:33 left in the third quarter on a basket by Chance Sorrell, but Herman Brunis swung the momentum with a one-handed slam for two of his game-high 20 points.

After a pair of baskets by TC Wells, Brunis recorded his second dunk of the night on a breakaway and Nick Braun (14 points) hit the first of his three third-quarter 3-pointers with 2:25 left in the period for the 44-28 lead.

Fairfield, 10-6 overall and 6-3 in the GMC, hit 48 percent from the floor (21 of 43), but was 16 of 29 from the line as Middletown was whistled for 22 fouls. The Middies, 9-8 and 6-3, shot 26 percent from the floor (16 of 61) but did hit eight of their 12 free-throw attempts.

Fairfield led 51-36 after three quarters and Middletown could never get closer than 15 the rest of the night.

Middletown grabbed their first lead, 13-10, with 7:30 to go in the opening half on a 3 by Kobie Johnson and Vincent Edwards made it a five-point cushion with two of his 16 points less than a minute into the second quarter.

However, that was as good as it got in the second quarter for the Middies.

Fairfield closed the half on a 12-0 run to take a 27-19 lead at the intermission. Justin Johnson tied it for Fairfield at 19-19 to start the final run that included 3s by Tim Fleming (12 points) and Brunis.