BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- It was as evenly matched a game as the Fairfield University men's basketball season saw all season long. But when the final buzzer sounded, the Fairfield University men's basketball came up short following a late Niagara University run which resulted in a 67-63 loss at Webster Bank Arena.

The Stags defense kept the nation's leading scorer to nearly half of his 28-plus point scoring average as Antoine Mason finished the contest with 15 points. It was his lowest offensive output of the year and only the second time this season that he did not reach 20 points in a game.

The game featured six ties and 17 lead changes, but three of those ties came in the final four-plus minutes of the second half. Neither team led by more than six points in the contest, an advantage that Fairfield boasted with 17:53 remaining in the second half.

Fairfield finished the first half in strong fashion by using a 9-3 run over the final few minutes to erase Niagara's biggest lead of five points. The Purple Eagles carried a 25-20 advantage after Snowden's three pointer at the 4:52 mark. K.J. Rose started Fairfield's late run with a jumper that brought the team within three points at 25-22. Marcus Gilbert kept the run going with a layup, and Rose came right back on the next possession and pushed it to 26-25 at the three-minute mark.

Rayvon Harris stopped the Stags streak with a three-point field goal that briefly gave the visitors a two-point lead at 28-26. Fairfield erased that deficit at the buzzer as Steve Smith netted a three-point field goal that pushed the Stags back in front by a 29-28 count at halftime.

Fairfield brought that momentum into the second half and quickly established a six-point lead at 36-30 with 17:53 on the clock. Coleman Johnson had a basket, while Marcus Gilbert tacked on five points with a three pointer and a layup that made it a six-point lead.

Niagara slashed the lead in half after Marvin Jordan's three-point field goal, and came even closer following a layup from Marcus Ware. Maurice Barrow gave Fairfield some room with two free throws, but that lead evaporated when Mason made three free throws to tie the game at 38-38 with 16 minutes remaining.

A three-point field goal from Marcus Gilbert produced a three-point Fairfield lead at 41-38, but the advantage was short-lived as Niagara went on a 17-9 run that regained its biggest lead at 55-50 at the 8:24 mark. Fairfield put together nine straight points to sprint back into the lead at 59-55, a run sparked by three pointers from Sean Grennan and Marcus Gilbert.

The Purple Eagles scored the next six points to gain a two-point edge at 61-59 as Harris capped the run with a layup with 4:12 remaining in the game. Fairfield tied the game at 61-61 and 63-63, the last tie coming on two charity tossed from Barrow. Niagara ended the game with four straight points off a tip-in from Snowden and a pair of free throws from Harris that finished out the scoring.

Fairfield gets right back to the court on Saturday when the team hosts Manhattan College at Webster Bank Arena. Game time is 1:30 pm. The women's basketball team will start the day by hosting Iona College at 11 am that day.