ALBANY, N.Y. -- When March rolls around, basketball games seem to have so much more meaning, especially when it comes time for conference tournaments. One bad game can end a season, or in the case of seniors, end a career. But just as he has handled things all season long, Tyler Nelson really didn't seem to mind the added importance of tonight's first-round game against Marist College. For that matter, the entire team didn't seem to mind the pressure of playing a win-or-go-home type of game.

In the end, the Stags did what they needed to do to advance to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship Quarterfinals with a 71-57 decision over Marist College at the Times Union Center. The victory also extended the team's season-long winning streak to five games and evened up Fairfield's overall record at 15-15.

Nelson finished the contest with a game-high 28 points, but it was more about the senior's start than it was about the way he ended. The guard opened the game with two assists and a three-point field goal that helped the Stags open an 11-0 lead to start the game.

"We had a mature approach to our defense tonight,' Head Coach Sydney Johnson said. "We were really locked in because we knew that Marist is really potent offensively. So we really wanted to respect that and I think we did a nice job of that tonight.They drilled us when we played at their place so I think we just switched things up and it was just a matter of refocusing for this game. I think we executed really well and respected their three-point shooters and did a better job defensively in this game."

Marist came into the tournament as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the MAAC, averaging 9.8 per conference game this year. But tonight, the Stags allowed only two three-point field goals to the Red Foxes which kept Marist from getting any offensive flow. And without that flow, the Stags were able to take command early and never really let the opposition into the game.

Fairfield would never trail in the game, leading by double digits for nearly the entire game. The Stags held the Red Foxes scoreless until the 15:08 mark when Lasse Gummerus made a pair of free throws to bring his team within nine points, 11-2. Aidas Kavaliauskas followed with a three-point field goal that pushed the lead back into double figures, 14-2.

Marist would cut the lead to under 10 points just one more time, courtesy of David Knudsen's layup that brought the 11-seeded Red Foxes to within eight points, 18-10, at the 10:15 mark. Nelson's drive to the basket kicked the lead back to 10 points at 8:49 and Marist would not come any closer for the rest of the game. The Stags biggest lead of the game came after Kasibabu's three-point play pushed the deficit to 23 points, 51-28, with 15 minutes left in the second half.

Kasibabu finished the game with 11 points while Ferron Flavors Jr. added 10 points for the Stags. Fairfield's Jesus Cruz set a personal-high with his game-high 13 rebounds. Brian Parker led all Marist scorers with 20 points.

With the victory, Fairfield will play third-seeded Niagara University in a quarterfinal game which is slated for Saturday night at the Times Union Center at 7 pm. The two teams split the regular-season series with the Stags registering a 104-85 win at Webster Bank Arena behind a 28-point effort from Nelson and a double-double from Aidas Kavaliauskas (14 points, 11 assists). The Purple Eagles won the second meeting at the Gallagher Center by a 95-83 score. Nelson was one of four double-digit scorers for the Stags, netting a team-best 17 points on the afternoon.