The media has a way of catching a wave of enthusiasm and riding it as long as the wave's structure holds. So when New York Times writer Jack Cavanaugh came to campus in March of 1978, he gladly mounted his notepad and told readers of the Times' Connecticut section all about the Stags' men's basketball success. And it was that story's headline "Stagmania Sweeps Through Fairfield" that characterized the Stags' amazing run
 
Cavanaugh's characterization came during a season of triumph and celebration for Fairfield basketball. But if there is one game that stands out among that successful season, it would have to be Fairfield's 123-103 win over nationally-ranked Holy Cross that stands out the most.
 
Tickets were in such demand for that game that Don Cook, who served as the Director of Athletics at that time, and his plight was immortalized in the February 18, 1978 edition of The Sporting News.
 
The article stated that "Cook's telephone rings unceasingly; he's been stopped on the street by strangers and even approached at social gatherings. One man was brazen enough to call the Cook home on Christmas morning, proclaiming himself both a relative of the university president and an alumnus, and requested two tickets for the Holy Cross game. 'I don't care if you were born in a manger,' Cook replied before returning the receiver to its cradle."
 
The frenzy that became Fairfield's 1977-1978 season and specifically the Holy Cross game was duly noted by so many that season. The year would end in a 22-3 regular season, which culminated in a bid to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association, New England Regional, four-team playoff in Providence. The winner there advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Big Dance. In early February Fairfield had a record of 17-2, the highest winning percentage of any team in the east and a lengthy home-court winning streak which would peak at twenty-six.
 
On Saturday night, January 21, 1978, the Stags hosted defending ECAC champion Holy Cross on campus. It certainly was a different time for Fairfield basketball back then as the Stags, an independent, faced (and defeated) all the major New England hoops' brands like Boston College, Connecticut, Providence and Rhode Island. And almost all of the Stags were from the New York metropolitan region and New England. Strict conference alignment had not been suggested or started by the NCAA. It was not until 1981 that Fairfield began play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, two years after the Big East was established in 1979.
 
Just looking at a list of the scheduled opposing coaches that year tells you much you need to know about Fairfield's season hopes, namely South Carolina's Frank McGuire, Army's Mike Krzyzewski, Wagner's P.J. Carlesimo, Iona's Jim Valvano, Boston College's Dr. Tom Davis, and Seton Hall's Bill Raftery. The Stags also had a top-line resume which included two National Invitational Tournament and ECAC playoff appearances.
 
Yes hopes were high on campus that year. Fairfield was coming off a 13-0 record at home the previous season and so much talent, including the top six scorers, was back. Indeed two of the Stags' eventual all-time scoring leaders resided on the team - junior guard Joe DeSantis, a Bronx native who would earn All-America honors,  and junior center Mark Young, a native of Massachusetts whose 6-10, 240-pound frame proved to be challenging for many teams on the schedule.
 
 "Joe is the quickest, slowest guard I've ever met," teammate Mike Palazzi said. "If there's a player I would compare him to in that era it's Billy Donovan from Providence. Joe never lost the ball and man could he get open."
 
Member of the media also recognized DeSantis' abilities, including Connecticut sportswriter Don Harrison., who stated that "Fairfield partisans and others regard Joe DeSantis as the premier guard in New England, a latter-day version of Providence's unflappable Ernie DiGregorio. Ernie D. Joey D."
 
Young , who would go to become a second-round NBA draft pick, was also respected by the media, coaches, and teammates. Perhaps Young's biggest fan was DeSantis, who lauded his teammate's ability.
 
"If Mark had been around now he would have had a ten-year NBA career," DeSantis said. "He was big and could shoot."
 
DeSantis would also be selected by an NBA team after his graduation but ended up playing professionally in Italy instead.
 
Prior to coming to Fairfield DeSantis was also highly coveted. Rutgers, Wake Forest and Duke, too, wanted him, but especially HC. "When I was being recruited, (Fairfield head coach) Fred Barakat came to our apartment. I was so impressed and flattered. Here was the coach who had just taken teams to the NIT and done so well. Part of me couldn't believe Fairfield wanted me."
 
So like Young, DeSantis chose Fairfield over Duke and Holy Cross. So 14th- ranked Holy Cross came campus for a highly-anticipated game, toting its 11-2 record behind the play of sophomore Ronnie Perry, who went on to membership in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and became the school's all-time leading scorer.
Holy Cross also was the darling of New England basketball as so many of its games were regionally televised.  The Crusaders earned its beloved position in New England based on its performance in the 1977 NCAA tournament, a five-point loss to Michigan. And in many ways, Holy Cross was considered superior in basketball circles to its Bay State doppelganger, Boston College.
 
With an athletic and academic rivalry already in place, you might say the Stags were motivated for their nationally-ranked foe.
 
The Red Sea was jumping that night and frothy. Actually the students were not scheduled to be back on campus on that night, but an impending snowstorm prompted school officials to open the dorms. A player actually remembers worrying about his girlfriend's safety in the back bleachers as he thought they might come down from all the tumult. It's been said that every seat in Alumni Hall and that the crowd went beyond the 3000-seat capacity.
 
Right from the start on that winter night both teams went at it. They ran and ran and ran. It was a time before the drive and dish. Either finish at the basket or look for a midrange jumper. Run your opponent into the ground. The two teams seemed as though they could not miss as the Stags shot 64.8 percent from the field while the Crusaders figured 58.6. There was no slow down here as Fairfield worked its way to 56-46 lead by halftime.
 
The second half was the same thing only better. Amazingly Fairfield put up 67 points, while Holy Cross tallied 57, leading to the most points in Fairfield history. When the final buzzer sounded, Fairfield fans celebrated a 123-103 win over Holy Cross. For the game the Stags shot 63.1 percent. They made forty-one field goals and forty-one free throws. Furthermore that squad went on to post the school's first twenty-win season and went on to play Dayton in the NIT.
 
And it wasn't just DeSantis and Young who contributed. Kim Fisher, "Silk," a senior guard from Orange, New Jersey, scored twenty-eight; sophomore guard-forward Jerome "Flip" Williams, of Neptune, New Jersey, tallied twenty-three; and senior forward Mark Plefka, from East Hartford, Connecticut, went for twenty-four. In all that team featured five players who would be chosen in the NBA draft.
 
Despite the intensity of the contest the players displayed a spirit of collegiately.
 
Palazzi grew up in Worcester, the town which causes Holy Cross its own. He is also the son of Holy Cross and Boston Celtic basketball legend Togo Palazzi. So it came as no surprise for Palazzi that sportsmanship and respect ran rampant between the two teams that night. "I had just missed a free throw," Palazzi said. "One of the Holy Cross players, whom I had played with all the time in the summer, says, 'Take your time, Mike.' It was with this type of respect that the game was played. Yes it was a clean game but I can remember a few out of bounds plays where Mark Young came up with absolutely ferocious dunks. Actually all season our team did this."
 
So really this game was part of the golden era for Fairfield basketball and the possibly the predecessor of the current Running Stags, the moniker that current Head Coach Sydney Johnson has tabbed his team.
 
But what strikes home the most is the support and pride that permeated the campus and community for that game and throughout the season.
 
 "I can remember walking from my dorm to the game and being so heartened by all the people who would drive by, honk and wish me well," DeSantis said. "Actually the same thing happened in Fairfield center all that year."
 
Players recalled that Barakat would find churches or chapels where his lads could congregate to pray, not to win, but not to get hurt during that memorable season. On January 21, 1978, church was definitely in session.