BALTIMORE, Md. – For the second straight game, the Fairfield University men's basketball took its road game to overtime but tonight was as successful as the first one. The Stags dropped an 84-75 decision to Loyola University Maryland at Reitz Arena despite a season-high in scoring for the team and four of the five starters reaching double figures.

                The Stags received a boost from Vincent Eze, who enjoyed his best game in his brief Fairfield career by scoring 15 points including nine points in the first five minutes of the game.        

                Eight different Fairfield players scored in the first half which caused some match up issues for Loyola early in the game. Eze, who came into the game with a career-high of seven points, eclipsed that total with his run of nine points in the first five minutes of the game. The graduate student took a 2-0 Fairfield lead in the opening minute and helped fuel a 12-7 run with nine points, pushing that two-point edge into a seven-point advantage at the 13:53 mark.

                The Stags would maintain the lead for most of the half until Loyola pieced together an 8-0 spurt that turned an 18-12 deficit into a 20-18 lead after Kenneth Jones netted a long three pointer. Fairfield recovered quickly by scoring on back-to back possessions behind baskets from Calvin Whipple and Landon Taliaferro. The two teams would play to tied scores three times over the final six minutes with the half with neither in the lead at 30-30.

                The second half started as well as Head Coach Jay Young could have hoped as the Stags opened up a 12-point lead over the first six-plus minutes of the half. Eze was once again at the heart of Fairfield's run, netting four points on back-to-back possession that doubled a four-point lead into an advantage of eight at 40-32. The Stags' biggest lead of the game stood at 46-34 after Taj Benning netted his first basket of the half at the 13:28 mark.

                Trailing by 10 points at 48-38, Loyola found its touch from the floor and began to cut into the Stags' lead. The Greyhounds eventually took the lead with nine minutes left in the second half after Andrew Kostecka scored on consecutive possessions, making the score 53-52. Kostecka was one of the reasons that Loyola shot 68 percent from the floor in the second half and helped the home team erase that double digit lead.

                Eight lead changes followed from that point with Fairfield's last advantage coming at 61-60 with 3:52 remaining. The Greyhounds scored eight of the next 10 points to take what appeared to be a comfortable lead at 68-63 with two minutes remaining. Fairfield fought back with a basket by Jesus Cruz with one minute left and a three-point field goal from Taliaferro with 41 seconds remaining to tie the game at 68-68 with 40 seconds left.

                Loyola took control in overtime by outscoring Fairfield by a 16-7 count with 11 of those points coming from the free throw line. Kostecka scored six of his game-high 31 points in overtime and helped Loyola pull off the victory.

                "We're not going to win many basketball games when we allow a team to shoot 68 percent in the second half," Coach Young said after the game. "We started off the second half well by getting deflections and covering things the right way and we had success. But they run a crisp offense and give them credit because they executed on the offensive end and we did not execute defensively. And when you add in our 21 turnovers, that didn't help our cause either."

                Fairfield will return to the court on Tuesday night when it battles seventh-ranked University of Maryland. The game is scheduled for 8:30 pm and will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network.