BUFFALO, N.Y. – It may not have packed the offensive punch that other Fairfield-Canisius games have done in the past, but it was certainly a close game that kept fans on the edge of their seats. And it wasn't until two late three-point field goals by Landon Taliaferro that this game was decided as the Fairfield University men's basketball team turned a two-point halftime lead into a 46-42 win.

                "I think we just made a few more plays down the stretch than Canisius did and that was why we got the win," Head Coach Jay Young said. "They are a very good team that is very well coached so I am happy that that we bounced back today. We wanted to come up here and play well. I didn't think we defended well on Friday so to bounce back and do what we needed to do was important for us. If you rebound and defend, you can travel with that and that's how we won today."

                After yielding the most points it had in regulation to Niagara (75 points) two nights ago, the Stags put forth their best defensive effort by surrendering a season-low 42 points to the Golden Griffs.

                 The decision was Fairfield's fourth road win of the season and represented Head Coach Jay Young's first win in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Fairfield never trailed in the second half although the Golden Griffs managed to tie the score twice at 27-27 with 12 minutes remaining and at 38-38 with four minutes on the clock.

                  After the first deadlock, Fairfield put together a run of seven straight points to take command at 34-27. Four different Stags scored during the run starting with a free throw from Chris Maidoh, two more free throws from Taliaferro followed by baskets from Jesus Cruz and Vincent Eze.

                 Canisius responded with four straight points to cut the lead in half before eventually tying the score following a pair of free throws form Jelanni White. Taliaferro broke the tie with his second three-point field goal of the game that put the Stags in the lead for good at 41-38. Still holding onto a three-point edge at 43-40, Taliaferro came up with another long-range jumper that doubled the advantage to six points with 1:49 on the clock.

                 "I tell Landon to keep shooting and take the one's that he can," Young said. "When we came out of the timeout, I told him that he was going to make a big one for us and he did. There also has to be a lot of credit to Wassef (Methnani) and Aidas (Kavaliauskas) who made two good plays to set up Landon."'

                The home team managed just one more basket in the final minute when Scott Hitchon netted a jumper that provided the final score at 46-42.

                 The first half was a little more treacherous for the two teams as the squads combined for 34 total points as Fairfield went into the locker room with an 18-16 lead. Neither team managed to reach 30 percent for a first-half field goal percentage and no student-athlete reaching double figures through the first 20 minutes.
Eze finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds while Taj Benning led all Stags with nine caroms to go along with his six points in 27 minutes played. Hitchon led all scorers in the game with 19 points including three three-point field goals.

                  Fairfield returns home for a three-game home stand that begins on Wednesday, January 8 against Marist College. The game is scheduled for 7 pm at Webster Bank Arena. The rest of the home stand includes Manhattan College on January 10 at Alumni Hall and Saint Peter's University on January 15 at Alumni Hall.