FAIRFIELD, Conn. – With no timeouts left, Head Coach Jay Young put the closing seconds into the hands of the five student-athletes on the floor. And, the quintet made the most of the opportunity, a chance that ended with Taj Benning's running one-hander with 11.1 seconds remaining to lift the Fairfield University men's basketball team to a 61-60 victory over Niagara University at Alumni Hall.

                The result did not seem feasible for the Stags as a slow start saw the team trail for nearly the entire first half. After a Vincent Eze free throw put the home team in front by a 1-0 count, Niagara scored the next eight points and seemed poised to take control of the game. The Purple Eagles led by as many as 17 in the first half before settling on a 38-23 lead going into the locker room.

                "We need to come out and play better early," Head Coach Jay Young said. "You can't keep digging yourself holes and tonight it was on both ends. It was more our defense than our offense in the first half and we didn't keep guys in front of us for whatever reason. They have really good guards who can go by you and make plays which they did."

                The first 20 minutes were a distant memory when the Stags came out in the second half, showing that they were ready to defend their home court. Fairfield scored the first 10 points after halftime including a four points from both Benning and Jeanne-Rose that showed that the team was not ready to surrender the game.

                Niagara was able to double up that deficit and take a 10-point lead after a pair of free throws from James Towns made the score 46-36 at the 11:01 mark. Fairfield rallied once again from a double-digit deficit to tie the score at 48-48 following an Eze layup with 6:56 on the clock, giving him six points in the Stags 12-2 run.

                Fairfield continued its run that eventually led to a 54-51 lead with four minutes left in the second half. The Stags saw that advantage disappear with eight straight points by the Purple Eagles that gave Niagara a five-point edge 59-54 at the 1:40 mark. Justin Roberts netted back-to-back three pointers during the run which turned a one-point disadvantage into a five-point lead.

                Still trailing at 60-56 with 1:03 remaining, the Stags used long-range shooting to make their final run with Taliaferro hitting a shot well beyond the three-point arc to bring Fairfield within a point at 60-59.

                "The play was an option for Landon to shoot the three or dump the ball inside if he didn't like the look," Coach Young said. "He saw a little space and let it fly. As I have said all along, shooters have to have short memories and he hasn't made many lately. But he just kept working and tonight he made the shot in a big moment for us."

                Robert tried to answer with another three-point shot but this one hit the back iron and caromed to Fairfield's Jesus Cruz. With no timeouts remaining, the Stags ran a play that ended with Benning curling into the lane and releasing a running one-hander that touched only the net on its way through the basket, giving Fairfield a 61-60 lead with 11.1 seconds on the clock.

                "We wanted to go a little quicker but Niagara took that away from us," Coach Young said. "The play really wasn't for him but they did a good job of defending our initial action. But Taj did what a player needs to do in that situation and just made the play on his own. I thought he was pretty well defended but he made a great shot."

                 Niagara had time to set up a play but a 12-foot jumper missed the mark as the buzzer sounded. James Towns paced the Niagara offense with 16 points off the bench, the team's only student-athlete in double figures. Taliaferro added 12 points to the Fairfield cause while Vincent Eze added seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Stags.

                Fairfield returns to the court on Sunday, February 23 when it hosts Siena College at Alumni Hall. Game time is scheduled for 2 pm.