PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball cut a 12-point second half deficit down to just one point in Tuesday's season opener at Providence, but the host Friars kept the Stags at arm's length to hang on to an 80-73 decision. Zach Crisler netted a career-high 14 points to lead four Stags scoring in double figures.
 
Crisler's 14 points included four of the Stags' nine three-pointers, while Jake Wojcik and rookie TJ Long each knocked down a pair of triples en route to 12 and 11 points, respectively. Taj Benning poured in 13 points and hauled in a team-leading seven rebounds. Supreme Cook's nine points helped fuel the Stags' 32 points in the paint, as did four from Chris Maidoh, two of which came from the finishing end of a thunderous alley-oop.
 
In total, nine different Stags contributed to the team's 73 points.
 
Providence held the edge in the paint, 38-32, led by 22 points from Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team selection Nate Watson. The Friars also capitalized on 17 Fairfield turnovers, turning them into 27 points. The Stags pressured Providence into 14 giveaways but converted them into 16 tallies.
 
"We did some things very well tonight, and some other things still need a lot of improvement," said Head Coach Jay Young. "We needed a few more big shots and key stops, you're not going to beat a team like Providence without executing in those moments, and we didn't do that well enough to win."
 
The Friars started the game on a 7-0 run before Crisler, Wojcik and Crisler again all connected from distance to put the Stags in front, 9-7. That stretch was the first of eight lead changes in the game, to go along with six ties in the back-and-forth affair. Providence would pull away just before the break, netting eight of the last 10 points of the half to grow a 34-33 lead into the 42-35 halftime margin.
 
A quick 5-0 spurt to open the second half pushed the lead to 47-35, an Providence maintained a double-digit lead out to 54-43 at the 16:31 mark of the second half. At that point, Caleb Green and Wojcik each poured in a layup, then Crisler and Long buried back-to-back three-pointers as the deficit shrank to 54-53. The clubs traded baskets out to the midway point of the half, when an 8-2 Friars run in under two minutes built the lead back to 69-61. Providence never pulled away, but the Stags would draw no closer than five points and, when the final horn sounded, Fairfield was on the short end of an 80-73 final.
 
Tuesday's showing was a virtual opposite of last season's trek to Providence, which saw the Stags outscored by 29 in the second half. This season's clash with the Friars was an even 38-38 battle after the intermission, as the seven-point cushion that the hosts took into the locker room held up as the difference.
 
"I think we're a different basketball team than last year," noted Young. "We've got a lot of the same personnel, but also some guys in new roles and another year of experience playing together."
 
The Stags will stay on the road to challenge another traditional New England rival this Sunday, Nov. 14 at Boston College. The Eagles won their opener this evening, 73-57 over Dartmouth.
 
Fairfield tips off the 2021-22 home slate on Tuesday, Nov. 16 at Webster Bank Arena against Medgar Evars College. Tip-off for the first of 15 home games on the Stags' slate is set for 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster and the Webster Bank Arena box office.