NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Fairfield University Men's Basketball turned a 31-24 deficit late in the first half in a double-digit lead early in the second, and never looked back en route to an 81-71 victory on Sunday afternoon at Niagara. Caleb Green and Zach Crisler paced the Stags' offense with 16 and 14 points, respectively, in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference road win.
 
With the win, the Stags improve to 5-3 overall and start the MAAC slate at 2-0 for the first time since 2014-15. That season was also the last time that Fairfield won its first two MAAC road games, though the two 2014-15 road wins did not come in consecutive outings. In addition, the Stags are bringing home two victories from the MAAC's Western New York trip for only the sixth time in 23 tries.
 
The Stags join Iona and Monmouth as the only three teams to come out of the opening weekend of MAAC play with two wins.
 
Niagara drops to 3-5 on the season and 0-2 in the league after also landing on the short side against visiting Monmouth on Friday evening.
 
"Two wins means a good bus ride home. So we'll enjoy that, but we know we have a long season ahead of us, and we'll be right back to work on Monday," said Head Coach Jay Young.
 
Green's 16 points mark a season high for the point guard, who shot 4-for-7 from the field with three three-pointers and converted 5-of-6 attempts from the free throw line. All of his tallies came in the second half. Green was also the Stags' top facilitator with five assists.
 
"That was a great second half from Caleb. He was very aggressive driving to the basket and knocked down some big shots from the outside," Young said. "Overall, it was a great box score today with everybody contributing. That's what we need every game to win."
 
Crisler had a 4-for-5 day from distance in addition to canning two free throws to help ice the win. He accounted for four of Fairfield's 11 three-pointers on 25 attempts, a 44.0% success rate from distance.
 
Green and Crisler were two of four Stags in double figures. Taj Benning netted 13 points and Jesus Cruz scored all 11 of his tallies in the first half to help facilitate the late Fairfield surge into the lead that they would not relinquish.
 
Rounding out the scoring, Chris Maidoh shot 4-for-4 from down low to total eight points, Jake Wojcik had seven, and the duo of Supreme Cook and TJ Long each netted six.
 
Fairfield's 81 points today are the most by the Stags in a regulation (non-overtime) game against a Division I opponent this season, topping the 74 points scored in Friday's win at Canisius.
 
The Stags battled their opponents to the deadlock on the boards for the second straight game as each squad corralled 31 rebounds. Benning and Wojcik each collected five caroms and Cook nabbed four.
 
Fairfield raced out to a 9-2 lead with two Crisler triples sandwiched around a Benning three-point play. Niagara would rally to creep in front, 14-13, for the first of seven lead changes in the opening half. The Purple Eagles pulled away to a 31-24 lead with 4:16 left in the half, taking advantage of a 3:15 stretch in which the Stags were held scoreless.

At that point, however, Benning scored to end the drought, Cruz hit a pair of tough buckets in the lane, and Long drained a deep three-pointer to put Fairfield back in front, 33-31, entering the final minute of the period. Each team added a basket in the closing seconds as the Stags went into the locker room with a 35-33 lead.
 
The run continued out of the break with Green scoring the first four and Crisler then burying back-to-back treys to extend the lead to a dozen, 45-33, two minutes into the second half. In total, the run clocked in at 21-2 and spanned 6:36 of game time.
 
Niagara would never draw closer than within seven points the rest of the way as the Stags continued to put points on the board to seal the 81-71 triumph.
 
As a part of Fairfield's defensive effort, the Stags limited MAAC leading scorer Marcus Hammond to 11 points – matching his season-low. Hammond was one of four Purple Eagles to net double figures led by 14 from Jordan Cintron.
 
"Credit to AJ [Allan Jeanne-Rose] and Taj for their work on Hammond, the two of them had that assignment all game" said Young. "Our bigs also did a great job switching and working through ball screens, which is something we've been working on."
 
Up next, Fairfield resumes the non-conference slate and returns to Webster Bank Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 8 to host Holy Cross. The clash with the Crusaders is the Stags' lone home game in the current span in which they will play five of six on the road. Tickets are on sale now at the Webster Bank Arena box office and through Ticketmaster.
 
Fairfield will wrap-up the non-league ledger with five more games leading into Christmas break before entering the heart of MAAC play at Webster Bank Arena against Manhattan on Dec. 31 and defending champion Iona on Jan. 2.