ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Up one point with 10 seconds left in overtime, Head Coach Jay Young put the game into the collective hands of the Stags' defense. And just as it did many times on the night, the defense made the stop necessary to send the Fairfield University men's basketball team to the quarterfinal round with its 59-58 overtime win over 10^th-seeded Manhattan College on Tuesday night. 

              Fairfield built a five-point lead in overtime by scoring off its first two possessions – two free throws from Taj Benning and a three-point field goal from Jesus Cruz. Manhattan cut the lead to one point on two occasions during the extra time including the final possession of the game. With 10 seconds left and Fairfield holding the lead, Manhattan put the ball into Ant Nelson's hands, the Jaspers' leading scorer on the night.

              The guard drove to the center of the lane but the Stags defense collapsed on him, forcing him to give up the ball with four seconds remaining. The pass landed in the hands of Ethan Lasko, who netted a 25-footer at the buzzer to send tie the score at 50 and send the game into overtime. The shot was the Lasko's only points of the game.

              Lasko did his best to make the situation right but he was never able to get a clean shot off as the Stags interior defense prevented him from getting to close to the rim, ending the game with the one-point decision.

              The victory sets up a match up with Monmouth University on Wednesday night as the second-seeded Hawks finished the regular season with a 12-7 overall record and a 12-6 MAAC mark. Fairfield and Monmouth will meet for the first time this season as the two teams did not face each other during the regular season. Game time is 7:30 pm.

              Fairfield battled back all night long as it had difficulty finding its range from outside. The Stags shot 25 percent in the first half (7 of 28) which translated into 16 points and a nine-point deficit at halftime. But the Stags found themselves in the second half despite being down 10 points on several occasions.

              The Stags trailed by a 29-19 score before Jake Wojcik connected on his second three pointer of the half that started a 10-0 run which would tie the score at 29-29 with 12:05 remaining in regulation. Four different Fairfield student-athletes scored during the run including a three pointer from Jesus Cruz.

              "We needed to get some stops to get back in the game," Head Coach Jay Young said. "Jesus was great again for us tonight, made some big shots that got us going and kept us in the game."

              From that point, neither team could gather any momentum and build any sort of lead. The contest remained a one-possession game for most of the remaining time in regulation with the exception of Manhattan's four-point edge at 33-29 with 10 minutes left.

              The Stags would tie the game 90 seconds later on a three-point play by Taj Benning, completing a brief 6-2 spurt that brought the score to 35-35 at the 8:32 mark. After four lead changes and four tied scores, Fairfield eventually managed to take a three-point in the closing seconds after Wojcik's two free throws made the score 50-47 with five seconds left, setting up Lasko's heroics from long range.

              "We kept grinding against a very good and physical team in Manhattan," Head Coach Jay Young said. "It was not a pretty game but we were fortunate to win and advance in the tournament. We are very proud of our guys and proud of how hard we fought the whole game. There were a lot of times we could have given up but we didn't and kept fighting through."

              Cruz finished the game with a team-best 16 points off the bench while Wojcik ended his night with 15 points and five rebounds. Benning came close to a double-double with nine points and a team-best eight rebounds.

              Nelson represented the top scorer for Manhattan with 16 points, and finished off his double-double with 11 rebounds Samba Diallo also contributed with a double-double, registering 13 points and 11 caroms to the Manhattan cause.