ALBANY, NY – An elite shooting performance by Gavin Doty and Siena Basketball propelled the Saints to their eighth win in as many day games. Doty broke the program single-game shooting record and the Saints connected for their fourth highest shooting percentage during the program's 50-year Division I Era to defeat Fairfield 85-77 in an MLK Day matinee in front of 6,385 at MVP Arena.
 
Doty poured in a game-high 24 points on a program record 9-9 shooting performance to fuel a 67.4% shooting effort overall for Siena (13-7, 6-3). The previous Division I program record for the most makes without a miss was shared by both Isaiah Stewart (Feb. 1, 2001 at Rider) and Brian Bidlingmyer (Dec. 4, 1993 vs. Holy Cross), who each shot a perfect 8-8. Meanwhile, the Saints achieved the program's highest shooting percentage in 45 years since connecting at a 68.3% clip in a 75-70 win at Wagner on Feb. 21, 1981.            
 
Four-time MAAC Rookie of the Week Brandon Benjamin nearly matched Doty's perfection, shooting 10-11 from the field in a 20-point effort for Fairfield (11-9, 3-6) which had entered play winners of three of their past four. MAAC leading scorer Braden Sparks added all 18 of his points in the second half for the Stags which shot an even 50%, but were only 8-26 (31%) from three.
 
Siena set the shooting tone from the start, sinking eight of their first nine shots. Overall, the Saints connected at a sensational 75% clip in the first half – including an astounding 16-19 (84%) from inside the arc – to take a 41-32 lead at the break.
 
Siena cooled off slightly in the second half, but led by double digits for the vast majority of the stanza. The Saints claimed as much as a 17-point advantage on a pair of occasions down the stretch on the way to their highest scoring performance of the season. Siena had averaged just 64.2 points spanning their previous six meetings against Fairfield.
 
Justice Shoats scored 21 points and dished out five of 20 total assists for the Saints, which recorded 20 or more assists for the third straight game. Brendan Coyle capped a hot-shooting long weekend with 19 points on 4-8 from three for Siena which also shot an even 50% (7-14) from distance.
 
Freshman Declan Wucherpfenning, the son of former Siena Basketball players Craig '98 and Bronwyn (Tobin) '00, added 12 points for the Stags.
 
While rebounds were scarce, the Saints did out-rebound a Fairfield squad, which entered play leading the MAAC in both rebounds (39.8) and rebound margin (+4.8), by a 25-20 margin.
 
After alternating wins and losses through their first six games of January, Siena broke the trend with their second straight triumph to record the program's milestone 400^th all-time overall Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory. Now in their 37^th season of MAAC competition, the Saints have won 360 regular season contests plus 40 tournament tilts.
 
Siena concludes its two-game home week – and grueling stretch featuring six games in just 14 days – when they host I-87 rival Marist Thursday night at 7 p.m. at MVP Arena.