WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Niagara University men’s basketball team rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to force overtime before falling in the extra session to the Hartford Hawks, 82-78, on Tuesday morning in front of a national audience on ESPN2 as part of the ninth annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.
Niagara trailed 66-52 with less than five minutes remaining. The trio of Matt Scott, Kahlil Dukes and Dominic Robb combined to score the final 18 points to send the game into overtime. Scott found Robb in the paint for a layup to give Niagara a 70-68 lead with 50 seconds left. After a pair of free throws by Jalen Ross to tie the game at 70-70, Niagara had the final possession with Scott and Dukes both missing 3-pointers. Scott scored the first points in overtime with a baseline jumper. Hartford went back in front on its next possession with a 3-pointer by Jason Dunne. The Hawks led 77-74 when Shane Gatling tied the game with a triple with 2:12 remaining. The Purple Eagles regained the lead at 78-77 when Robb made 1 of 2 free throws at the one-minute mark. On the Hawks’ next possession, Dunne connected on the game-winning 3-pointer with 39 seconds left. James Towns missed a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left and the ball was rebounded by Dunne, who made scored the final two points of the game at the free-throw line. After falling behind 10-3 through the opening four minutes, the Purple Eagles used a 13-2 run to take a 16-12 lead. A Maurice Taylor Jr. put back gave NU its first lead of the game at 14-12 and a jumper by Dominic Robb gave NU its largest lead of the half, 16-12. Freshman Shane Gatling had a run where he scored eight straight points. Gatling hit one of his two 3-pointers in the half to put Niagara back in front, 19-18. Hartford responded with a 7-0 run that was halted by another Gatling 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining in the half. Hartford went into halftime leading 33-26.
Matt Scott led Niagara with 26 points, for his 12th 20-point game of his career. He shot 8-for-16 from the field, including making a career-best five 3-pointers on 10 attempts. Scott also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and shared team-high honors in assists with three. In two games against Hartford, Scott is averaging 24.5 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game. Dominic Robb had season-highs in points with 17, including a career-best seven free throws, and rebounds with eight.
Kahlil Dukes, who is a native of Hartford, scored all of his 11 points in the second half and overtime. Shane Gatling scored a career-high 11 points.
NU Head Coach Chris Casey said, “I’m extremely proud on the way our guys competed and continued to grind the game out and got it to overtime. We are learning as a new and young group on how to take advantage of opportunities.”
Niagara will face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday. The game will air live on the Big Ten Network, on AM 1400 WWWS and online via PurpleEagles.com.
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