NIAGARA UNIV. — The duo of Kahlil Dukes and Matt Scott helped carry the Purple Eagles to a 71-66 win over the Siena Saints on Wednesday.
The Purple Eagles held off a late run by the Saints to snap a seven-game losing streak in the series.
Niagara saw its 10-point lead with 4:24 left in the game dwindle to one point with 39 seconds remaining as Siena missed two close-range layups two seconds apart. On the second missed layup, Marvin Prochet corralled the ball and passed it to James Towns in the outlet who found Dukes streaking down the court and tossed an alley-oops to Dominic Robb who finished at the rim while being foul; Robb converted the free throw to put Niagara up 70-66 with 32 seconds left. Robb sealed the game at the line on Niagara’s next possession.
The action went back and forth in the first half with six ties and eight lead changes. Niagara pushed its lead to 30-22, behind an 8-0 run, with 5:34 left in the half but Siena closed the period on a 9-2 run.
The lead flipped seven times in the opening four minutes of the second half. The Saints had their largest lead of the game, 43-39, with 14:48 left before NU regained the lead at 47-45 two minutes later. With the score knotted at 47-47 with 12:27 on the clock, Niagara broke the final tie of the game with a 12-0 run with Scott and Dukes combining for 10 points during the stretch.
Niagara is on the road for the first time in 2017 to take on Rider on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 2 p.m.
The game will air on the Niagara Sports Network via AM 1400 WWWS and www.PurpleEagles.com.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
