RIVERDALE — The Niagara Purple Eagles were unable to hold off a second half push by the Manhattan Jaspers as they fell 78-69 on Tuesday night.
A second half run by the Jaspers erased an 11-point Niagara lead. A three-point play by Kahlil Dukes pushed the Purple Eagles’ lead to 48-37, their largest of the game, with 16 minutes remaining. NU led 52-42 with 13:34 on the clock when Manhattan went on a 15-2 run in a four-minute stretch to regain the lead. The Purple Eagles trailed 69-65 with 44 seconds left, but the Jaspers scored seven straight points to pull away in the final seconds.
It was a tell of two halves as NU controlled most of the first half. The Purple Eagles used a 7-0 run to break an 11-11 tie to lead for the remainder of the half. A 3-pointer by Matt Scott gave Niagara its largest lead of the half, 33-25, with 2:38 left as the Purple Eagles went into halftime up 36-32.
NU is back home for a two-game stint starting on Saturday versus the Monmouth Hawks at 7 p.m.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
