NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
POUGHKEEPSIE — The Niagara Purple Eagles wrapped up their conference road opening weekend with a convincing 86-70 victory over the Marist Red Foxes on Sunday for their fifth straight road win.
The Purple Eagles engineered a 20-1 run in the second half to pull away with the decisive win. Niagara flipped a six-point deficit with 15 minutes remaining to a 13-point advantage with eight minutes left as five different Purple Eagles scored during the run.
Trailing 52-46, Dominic Robb started the rally with a layup and later tied the game at 53-53 with 12:42 on the clock. Kahlil Dukes, then, put Niagara ahead for good on the Purple Eagles’ next possession. Dukes made his only 3-pointer in the game as NU reeled off 10 straight points for a 66-53 lead.
The Purple Eagles, who led by as much as 19 points, maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.
Niagara started the second half trailing 41-40 after a first half that had four lead changes. Marist led 25-17 when Niagara went on a 15-4 run, including netting nine straight, to take a 32-29 lead with 4:26 left in the half. Marist regained the lead on an 8-0 spurt and led by four points in the final seconds, but Matt Scott chipped into the lead with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, his third of the season, to end the half.
