LORETTO, Pa. – Freshman Juan’ya Green’s layup with .2 seconds remaining in the game handed Niagara a 65-63 win over the St. Francis (Pa.) Red Flash to complete a ferocious second half rally on Monday.
With the game tied at 63-63 with nine seconds left, Niagara (3-3) had to go end-to-end. After receiving the ball at the top of the key, Green released his runner in the paint with two seconds on the clock and the ball eventually dropped through the basket with .2 seconds left. Niagara intercepted the en suing possession’s inbound pass as time expired.
“Juan’ya (Green) was terrific tonight,” head coach Joe Mihalich said. “He created something out of nothing and at the end of the day, Juan’ya Green made us win.”
The Purple Eagles erased a plus-20 first-half deficit to win for the second time this season. Niagara came back to defeat Central Connecticut State in the season opener after trailing by 20 points and rallied from 21 points down to edge St. Francis (0-6) to keep the Red Flash winless on the season.
Niagara trailed 32-11with 6:51 left the first half and was down 38-20 at halftime. The Red Flash shot 71 percent (15-for-21) from the field and 66 percent (8-for-12) from behind the arc.
The Purple Eagles stormed back into the game behind a 27-6 spurt through the opening nine minutes in the second half. A three-point play by Skylar Jones gave Niagara its first lead, 47-44, with 11:19 left in the game.
Niagara had its largest lead in the game at 59-54 after a 3-pointer by Marvin Jordan with less than six minutes left and NU clung on to a narrow advantage until the Red Flash Anthony Ervin made a jumper to tie the game at 63-63 with nine seconds left.
The Purple Eagles scored 16 points off of St. Francis turnovers, had 24 points in the paint and 17 second chance points in the second half. NU made more field goals (18) than the Red Flash attempted (15) in the half.
Niagara had four players in double figures, led by Antoine Mason who had 15 points to go along with five rebounds and a career-high four steals. Green was second in scoring with 14 points, all occurring in the second half. Jordan added 12 and freshman Ameen Tanksley dropped a career-best 11 points.
“This was another first time experience for a young team,” Mihalich said. “We are road weary and can’t wait to get back to the Gallagher Center. We came out a little flat, but the guys showed a lot of character to comeback in the second half.”
Niagara returns to the Gallagher Center this weekend to open MAAC play when the Purple Eagles face the Fairfield Stags on Friday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. For ticket information, contact the Niagara Athletic Ticket Office at 716-286-8499 or tickets@purpleeagles.com.
Leave a Reply