Niagara scores 100 in win over Marist

Courtesy of PurpleEagles.com

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles finished their regular season with an emphatic 100-76 victory over the Marist Red Foxes on Friday night.

For the second straight meeting, the Purple Eagles orchestrated a huge run en route to beating the Red Foxes. In the first meeting on January 7, Niagara engineered a 20-1 run in the second half on its way to an 86-70 win. Tonight, the Purple Eagles outscored the Red Foxes 26-8 to open the second half for a 21-point lead.

The Purple Eagles used a 20-4 run to close the first half to flip a 13-point deficit into a three-point halftime lead.  The Red Foxes jumped out to an 11-1 lead. After Niagara cut the lead to 26-24 with a 7-0 run, Marist answered with a 13-2 run to build a 39-26 lead with 5:32 left in the half.

NU responded with a 20-4 run, including scoring 14 consecutive points, while shooting 70 percent from the field and making 4 of 6 3-pointers, during the stretch. Kahlil Dukes connected on one of the four 3-pointers at the buzzer to hand Niagara a 46-43 halftime lead. The Purple Eagles led for the rest of the game.

Niagara scored 16 straight points as part of its 26-8 run to open the second half for a 72-51 lead with 10 minutes remaining. The Purple Eagles used another big run as their lead swelled to 85-57 with six minutes left. A James Towns layup in the final minute gave NU 100 points for the second time this season.

 

Eagle’s Eye On…

• Prior to the game, Niagara honored Matt Scott, Kahlil Dukes, and Kevin Larkin as part of the senior day ceremony.
• Kahlil Dukes led all scorers with 26 points on 11 of 21 shooting from the field. His 21 20-point games are tied for fourth most in the nation. He dished out five assists to share game-high honors with Keleaf Tate.
• Marvin Prochet registered his eighth double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. His eight double-doubles are tied with Matt Scott for the most in the MAAC. Prochet went 6-for-8 from the field.
• Greg Kuakumensah set a career-high with 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting while also grabbing six rebounds and having two assists.
• Dominic Robb scored 10 points and had his team-leading fifth 3-block game of the season.
• James Towns scored 15 points, including 10 in the second half.
• Kierell Green swatted a career-high six shots.
• Walk-on Sam Volmy scored his first career NCAA Division I points with a pair of free throws.

 

Inside the Numbers 

• Niagara finished the regular season with 19 wins, including 12 conference, and with nine home wins. All are the most in five seasons.
• The Purple Eagles scored 100 points for the second time this season.
• Niagara had a season-high 10 blocks and 40 field goals made, tied a season-high with 17 assists, and had its second highest field goal percentage (55.6%) and free throw percentage (92.3%).
• The Purple Eagles outscored Marist in points in the paint (46-38), points off turnovers (16-9), fast break points (15-4), and bench points (52-26).
• The 24-point margin of victory is the program’s largest since December 2009.

Up Next

• The Purple Eagles will be either the third and fourth seed in the 2018 MAAC Tournament in Albany, New York. Niagara will play at either 7 p.m.or 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 3.