BALTIMORE, MD—Niagara University’s men’s basketball earned its first win of the season tonight at Loyola (1-4/0-2), 60-53, as the Purple Eagles evened their MAAC record at 1-1 and improved to 1-3 overall.

Niagara capitalized on a strong shooting effort out of the gates as it hit four three pointers in a span of 2:56 early in the first half. The Purple Eagles led 30-25 at the intermission and never relinquished their advantage in the second half. Loyola managed to pull within a single point on two separate occasions, but Niagara’s defense held the Greyhounds to just 32.7 percent field goal shooting for the game.

Juan Mendez paced Niagara’s offense with 16 points and added eight rebounds. Tremmell Darden and David Brooks joined Mendez in double figures with 13 and 11 points respectively, and Alvin Cruz dished out seven assists.

Niagara will stay on the road when it returns to action on Saturday at 7 p.m. against George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association.