Jersey City, NJ- The Niagara University's men's basketball team beat St. Peter's 77-70 at the Yanitelli Center before a crowd of 1,065. The Purple Eagles improve to 8-8 overall (4-3 MAAC) while the Peacocks fall to 5-11 (2-6 MAAC).

"Road wins are like gold," said Head Coach Joe Mihalich. "They are sometimes hard to come by. This team has won three of the last four conference games."

Juan Mendez led the Purple Eagles in scoring with 22 points. Mendez put away six-of-eight from the free throw line and grabbed nine rebounds.

James Reaves was right behind Mendez in scoring with 18 points. Reaves had a strong game all around for Niagara. The junior had nine rebounds and went seven-for-11 from the field.

"Reaves carried us tonight," added Mihalich. "When we really needed a rebound or basket, he got it for us."

St. Peter's was led in scoring by Devin Thompson who had 18 points and put away all four from the line. MAAC Conference leading scorer Keydren Clark was held to a season low eight points. Clark scored 24 points in the last meeting between the two teams on January 16.

"I'm really proud of our defense," said Mihalich. "We knew we had to contain Clark and to keep him to just eight points was impressive."

Niagara will now travel to Lawrenceville, NJ to take on Rider on Sunday. Game time is set for 4:00pm.