Senior Tremmell Darden scored a game-high 27 points in Niagara's win over Marist Thursday.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Tremmell Darden (Las Vegas) scored a game-high 27 points to power the Niagara University men’s basketball team (18-8, 12-5) to an 84-59 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Marist (6-20, 4-13) at the McCann Center Thursday evening in Poughkeepsie.

Darden, a senior, was 11 of 14 from the field, 3 of 3 from three-point range and 2 of 3 from the free-throw line. He was one of four Purple Eagles to score in double figures as fellow starters senior James Reaves (Rochester, N.Y./Edison Tech) netted 15 points, junior Juan Mendez (Montreal, Quebec) had 14 points and David Brooks (Philadelphia) added 12 points. Reaves grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season and junior Alvin Cruz (Rio Pedras, Puerto Rico) dished out a game-high seven assists.

Niagara built a quick nine-point lead, 12-3, when the Purple Eagles sank back-to-back three-pointers in the first 4:26 of the game. The Purple Eagles used a 27-10 run, including 13 points from Darden, to take a 22-point lead, 43-20, into halftime.

Marist opened the second half with a 14-6 run to pull within 13 points, 50-37, but Niagara then broke the game open when it went on an 8-0 run to lead 61-41 at 11:58. The Purple Eagles never let the lead get below 18 the remainder of the game as it shot a season-high 56.1 percent (32 of 57) from the field and limited Marist to 31.9 percent (23 of 72).

Marist was led by Carl Hood with 14 points and Will McClurkin with 11.

Niagara closes its regular season with a 6 p.m. tilt with cross-town rival Canisius on Sunday in the Gallagher Center.