Junior Juan Mendez scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

ALBANY – A last second shot by senior Tremmell Darden (Las Vegas, Nev.) came up short at the buzzer as the Niagara University men’s basketball team (21-9) lost to Manhattan College (24-5), 62-61, in the finals of the 2004 HSBC Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship game Monday night at Pepsi Arena.

Darden and the Purple Eagles’ opportunity to win the league title began when tournament MVP Luis Flores missed a pair of free throws with 10 second left. Niagara sophomore James Mathis (Newark, N.J.) rebounded the ball, passed to freshman Lorenzo Miles (Washington, D.C.) who then raced up court and dished to Darden.

Darden, who finished with 18 points, had difficulty finding room to shoot and then slipped on the floor before attempting an 18-foot shot.

Trailing by 14 points, 52-38 with 8:14 left in the game, Niagara mounted its third comeback of the tournament. The Purple Eagles put together a 20-8 run over the next eight-plus minutes to pull within three points, 61-58, on junior Juan Mendez’s (Montreal, Quebec) layup with 35 second remaining.

Manhattan’s David Holmes then missed one of two free throws with 28 second left. On Niagara’s next possession, Miles had a three-point attempt blocked, he rebounded his missed shot and then sank the three-pointer with 12 seconds remaining and the Purple Eagles trailing by one.

Flores was fouled on the ensuring inbounds play, proceeded to miss the free throws that led to Darden’s last second three-point shot.

Mendez recorded his 16th 20-plus point game of the season with a game-high 26 points. He also added 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the year. Senior James Reaves (Rochester, N.Y./Edison Tech) grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.

Niagara’s 21 victories are the school’s most since going 23-7 in 1992-93, the last time the Purple Eagles earned a postseason berth with an NIT invitation.