Senior Alvin Cruz scored his 1,000th career point Thursday at Manhattan.

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Niagara University men’s basketball team (9-5, 4-2) had its three-game winning streak snapped Thursday evening when it lost, 78-72, to Manhattan College (7-5, 2-2) in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game in Draddy Gym.

Senior Juan Mendez (Montreal, Que.) registered his 33rd career double-double and seventh of the season when he scored registered 20 points and 11 rebounds. Classmates Alvin Cruz (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico) and David Brooks (Philadelphia, Pa.) each had 15 points. Junior James Mathis (Newark, N.J.) grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.

Mendez became the highest-scoring Canadian in NCAA Division I history with 1,843 career points, breaking the 1,827 set by Michael Meeks at Canisius from 1993 to 1996. The record fell when Mendez rebounded a missed shot and dunked with 25 seconds left in the first half.

Cruz joined Mendez and Brooks in Niagara’s 1,000-point club. The point guard sank a three-pointer from the corner with 1:12 left in the game to reach the millennium mark.

After trailing at halftime, 37-32, the Purple Eagles got within a point twice, the second at 49-48 on freshman Charron Fisher’s (Pennsauken, N.J.) layup with 13:37 left.

Manhattan’s Peter Mulligan then scored eight of his game-high 32 points to put the Jaspers up, 57-48, with 11:09 to play.

Niagara chipped away at the lead and got as close as 66-63 on a pair of Mendez free throws with 2:44 left, but Manhattan made 12 of 14 free throws down the stretch for the win.

The Purple Eagles return to action Saturday when they travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to play Marist at 7:30 p.m. in the McCann Center.