Senior David Brooks led five Purple Eagles in scoring with a game-high 15 points Saturday.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Five players scored in double figures to lead the Niagara University men’s basketball team to a 73-71 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Iona College Saturday afternoon in the Gallagher Center.

Senior David Brooks (Philadelphia, Pa.) led the Purple Eagles with a game-high 15 points. Classmates Alvin Cruz (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico) and Juan Mendez (Montreal) each had 14 points and junior James Mathis (Newark, N.J.) and sophomore Lorenzo Miles (Washington, D.C.) had 10 points a piece.

Niagara extended it home winning streak to 10 games, dating to last season, remained undefeated in the Gallagher Center and won its third consecutive game overall.

With just over two minutes left in the game, the Purple Eagles held a one-point lead, 70-69. Miles hit a pair of free throws with 1:28 left before Iona’s Charles Henson’s runner trimmed the lead to one, 72-71, with 53.3 seconds left.

Mathis made it a three-point game when he sank the second of two free throws with 26 seconds remaining. Iona’s Steve Burtt tried to tie the game at the buzzer with a jumper from the top of the key, but time expired.

Mendez recorded his sixth double-double of the season and 32nd of his career with a game-high 10 rebounds. The forward also fell five points short of eclipsing the all-time NCAA Division I scoring record for a Canadian. Mendez has 1,823 career points, four behind Michael Meeks who played for Canisius from 1993-96.

Cruz registered third double-double of the season and of his career with a game-high 11 assists. He has had 11-or-more assists in a game three times this season. He also moves into eighth on the MAAC all-time assists list with 528.

Henson and Ricky Soliver each had 14 points to lead Iona.

Niagara returns to action Jan. 13 when it begins a two-game road swing at Manhattan. Tip is slated for 7 p.m. in Draddy Gym on the Riverdale, N.Y., campus.