Sophomore Charron Fisher registered his first collegiate double double with 19 points and 13 rebounds Saturday.

QUEENS, N.Y. – Sophomore Charron Fisher (Pennsauken, N.J.) registered his first career double-double with a game-high 19 points and a team-high 13 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Niagara University men’s basketball team (2-1) dropped a 67-61 game to St. John’s University (3-0) Saturday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena.

Junior J.R. Duffey (Ft. Worth, Texas) scored 11 points and was the only other Purple Eagle in double digits.

With the score tied at 59-59 with 3:32 left, the Red Storm went on a 6-0 run to take a 65-59 lead. They scored four of the points from the free-throw line while Niagara missed a layup and two free throws. Fisher made it a two-point game with a layup with 13 seconds left, but St. John’s sank a pair from the foul line to secure the win.

"Give St. John’s credit, they did what they had to do at the end," Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. "It seems like down at the end we had two or three possessions where it was tied and we had the ball. We just didn’t execute.

"Their defense was tougher than our offense. We know that would be the key going in and give them credit because they did what they needed to do to win the game."

Niagara had an eight-point lead, 37-29, to start the second half, but the Red Storm used an 8-0 run to tie the game at 42 with 13:03 left.

The Purple Eagles then went on a 6-0 run of their own to take a six-point lead, 48-42, on a jumper by sophomore Stanley Hodge (Washington, D.C.). St. John’s again fought back going on a 15-4 run to lead 57-52 with 7:46 left. Daryll Hill scored 10 of his 16 points and sank both of his three-pointers to fuel the run.

Niagara worked it back to a 57-57 tie with a senior James Mathis (Newark, N.J.) scoring a layup, junior Barry Duroiser (Orlando, Fla.) sinking a free throw and junior Clif Brown (Ferndale, Mich.) hitting a pair from the charity stripe.

Hill scored twice more from the line and Fisher scored a layup to tie the game for the last time at 59.

St. John’s was led offensively by Lamont Hamilton with 15 points and 17 rebounds.

Niagara returns to action when it hosts Bucknell Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. in the Gallagher Center.