PHILADELPHIA – Four Purple Eagles scored in double figures as the Niagara University men’s basketball team (5-7) came from behind to beat Holy Cross, 67-61, Friday night in its second game at the La Salle Explorer Invitational at Tom Gola Arena.

Junior Charron Fisher (Pennsauken, N.J.) scored a team-high 16 points while senior Clif Brown (Ferndale, Mich.) posted his fourth double-double of the season and 10th of his career with 11 points and a team-best 10 rebounds. Classmate Lorenzo Miles (Washington, D.C.) had 12 points and four assists and junior Stanley Hodge (Washington, D.C.) added a season-best 11 points.

Trailing by 11 points with 8:02 left, Niagara used a 20-6 run for a 61-57 lead. Miles hit a three-pointer, followed by buckets from Fisher and Brown to make it 55-54 with 3:06 left. Hodge then gave Niagara the lead for good with a trey to make it 57-55.

After a pair of Holy Cross free throws, Brown sank his lone three-pointer of the night, and Fisher and senior J.R. Duffey (Ft. Worth, Texas) each sank the back ends of free throws to push Niagara’s lead to 62-57 with 1:07 left.

Torey Thomas made it a three-point game with a pair of free throws with 26 seconds remaining, but Hodge, Duffey and freshman Rydell Brooks (Akron, Ohio) combined for five free throws to seal the win.

Niagara led at halftime 28-23 after closing with a 6-0 run, but Holy Cross opened the second period with an 11-1 run to take a 34-29 lead.

Freshman Andrew Patterson (Hartford, Conn.) entered the game for the first time with just over 14 minutes left in the game and then proceeded to sink two three-pointers to cut the Crusaders’ lead to 37-35 with 12:16 left. Holy Cross then used a 15-5 run to take a 52-41 lead and set the stage for Niagara’s come back.

Niagara returns to action Saturday when it takes on host La Salle at 6 p.m. in the final game of the Explorer Invitational.