Senior James Mathis finished his four-year career with 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

ALBANY – Three players scored in double digits but a poor shooting night ended the Niagara University men’s basketball teams season Friday night as it lost 80-54 to Iona College in the 2006 Citizens Bank Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship in Pepsi Arena.

Junior Clif Brown (Ferndale, Mich.) scored a team-high 17 points while senior James Mathis (Newark, N.J.) registered his second consecutive double-double of the championship with 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Junior Lorenzo Miles (Washington, D.C.) scored 12 points, and classmate Barry Durosier (Orlando, Fla.) collected a career-high eight rebounds.

Niagara shot a season-low 29.5 percent (18-61) from the field, including 26.7 percent (8-30) in the first half.

After trailing 15-4 just over six minutes into the game, the Purple Eagles used five points from Miles and two from Mathis to cut the lead to four points, 15-11. Iona then went on a 19-5 run to take an 18-point lead, 34-16.

The Purple Eagles battled back when they used a 9-0 run to trail by 11 at the half, 36-25. Mathis scored half of his 12 first-half points during the stretch.

Iona opened the second half with a 9-0 run to take a 49-33 lead. The Gaels built a 68-45 lead before Brown and Mathis hit jumpers on back-to-back possessions and Mathis sank a free throw to cut the lead to 68-50, the closest Niagara would get the rest of the game.

The Purple Eagles finish the 2005-06 season with an 11-18 overall record and a 7-11 MAAC mark.