NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Senior guard Lorenzo Miles (Washington, D.C.) made a steal with one second remaining to preserve an 81-80 victory for the Niagara University men’s basketball team (10-10, 5-4) over Iona College (0-18, 0-8) Saturday afternoon at the Gallagher Center in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play.

Iona remains the lone winless program in NCAA Division I men’s basketball.

The Purple Eagles were led by senior forward Clif Brown (Ferndale, Mich.) who had a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season and 15th of his career. Junior forward Charron Fisher (Pennsauken, N.J.) added 21 points and nine rebounds while seniors J.R. Duffey (Fort Worth, Texas) and Miles each had 11 points.

Iona was led by Anthony Bruin’s 24 points. Mike Harris had 17 points and seven assists while Alejo Rodriguez and Milan Prodanovic scored 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Niagara held an 81-80 lead when Miles was fouled with 12 seconds to play. Miles missed both foul shots before stealing a pass to seal the win.

Brown, who scored seven-straight points early in the first half, had 15 points in the opening 20 minutes as Niagara opened a 43-34 halftime lead. The Purple Eagles held a 35-20 lead after back-to-back layups by freshman guard Tyrone Lewis (Levittown, Pa.) with 5:46 remaining.

Lewis made two free throws to give Niagara a 55-40 lead with 16:58 to play. Iona cut the score to five, 73-68, after Bruin sank the second of a two-shot free-throw opportunity with 4:59 left. Prodanovic then cut the lead to three, 73-70, with a shot with 4:00 remaining.

Fisher pushed the lead to six points, 76-70, after converting an offensive rebound and making a free throw with 1:32 left. Brown gave Niagara an 80-75 lead with 30 seconds remaining by making one of two free throws. Prodanovic sank a three-pointer to make it 80-78 with 25 seconds left. Miles made a free throw before Rodriguez scored inside with 13 seconds remaining to make it 81-80, setting the stage for Miles’ late-game heroics.

Niagara returns to action Jan. 26 when it travels to Poughkeepsie to play Marist College at 7:30 p.m. in the McCann Center.