NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - In an emotional, hotly-contested battle inside the Gallagher Center, the Niagara men's basketball team (14-7, 8-4 MAAC) used stingy defense down the stretch to pull out an 83-79 win over Loyola (13-11, 8-4 MAAC) on Tuesday. The Purple Eagles held the Greyhounds without a field goal for the final 9:58.
Charron Fisher (Pennsauken, N.J.) scored 21 of his 31 points in the second half of the come-from-behind victory, but Niagara made its run after the senior picked up his fourth foul at the 11:09 mark.
After Fisher was whistled for a blocking foul, Loyola went on an 8-0 run to take a 68-59 lead. The Greyhounds hit two free throws and then a pair of three-pointers in a 1:11 span, capped by a triple from freshman point guard Brian Rudolph. That would be Loyola's last field goal of the night.
With Fisher on the bench, the Niagara squad responded with a 7-0 run, all coming from the line. The lead traded sides as the clock wound down inside five minutes. Fisher and sophomore guard Tyrone Lewis (Levittown, Pa.), who also was forced to sit with four personals, re-entered the game, and Lewis quickly gave NU a 77-76 lead with a driving lay-up.
Loyola regained the lead at 79-78 when Gerald Brown sank one of two free throws at the 1:13 mark. The Purple Eagles then found Fisher, who drove the lane and banked a floater in to give NU the lead for good. Brown missed a three-pointer on the Greyhounds' next possession and Niagara hit three of four free throws for the win.
"What a terrific college basketball game," Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. "I'm proud of our guys for not only being able to make that run without [Fisher and Lewis], but the fact that they didn't panic."
Loyola ended the first half on a 12-0 run that included three long-range jumpers. The Greyhounds shot 7-of-12 from three-point range in the opening stanza and connected on five in the first part of the second frame before Niagara stepped up its defense.
"We really didn't do anything special," Mihalich added. "Just sit down and really guard."
The lead changed hands three times in the first half. Lewis got things started early for Niagara, connecting on three triples in the first half, and Fisher finished the half strong, scoring 10-straight for Niagara at one point.
For the second-straight game, four players finished in double figures. Lewis finished with his fourth 20-point performance in his last five games with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-9 from behind the arc. Benson Egemonye (Benin City, Nigeria) scored 15 on 5-of-6 shooting while tying a career-high four blocks. Stanley Hodge (Washington, D.C.) chipped in with 12 markers.
Anthony Nelson (Plainfield, N.J.) held everything together on both ends of the floor. The freshman point guard recorded nine assists without committing a turnover while shutting down Loyola's best player, Brown, down the stretch.
The win puts Niagara in a three-way tie for third place in the MAAC with Loyola and Marist at 8-4, while the loss ends the Greyhounds six-game winning streak.
The Purple Eagles are right back in action on Friday when they travel to Rider to face the hottest team in the conference. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
