AKRON, Ohio - The Niagara men's basketball team (4-3) dropped the final game of a long road swing on Sunday to Akron (4-2), 80-68. The Purple Eagles took a 31-23 lead into the break, but the Zips used a pair of big runs in the second half to put the game away.

Akron opened the second stanza with a 14-6 run, including the half's first six points, to knot the score at 37-37 with 16:33 remaining. After NU took q 42-41 lead with a Tyrone Lewis (Levittown, Pa.) 3-pointer, the Zips responed with a 16-7 run to pull away from the visitors. The home team benefitted from shooting 30 free throws in the second half, compared to Niagara's 10 free throws for the game.

"This was the end of a tough stretch for us, with six of our first seven games on the road," Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. "So we are going to lick our wounds and try to get better at the things that we can control."

Lewis tallied a game-high 21 points in 27 bench minutes. The senior guard shot 8-for-16 from the field, and moved into second place on the school's all-time 3-point list by connecting on five triples for the second-straight game. Lewis' 213 long-range shots puts him just seven away from tying the all-time mark of 220 by his former teammate Lorenzo Miles ('07).

Senior Bilal Benn (Philadelphia, Pa.) added 17 points, five rebounds and five assists in the loss. Classmates Demetrius Williamson (Chicago, Ill.) and Rob Garrison (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) added 11 and seven points, respectively, while Garrison led NU in rebounds with eight.

Sophomore Kashief Edwards (Philadelhpia, Pa.) added seven points while point guard Anthony Nelson (Plainfield, N.J.) scored three and handed out four assists.

The Purple Eagles return to action with three-straight home games beginning with a home conference weekend on Friday. Niagara will take on Manhattan at 7 p.m. before hosting Loyola on Sunday at 2 p.m.