BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Niagara men's basketball team (9-6, 2-1 MAAC) dropped a 63-60 decision to Iona on Saturday played at HSBC Arena, as part of a MAAC doubleheader. The Purple Eagles led by 10 points midway through the second half, but could not convert down the stretch in the conference loss.

Senior Bilal Benn (Philadelphia, Pa.) led all players with 21 points and nine rebounds while shooting 9-of-17 from the floor. His fadeaway jumper with eight seconds remaining with NU trailing 61-60 was off the mark and Iona corralled the rebound and made the ensuing free throws for the final margin.

"I felt like we had a chance to take control of the game when we were up 10 and we didn't do that," Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. "We lost our edge offensively and stopped attacking the basket."

Redshirt freshman Eric Williams (Hope, B.C.) came off the bench with an energetic 13 points and seven rebounds. Both totals were career highs, while the forward also set personal bests while shooting 5-of-6 from the floor. He scored the team's final five points on an old-fashioned three-point play off an offensive rebound and a physical lay-in off an assist from Anthony Nelson (Plainfield, N.J.) to give NU the lead 60-59 with 39 seconds left.

Senior Tyrone Lewis (Levittown, Pa.) scored 11 points and became just the fifth player in MAAC history with 1,500 career points, 200 career steals and his 200th assist. Nelson finished the game with six points, six helpers and a game-high four steals.

The Purple Eagles return to the 'Taps' Gallagher Center on Monday with a game against Fairfield. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.