BALTIMORE – The Niagara men’s basketball team erased a 13-point second half deficit to defeat the Loyola Greyhounds, 59-57, on Friday night at the Reitz Arena.

“It was a terrific win for our program and it is great to see people happy,” head coach Joe Mihalich said. “It was a hard fought win. We had a lot of chances to pull out the win and we are learning and growing from prior experiences.”

Niagara (6-20, 3-11 MAAC) showed grit down the stretch to pull out its first conference road win of the season and its first road win since topping rival St. Bonaventure on Dec. 11. The Purple Eagles scored 36 second half points, including 16 from senior floor general Anthony Nelson, to push them to their ninth straight win in the series.

 

Niagara jumped to a 16-7 lead after 11 minutes of play. However, Loyola (12-12, 8-6 MAAC) found its shooting touch, going 5-for-12 from the 3-point line, and ended the half on a 25-7 run to take a 32-23 halftime lead.

 

The Greyhounds led as much as 13 points in the early portion of the second half when the Purple Eagles began to chip away at the lead. With Loyola up 40-28 with 17 minutes left, NU went on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 40-39. 

Scooter Gillette, who had a season-high 10 points, put the Purple Eagles up 54-52 with a dunk at 3:30 left and two free throws by Nelson free throw made it 56-54 with 50 seconds remaining.

 

Loyola’s Robert Olsen answered with a 3-pointer as the host went back in front, 57-56. However on NU’s next possession, Nelson made an off balance runner to regain the lead at 58-57 with 15.1 seconds left. Olsen missed a 3-pointer with eight seconds in the en suing possession and Marvin Jordan collected the rebound; Jordan would make 1-of-2 free throws.

With five seconds left, Loyola’s Brian Rudolph went coast-to-coast but missed his layup as time expired.

 

Niagara held a 22-8 advantage in points in the paint and a 34-31 rebound advantage. Low post players Kashief Edwards, Eric Williams and Gillette combined for 22 points and 18 boards, including a game-high nine boards by Edwards and a career-high eight caroms by Gillette.

Nelson had a game-high 20 points and a game-high five steals to continue to lead the nation in steals.

 

NU will face the Rider Broncs on Sunday at 2 p.m. in its final road game of the season.