NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - Anthony Nelson set the school's career assists record as Niagara was defeated by the Loyola Greyhounds, 75-63, on Friday night at the Gallagher Center to snap its nine-game win streak in the series.

"We did not deserve to win that game tonight," head coach Joe Mihalich said.  "I'm not sure we had enough guys that really came to play tonight."

Nelson surpassed Alvin Cruz's total of 630 assists which was set six seasons ago in tonight’s game. Nelson recorded his 631st career assist at the 14:42 mark in the first half. Nelson, who leads the nation in steals, stole the ball from Julius Brooks and sent an outlet pass to Marvin Jordan who made a layup to cut the score to 7-4. Nelson finished with a team-high 16 points, nine rebounds and  five assists. Nelson had five steals in the game to set the single-season steals record with 92, surpassing former teammate Tyrone Lewis' 91 steals set during the 2008-09 season. Kashief Edwards recorded his third career double-double with 15 point and a team-high 10 boards and Jordan added 11 points.

The output by the trio was not enough to prevent NU (8-22, 4-13 MAAC) to its first defeat to Loyola (15-13, 10-7 MAAC) in ten games and its first home defeat to the Greyhounds since Jan. 18, 1997.

"One of the hardest things to do is beat somebody on the road and then when they come back to your place beat them again,” Mihalich said.  “We took some steps back tonight, but what I love about this team is that we were able to put December and January behind us and play some pretty good basketball in February so that is our challenge for Sunday; to put behind this game, play some good basketball on Sunday and have a good taste in our mouth when we get on the bus to Connecticut." 

Loyola held on to a 33-31 halftime lead after NU closed the half on a 12-5 run. The Purple Eagles cut the lead to two point early in the second half and to three points twice with 10 minutes left, but was denied by spurts from the visitors. Loyola had four players in double figures, led by Erik Etherly with a game-high 19 points. NU finished the game with one 3-pointer, but outscored Loyola in the paint (40-28) and fast break points (19-10).   

Niagara will conclude its regular season versus the Manhattan Jaspers on Sunday at 2 p.m. Before the game, NU will honor Nelson in its senior day ceremony. Tickets for the final home game can be purchased online via TicketMaster or by calling the Niagara Box Office at (716) 286-TIXX (8499).