NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Niagara wrapped up its regular season with a 66-59 victory over the Manhattan Jaspers on Sunday. Four Purple Eagles scored in double figures to help send Anthony Nelson out with a win in his final game at the Gallagher Center.

“It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but we did what we had to do,” head coach Joe Mihalich. “We had to win today to feel good about ourselves going into the tournament.”

Niagara (9-22, 5-13 MAAC) clinched the eighth seed in the upcoming 2011 Spark Energy MAAC Championships in Bridgeport, Conn. The Purple Eagles will face the Marist Red Foxes, who holds the tiebreaker over Manhattan (6-24, 3-15 MAAC), on Friday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard.

Nelson concluded his career at the Gallagher Center with his fourth double-double of the season. He finished with 12 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and four steals. Nelson, who went 4-for-5 at the free-throw line, drained a pair of free throws at 5:38 left in the first half to give NU a lead, 23-22, which it would not relinquish.

“I tried to stay in bed in long as I could,” Nelson said. “The walk over here was real tough, but I was trying not to get emotional and stay focus on the game.”

“He rewrote the record book,” Mihalich said about Nelson. “I am in awe of the basketball player he is and wherever he is next year some coach will be real lucky to have him run his team.”

Marvin Jordan connected on consecutive 3-pointers during an 8-2 run midway through the second half to increase NU’s lead to 49-41 with nine minutes remaining. NU closed the game making eight straight free throws and finished with a season-high 23 made free throws (23-for-27).

“I thought we got off to a slow start, (but) we picked it up towards the end of the half to take the lead into the second half,” Nelson said. “They cut the lead down to two and in previous games we would have let them come back, but we showed what kind of team we have become. We are starting to counter runs and make our own runs.”

Jordan tied a game-high with 18 points to lead NU in scoring. Kashief Edwards added 13 points and Malcolm Lemmons tied a career-high going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe en route to scoring 10 points.

Niagara finishes February with a 5-3 record and has won five of its last seven games. The win over the Jaspers marks its 11th win in the last 13 meetings, including five straight at home.

“It was a good month of basketball and it was what we wanted to do in this month to feel good about going into the tournament,” Mihalich said.

Anthony Nelson Senior Day Ceremony