NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara men’s basketball team was unable to climb out of an early hole to the second place Saint Peter’s Peacocks in a 70-47 loss on Friday night from the Gallagher Center.

“I’m very disappointed in the way we came out tonight," head coach Joe Mihalich said. "I thought we came out a little soft and lethargic. We don’t have any room for errors and you can’t spot a good team a 10-0 lead."

A fast start by the visitors and a slow start by Niagara (4-20, 1-11 MAAC) led to a 34-20 halftime lead for the Peacocks (14-9, 9-3 MAAC). Niagara cut the lead to 23-18 with 6:30 left in the half, after falling behind 10-0, but would only manage to score two more points for the remaining of the half.

The Purple Eagles dug in deep on the defensive end to scratch back into the game. Eric Williams connected on a baseline jumper to cut the lead to 40-31 with 13:20 left, but the Peacocks ran off 10 straight points to halt the momentum shift.

“You are not going to beat a lot of people scoring 47 points,” Mihalich said. “We just couldn’t score the basketball.”

Marvin Jordan led the Purple Eagles with 14 points and chipped in four boards. Anthony Nelson scored 11 points, had four rebounds and four assists.

Niagara had 15 steals in the game, which are a season-high. Nelson, who leads the nation in steals with 3.3, had three in the game. Kevon Moore and Williams each had career-highs in steals with five and three, respectively.

Niagara will host the Marist Red Foxes on Sunday in the MAACTV Game of the Week. The broadcast will be aired live on MSG at 3 p.m.