Game Highlights
NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. –
Juan'ya Green' s last-gasp 3-pointer with one second left in overtime handed the Niagara Purple Eagles a dramatic 93-90 victory over the Iona Gaels in the National MAAC Game of the Week on Thursday.
Less than a week after erasing a 10-point second half deficit to win in the finals seconds at Canisius, NU (14-8, 10-1 MAAC) completed a similar feat tonight in front of 1,856 fans and a national audience on ESPN3 in a matchup of the top two teams in the standings.
“I’m just so proud of these guys,” head coach
Joe Mihalich said. “I think we got frustrated…we lost our fight for a little stretch there and so to get it back makes me as proud as anything tonight. We could have said, ‘oh well you know what we had a good run and these guys are pretty good’ so you know and these guys wouldn’t give in.”
After a back-and-forth, high-scoring first half where NU was down 41-38 at halftime, Iona built a double-digit lead midway through the second half. At one point, the Purple Eagles trailed by 15, 74-59, with under seven minutes left in the second stanza. NU trimmed the lead into single-digits in the final minutes to put itself in position to tie the game.
Down 81-74,
Antoine Mason hit a jumper to cut the lead to 81-76 with 43 seconds left. On Iona’s next possession, Sean Armand missed two free throws and on the ensuing possession Green made two free throws to cut the lead to three with 23 seconds remaining. Green stole the ball from Armand on the next possession to open the door for the Purple Eagles. However, NU had four chances to tie the game in the final 20 seconds. Green missed once and Mason twice from the 3-point line, but NU grabbed the rebound each time. On the fourth attempt, Green sank his triple to tie the game at 81-81 with 4.5 seconds left.
In overtime, Mason scored the first four points as NU led 85-81, though the Gaels scored five straight to take an 86-85 lead. With the score knotted at 88-88, Mason banked home a jumper in the paint to put NU up 90-88 with 34 seconds on the clock. Iona tied the game on its next possession when David Laury converted two free throws to finish with a career-high 24 points with 21 seconds remaining.
NU held the ball for the final shot of overtime with Green handling the ball. Green pulled up at the top of the arc and his 3-pointer went through the net with 0.5 seconds on the clock for the win.
“Yea, early in the season when we had I had the ball in my hands and passed it up and everybody got mad at me but I just stay focused,” Green said on the final shot.
The sophomore trio of Mason, Green and
Ameen Tanksley led the way for the Purple Eagles. Mason’s game-high 30 points set a new career high, Green finished with 26 points and a game-high eight assists and Tanskley recorded his fourth double-double of the season and second against Iona with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman
T.J. Cline added 11 points and
Marvin Jordan had nine.
Niagara improved to 10-1 in conference to set a program-best start in MAAC play, breaking the record set during the 1998-99 season. The Purple Eagles also extended their program-best conference win streak to 10 games and improved to 9-1 at home.
Niagara will turn its attention to defending MAAC Tournament champion Loyola for a Saturday tilt at 3 p.m.
For ticket information, contact the Niagara Athletic Ticket Office (located at Dwyer Arena) at 716-286-TIXX (8499),
tickets@purpleeagles.com or
www.PurpleEagles.com/tickets.
