NATCHITOCHES, La. –  The Niagara Purple Eagles had a season-high in scoring in a 107-100 defeat to the Northwestern State Demons on Saturday afternoon.

Niagara (1-6) and Northwestern State (3-3) combined for 70 field goals and 207 points in a matchup that pitted two of the highest scoring teams and fastest offenses in the nation. Three Purple Eagles were in double figures as NU had its highest scoring output in a non-overtime game since beating Hartford 103-63 on Nov. 29, 2008.

Antoine Mason led all scorers with 33 points to increase his nation's leading scoring output to 31.6 points per game through seven games. Mason scored 26 in the second half for his fifth straight 20-plus second half. Marcus Ware finished with Niagara's first double-double of the season by scoring a season-best 20 points and grabbing a career-high 11 boards. Senior Marvin Jordan netted a season-high 19 points, including going 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

The Purple Eagles outrebounded the Demons, 41-33, including Rayvon Harris' career-best 10 caroms; and Niagara held a 24-13 second chance points advantage. However, Northwestern State's balanced offensive attack proved too much for the Purple Eagles. The Demons, who had 12 players play at least 10 minutes, had four players in double figures and outscored Niagara 55-17 in bench points.

"We did some good things offensively," head coach Chris Casey said. "We put 100 points up, outrebounded them by eight, got to the foul line 10 more times, and shot 47 percent from the floor,  so we did some good things on offense. We have to continue to work on defense. We gave up far too many points and fouled too often, so those are things we will continue to work on and get better each day."  

After trailing early 8-4, a 3-pointer by Marvin Jordan sparked a 10-0 spurt by the Purple Eagles. Northwestern State went on 19-3 run over four minutes to lead 34-23 with 8 minutes left and took a 53-46 lead into the break. The Purple Eagles started the second half on a 15-3 run on their way to their first lead since 12 minutes remained in the first half. Niagara controlled play for the next five minutes and took its largest lead of the game, 75-69, on a Mason layup with 10 minutes remaining. The Demons regained the lead at 81-79 with 7:41 remaining and managed to hold off Niagara the rest of the way.

NSU led by as much as eight in the final stretch, though the Purple Eagles did cut the lead to 94-92 with 3:38 left. Niagara had a chance to tie or take a lead on its next possession but a missed jumper by Mason led to a 3-pointer by NSU on it en suing possession. The Demons would go 6-for-8 at the free-throw line in the final minutes.

The Purple Eagles wrap up their road trip on Monday against Arkansas State at 8:05 p.m. eastern. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 1520 AM and on Purple Eagles All-Access.