NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles dropped an 85-74 decision to newly-minted MAAC foe Monmouth on Friday night at the Gallagher Center.

Antoine Mason led Niagara (4-12, 1-4 MAAC) in scoring for the 15th time this season with a game-high 24 points, 19 in the second half, while going 14-for-15 at the free-throw line. Marvin Jordan and Tahjere McCall had 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Rayvon Harris scored 10 points and had a team-high six rebounds.

The Purple Eagles, who trailed 35-32 at halftime, suffered a second half scoring drought which led their demise. NU had a five-minute stretch where it went scoreless as the Hawks (8-8, 2-3 MAAC) built a 56-38 lead with 10 minutes left.

"We had a stretch early in the second half where we didn't score the ball against the zone and we needed to be better against the zone at that point," head coach Chris Casey said. "I thought we continued to compete hard (and) put ourselves in a position towards the end to maybe make a run at it, but we needed to be better early in the second half in scoring against the zone."

Monmouth led as much as 22 points before Niagara cut the deficit to 72-63 with 3:21 after Harris converted a three-point play. However, the Hawks would close out the game going 7-for-8 at the free-throw line to even the all-time series to 1-1.

Niagara is back on the court on Sunday when it hosts Rider at 2 p.m. Niagara will honor men's basketball icon Phil Scaffidi with a replica bobblehead. The first 1,200 fans in attendance will receive one.

For ticket information, contact the Niagara Athletic Ticket Office at 716-286-8499 (TIXX), tickets@PurpleEagles.com, and www.PurpleEagles.com/Tickets.