QUEENS, N.Y. – A furious second half run lifted the Niagara Purple Eagles back into the game, before falling short to the St. John's Red Storm, 70-57, on Tuesday night.
Niagara (1-4) outscored St. John's, 22-11, through the opening eight minutes of the second half to trim the lead to 46-45. However, the Red Storm (5-1) responded with a 16-5 run to pull away for the win.
"I thought we fought them and did a good job coming back," head coach
Chris Casey said. "We played hard in the first half, but we didn't play particularly well offensively and left a lot of points out there. I do think we calmed down in the second half and got better, particularly in the first eight minutes, but then we hit a lull and didn't finish some plays (and) with a young group you are going to get that. We have to capitalize offensively, open looks have to go down and we have to finish around the basket."
The two Vincentian Universities met for the 99th time tonight and the first time since the Purple Eagles defeated the Red Storm, 77-73, at Carnesecca Hall in Dec. 2007.
The Purple Eagles, who trailed 35-24 at halftime, opened the second half on an 8-2 spurt after a 3-pointer by
Wesley Myers and with five points by
Emile Blackman. Niagara eventually cut the lead to 46-45 with 11:44 left after consecutive 3-pointers by freshmen
Dominique Reid and
Karonn Davis.
After St. John's pushed the lead to 53-47, a 3-pointer by Myers brought NU to 53-50 with 8:31 left. However, the Purple Eagles would go scoreless over the next five minutes as the Red Storm went on a 12-0 run.
Blackman finished with a game-high 21 points which are the most by a Purple Eagle this season. Ramone Snowden recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Niagara returns home to host rival Canisius on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. on ESPN3. Prior to the game, Niagara University will honor Frank and Barbara Layden by naming the Gallagher Center court after them.
For ticket information, please contact the Niagara Athletic Ticket Office at 716-286-8499.
