NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles were edged by the Canisius Golden Griffins, 71-65, on Friday night in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPNU.

"It was a hard fought game and both teams competed really hard," head coach Chris Casey said. "Some good plays down the stretch for them, especially at the foul line."

The latest installment in this historic rivalry came down to the final minute as Niagara (6-20, 3-12 MAAC) suffered a rare home defeat in the series. The Purple Eagles entered tonight winning nine of the last 10 meetings at the Gallagher Center, but have now dropped consecutive home games in the series for the first time since the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.

Marcus Ware, who finished with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for his second career double-double, broke a 61-61 tie with a layup at the 2:49 mark. However, Canisius (17-9, 11-4 MAAC) closed the game on a 10-2 run to win its third straight in the series for the first time since 1997.

The Golden Griffins scored four straight points, including the go-ahead basket on a layup by Chris Perez with 57 seconds remaining.  Trailing 67-63, Ramone Snowden cut the lead to two with a baseline layup with 19 seconds left. Though Canisius' Billy Baron, who netted a game-high 34 points, went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line to seal the game.

The Purple Eagles started the better of the two teams. NU jumped out to an 18-9 lead and went into halftime up 37-32. Niagara had the game's largest lead at 44-33 with 17:01 on the clock after Antoine Mason drained his only 3-pointer in the game.  Canisius would take a 57-56 advantage, its first lead since two minutes into the game, on a 3-pointer by Jordan Heath at the 7:44 mark. On the next possession, Marvin Jordan answered with a triple of his own as NU went back in front 59-57.

Mason, the nation's leading scorer, finished with 17 points and had a game-high nine rebounds. Wesley Myers added 10 points and had a career-high four steals.

Niagara will venture to the New York metro area to face the Manhattan Jaspers on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. The game will air live on WGR 550 AM and on Purple Eagles All-Access.