NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – For the second consecutive game, the Niagara Purple Eagles were edged by one point as they fell to MAAC preseason favorite the Manhattan Jaspers, 78-77, on Sunday afternoon.

The Purple Eagles, who missed a game-winning shot at the buzzer against Iona on Friday night, had a repeat scenario today. Trailing 78-77 with seven seconds left, Niagara had to go the length of the court.  Rayvon Harris received the ball at the top of the key and drove to the basket, but his layup was blocked by Manhattan's Rhamel Brown, his sixth of the game, as time expired.

"I'm really proud of our guys to come off what they came off on Friday and showed the same fight they showed today," head coach Chris Casey said. "I do believe we are getting better and we have to continue on an upward trend. We have to go through the pains of learning how to play at the end of the game, and making good plays on both ends of the floor. I don't think anyone can question our fight."

Niagara (6-19, 3-11 MAAC) weathered an early storm by Manhattan to make today's game go down to the wire. The Jaspers (17-6, 10-4 MAAC) led 16-5, including a 10-0 run, through the first 5:30 of the game while NU committed seven turnovers. The Purple Eagles trailed 29-19 at the nine-minute mark, but gradually crept into the contest and eventually tied the game at 35-35 on a Wesley Myers' floater with 1:13 remaining in the half.  

NU opened the second half down 39-37, but took its first lead of the game, 41-40, on an Antoine Mason layup a 1:16 into the half. The lead would exchange four more times before Niagara took its largest lead at 67-61 from a pair of Mason's free throws with 7:51 remaining. Manhattan tied the game on a 6-0 spurt in 30 seconds as the rest of the game would be played in a four-point margin.

NU was up 75-71 with 3:25 left when Manhattan went on another 6-0 run to regain the lead at 77-75 with 1:36 left. After Manhattan's George Beamon made 1 of 2 free throws to give Manhattan a 78-75 advantage with 1:13 on the clock, Mason drained a pair of free throws with 43 seconds remaining on Niagara's next possession. On the ensuing possession, Beamon had a chance to make it a three-point game, but his jumper was short and was rebounded by Harris who called a timeout to setup the final play of the game.

Mason, the nation's leading scorer, netted a game-high 33 points for his 10th 30-point game of the season. Mason moved into fifth place in career scoring at Niagara with 1,746 points. Mason also led the game with eight rebounds and shared game-high honors in steals with three. Backcourt teammate Tahjere McCall added 16 points and led the game with a season-high seven assists.

Niagara wraps up its three-game homestand on Friday, Feb. 14 against Canisius at 9 p.m. in a nationally-televise broadcast on ESPNU.

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