NIAGARA UNIV., NY – The Niagara Purple Eagles fell to the Penn Quakers, 67-56, in their final non-conference game of the regular season on Tuesday night at the Gallagher Center.
 
After shooting over 45 percent in two conference games last weekend, including shooting 56 percent from the field at Manhattan, the Purple Eagles (3-12) had scoring droughts in the second half which allowed Penn (4-8) to pull away for the win.
 
"I thought we were drained a little bit from the league weekend," head coach Chris Casey said. "We played hard, but not after it as much as we are accustomed to."
 
The first half witnessed seven lead changes as Ramone Snowden made a pair of free throws with two seconds left to give NU a 24-22 halftime lead.
 
The Purple Eagles led 29-26 with 17:28 remaining before the Quakers went on a 10-1 run over the next three minutes. NU trimmed the lead to 36-35 after a Wesley Myers free throw, but Penn reeled off nine straight points to lead 45-35 with 9:45 left.
 
The Quakers increased their lead to as much as 13 points over the final minutes with most of their points coming from the free-throw line; Penn went 23-for-28 at the charity stripe in the game.
 
Snowden led NU in scoring with 14 points, while Myers added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
The Purple Eagles return to conference play when they welcome the Iona Gaels on Friday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. for a nationally televised game on ESPNU. For ticket information, contact the Niagara Athletic Ticket Office at 716-286-8499.