PHILADELPHIA – The Niagara University men's basketball team fell to the Saint Joseph's Hawks, 73-62, on Sunday in its second game of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.

For the second straight game, Matt Scott led the Purple Eagles (0-2) in scoring with 14 points and in rebounds with eight. Justin Satchell chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds, and Marvin Prochet added nine points and grabbed six rebounds.
 
"I thought we played extremely well in the first half and did some really good things on both ends of the floor," head coach Chris Casey said. "We hit a 10-minute lull in the second half where we didn't play the way we had previous played in the game, and that was due to them as they stepped up their defense."
 
The first half had six lead changes as the Purple Eagles and the Hawks (2-0) went back-and-forth. A 3-pointer by Matt Scott capped an 8-2 run to give Niagara a 13-9 lead. The Purple Eagles led until a 3-pointer by Isaiah Miles put the Hawks in front at 19-17 with 6:34 on the clock. After cutting the lead to 27-25 on a Chris Barton 3-pointer, St. Joe's ended the half on a 7-3 spurt to take a 34-28 halftime lead.  
 
The six-point halftime deficit increased to a 24-point lead for the Hawks with eight minutes remaining. Justin Satchell scored the half's first points with a 3-pointer to cut SJU's lead to 34-31. However, the Purple Eagles went scoreless over the next six minutes as the Hawks built a 17-point lead. Trailing by 24, NU put together a 19-5 run to trim the score to 64-54 with three minutes remaining and trailed by 10 with 52 seconds, but it would be the closet the Purple Eagles would get.        
 
"We did mount a comeback and fought our way back into the game which is definitely a positive for us," Casey said. "We have to use this as something to build on and to get ready for Wednesday."
 
Niagara will host Brown on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in its home opener. For ticket information contact the Niagara Athletics Ticket Office at 716-286-8499, visit www.PurpleEagles.com/Tickets or tickets@niagara.edu.  
 
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