NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles opened their three-game homestand with an 88-70 defeat to the Youngstown State Penguins on Saturday.

"I thought we got our offense going, in particularly in the first half. We shot the ball very well, scored the ball very and moved the ball very well," head coach Chris Casey said. "We need to continue to work on defending and rebounding, (and) that left us in this game."

Four Purple Eagles were in double figures. Emile Blackman scored a game-high 23 points and had a team-high six rebounds. Matt Scott scored 13 points, had a team-highs in assists with six assists and in steals with two. Chris Barton scored a career-best 11 points and Justin Satchell added 10 points.

The Purple Eagles (2-5) made a season-high 10 3-pointers with eight coming in the first half which were instrumental to the Purple Eagles offense. The Purple Eagles shot 53 percent from behind the arc and their eight triples accounted for half of their first half field goals.

The Purple Eagles led 42-39 with under two minutes remaining in the first half that featured 10 lead changes, but the Penguins (3-4) scored seven straight points to head into halftime leading 46-42; YSU never relinquished the lead.

A layup by Blackman at the 11:17 mark of the second half cut YSU's lead to 65-64. However, the Penguins went on a 17-0 run over the next 8:52 as the Penguins went on to win the first meeting between the programs since 2003.

Niagara continues its homestand on Friday, Dec. 4 against Quinnipiac for its MAAC 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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