BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles used a second half offensive explosion to rally past rival Canisius, 82-71, on Tuesday night for their third straight win.  

NU (7-21, 6-13 MAAC) shot a sizzling 78.9 percent (15-for-19) from the field in the second half, including going 3-for-3 behind the arc, to set a Koessler Athletic Center record for field goal percentage in a half. NU also shot 81.8 percent (18-for-22) from the free-throw line en route to netting 51 points in the second frame.

"We did a good job on defense in the second half and rebounded the ball better, and that helped us and what got us on our run," head coach Chris Casey said. "Offensively, I thought we were very, very efficient and got contribution from a lot of guys."

Trailing 35-31 at halftime, the Purple Eagles made their first nine shots from the field with seven of them as part of a 17-5 run to lead 48-40 with 12:28 on the clock. NU made its eighth straight shot on a thunderous out-of-bounds alley-oop dunk by Emile Blackman and its ninth straight shot on a Karonn Davis' 3-pointer as NU led 53-42 with 10:48 left. Niagara's lead ballooned to 61-44 at the 7:34 mark for the largest lead of the game.

Canisius (15-13, 10-9 MAAC) gradually chipped away at the deficit and eventually cut the lead to 75-70 with 59 seconds left. However, NU answered with another great out-of-bounds play with Snowden throwing a deep pass from the baseline to a streaking Blackman who converted a 3-point play.

NU shot a season-high 60 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from the 3-point line, as the Purple Eagles snapped a four-game skid to Canisius and improved to 10-4 in their last 14 visits.

Dominique Reid led all scorers with 20 points to tie a career-high, and shared game-high honors with eight rebounds. Blackman scored 18 points, had a game-high and career-best six assists, and grabbed six rebounds. Snowden scored 15 points, had six rebounds and chipped in four assists. Wesley Myers and Davis each scored 14 points.

NU will play its regular season finale on Sunday, March 1 when the Purple Eagles host the Fairfield Stags at 2 p.m. For ticket information, contact the Niagara Athletic Ticket Office at 716-286-8499.