NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles edged the Fairfield Stags, 57-56, on Sunday to wrap up their regular season on a four-game winning streak.
 
Freshman Matt Scott calmly knocked down two free throws with 23 seconds left to give Niagara the 57-56 lead. Fairfield's Steve Johnston missed a 3-pointer with three seconds on the clock and Emile Blackman grabbed the rebound as NU (8-21, 7-13 MAAC) swept Fairfield (7-23, 5-15 MAAC) for the second time in the last three seasons.
 
"I thought the best thing we did today was (we) stayed with it and grind it out," head coach Chris Casey said. "We had some good stops down the stretch, a couple of big rebounds; we stayed in attack mode on offense and got contributions from everybody. We didn't play great, but we found a way to win the game."
 
The Purple Eagles will head to the MAAC Tournament in Albany, N.Y. on a four-game winning streak which is the longest active streak in the MAAC. Niagara will be the No. 9 seed and will take on the eighth-seeded Siena Saints on Thursday, March 5 at 5:00 p.m. at the Times Union Center. The game will be carried lived on AM 1400 WWWS and on the Niagara Sports Network via PurpleEagles.com.
 
The Purple Eagles led 12-5 after five minutes, but found themselves trailing 20-15 with 7:54 left in the half after a 9-0 surge by the Stags. NU, which trailed 32-26 at halftime, opened the second half on a 6-0 run, followed by a 6-0 run by Fairfield. NU regained the lead, 39-38, with 14:59 remaining on five straight points by Dominique Reid, who finished with his team-best fifth double-double of the season by sharing game-highs with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Niagara scored five straight - a 3-pointer by Blackman and two of Myers' 13 points - to put the Purple and White up 53-52 with 3:58 left to play. The Stags answered on their next possession before Reid corralled a rebound and slammed home a dunk to give NU a 55-54 lead with 2:12 remaining.
 
After an empty possession by both teams, Fairfield's Jerome Segura put the Stags ahead, 56-55, on a layup with 40 seconds left. On NU's next possession, Scott was fouled and was sent to the line for a one-and-one. Scott made the go-ahead free throws to finish with 11 points.