NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Justin Satchell's career-high 22 points helped propel the Niagara Purple Eagles to a 63-61 win over the Saint Peter's Peacocks to snap a seven-game skid on Thursday night.

"We did a lot of good things in that game, (but) I think the best thing we did was we stayed poised when they got the lead on us late," head coach Chris Casey said.  "We came up with some big stops and rebounds, and came up with a few big plays offensively, so I was very pleased with that."

The Purple Eagles (4-12, 2-3 MAAC) led for a total of 34 minutes, but had to withstand a late rally by the Peacocks (5-8, 3-1 MAAC) to send them to their first MAAC loss of the season.

NU jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and eventually led by as many as 12 points in the opening half to go into halftime up 35-29.

NU led 56-46 with 8:34 remaining in the game when the Peacocks went on a 13-0 run to take a 59-56 lead with four minutes left. On the en suing possession, Matt Scott drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 59-59. Two minutes later, Satchell connected on a baseline go-ahead jumper as NU led 61-59 heading into the final minute. After two scoreless possessions by the Peacocks, Emile Blackman made a pair of free throws to extend NU's lead to 63-59 with 24 seconds left.

Satchell finished with a career-high 22 points on 10 of 12 shooting from the field while also grabbing six rebounds. Emile Blackman scored 14 points, including going 6-for-6 at the free-throw line, and Scott added 10 points. Cameron Fowler led the team with a career-best eight assists while committing zero turnovers.

"Obviously, Justin (Satchell) gave us a terrific game, but it wasn't just him, it was a bunch of guys," Casey said. "We had some big stops, some big rebounds and we talked about rebounding being an important part of the game today. We were plus-4 on the glass, our assist to turnover was very good, and we did a lot of good things. I'm happy for our guys to get some payback for the work they are putting in because they do put consistent hard work in."

The Purple Eagles will host the Manhattan Jaspers on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 3 p.m. The game will air live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and on the Niagara Sports Network via WGR 550 AM and PurpleEagles.com/Watch. For ticket information, contact the Niagara Athletic Ticket Office at 716-286-8499 or Tickets@Niagara.edu.

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