SCORE: Niagara 77, St. Bonaventure 75
RECORDS: Niagara (1-0), St. Bonaventure (0-1)
LOCATION: Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center
 
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles opened their campaign with 77-75 victory at Little 3 rival St. Bonaventure in front of a near full to capacity crowd on Friday night.
 
Game Recap
The Purple Eagles pulled out the win with key baskets and forcing stops in a sign of maturation of the program.
 
Niagara set the tone with a strong first half. After five lead changes in the early stages, Kahlil Dukes started to leave his mark on the game. He scored five straight points for a 15-8 Niagara lead while accounting for eight of Niagara's 15 points as the Purple Eagles maintained their lead for the rest of the half. A Dominic Robb baseline jumper, on a Dukes assist, gave NU the largest lead of the game at 22-11 with 7:42 on the clock. After Bona cut the lead to 30-25, Keleaf Tate stole the ball from Matt Mobley and his outlet pass to Marvin Prochet for a two-hand dunk with 1:54 left to halt the Bonnies momentum. A jumper by Dukes, for his game-high 10^th point, closed out the first half with NU leading 34-25.  Niagara's defense was suffocating in the first half. The Purple Eagles held the Bonnies without a field goal from the 14:07 to 5:53 mark, while Bona only connected on 7 of 27 shots, including going 0-for-8 from three point range.
 
The Bonnies opened the second half with a 6-0 run, but the Purple Eagles maintained their lead until less than eight minutes remained in the game. St. Bonaventure used a 9-0 run to take a 56-55 lead with 7:47 remaining. The game was tied at 61-61 with five minutes left when a 9-2 run by the Purple Eagles pushed them ahead for good. A Robb layup broke the tie, followed by a pair of free throws by Prochet, a 3-pointer by Dukes, and a layup by Scott.

Nursing a two-point lead, Barton made one of two free throws to give Niagara a 75-72  lead with 12 seconds left. On St. Bonaventure's next possession, the Purple Eagles forced the Bonnies' 13^th turnover of the game. Scott scored a layup in the final seconds to ice the game for the Purple & White.
 
Eagle's Eye On…

• Kahlil Dukes scored a team-high 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting from the field. He connected on a game-high six 3-pointers on eight attempts. The six 3-pointers are one shy of tying a career-high.
• Matt Scott scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and had a game-high four assists.
• Marvin Prochet scored 10 points and had eight rebounds to tie Scott for the team-high.

 
Inside The Numbers

• Niagara halted a six-game losing streak to St. Bonaventure, with its last win in the series coming in December 2010.
• The Purple Eagles have now won five of the last six meetings at the Reilly Center.
• Seven of the last nine meetings with the Bonnies have been decided by less than 10 points.
• This is Niagara's first season-opening win since defeating Central Connecticut State to start the 2011-12 season.
• In two games against St. Bonaventure, Dukes has averaged 22 points per game on 48 percent shooting.
• Niagara outscored Bona, 12-2 in fast break points.

 
Up Next

• The Purple Eagles continue their four-game road trip to open the season at No. 15/15 Minnesota on Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. EST.
• Listen to the game on the Niagara Sports Network via WGR 550 AM and www.PurpleEagles.com/Watch.  Video coverage will be on BTN Plus and BTN2Go.

 
Follow Niagara Athletics on Twitter @NUPurpleEagles and for men's basketball updates at @NiagaraMBB. Check in with the Purple Eagles on Facebook/PurpleEagles and on Instagram @NUPurpleEagles