| GAME 12 |
| SCORE |
Niagara Purple Eagles 75, Fairfield Stags 66 |
| RECORDS |
Niagara (3-9, 1-0 MAAC), Fairfield (4-8, 0-1 MAAC) |
| LEADING SCORERS |
Niagara – James Towns (18) | Fairfield – Eze Vincent (16), Wassef Methani (16) |
| LOCATION |
Gallagher Center |
NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – A swarming defensive performance and efficient shooting lifted the Purple Eagles to a 75-66 victory against the Fairfield Stags in their MAAC opener on Friday night.
Game Summary
Playing in their first home game since December 8, the Purple Eagles raced out to a 9-3 lead with
Greg Kuakumensah and
Marcus Hammond combining to score seven points in 34 seconds.
The Stags, who took a 1-0 lead, got within one point twice before tying the game at 21-21 with 6:37 on the clock. The Purple Eagles responded with a 9-0 run to take a 30-21 lead with 4:16 left in the half. NU went into the halftime break with a 34-28 lead.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by
Justin Roberts and
Marcus Hammond gave NU a 44-34 advantage four minutes into the second half. Fairfield, then, went on a 13-5 run to cut Niagara's lead to two points, 49-47, with 11:17 remaining. However, Niagara pulled away with a 22-9 outburst over the next six-plus minutes.
James Towns paced the run with nine points including making two free throws to push the lead to 71-56, which was the largest lead of the game, with 4:08 left.
Eagle's Eye On…
- James Towns scored a game-high 18 points in 33 minutes off the bench.
- Raheem Solomon scored 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and had three assists.
- Greg Kuakumensah went 7 from 9 from the field for 14 points and had a team-high six rebounds.
- Marcus Hammond scored 13 points, dished out a team-high four assists, had a team-high two steals and grabbed four rebounds.
Inside The Numbers
- Niagara won its MAAC opener for the first time in four seasons.
- NU has won consecutive games in the series with Fairfield for the first time since sweeping both meetings during the 2014-15 season.
- The Purple Eagles had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6) for the seventh straight game.
- Four Purple Eagles scored in double figures for the third time this season.
Up Next
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