HONOLULU, O'AHU – Hawai'i (2-0) shot 59.6 percent from the field, including 50.0 percent from 3-point land, to defeat Niagara (0-3) 92-73 in non-conference basketball action from SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. 
 
The Purple Eagle reserves scored 44 of the team's 73 points, led by senior Braxton Bayless' career-high 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Kwane Marble Jr. added 11 points and five rebounds, followed by Dre Bullock with nine points and Lance Erving with eight. Harlan Obioha led NU on the glass, grabbing a season-high eight rebounds. Niagara shot 46.4 percent from the floor as a team, including a 36.4 percent mark from beyond the 3-point line. 
 
Four Rainbow Warriors scored in double figures, led by Noel Coleman's game-high 21 points and Justin McKoy's 12-point, 11-rebound double-double. 
 
How it Happened
Ahmad Henderson II scored the game's first basket to give NU a 2-0 advantage less than a minute into the action, but the next 3:49 was all Hawai'i. The Rainbow Warriors scored 11 unanswered points to take an 11-2 lead over NU by the first media timeout. 
 
The Hawai'i lead would grow to 14-2 before Bayless scored his first basket of the game to end the scoreless drought for Niagara with 13:45 on the clock. However, the Rainbow Warriors would use a 6-0 run to take a 20-4 lead over Niagara, forcing the Purple Eagles to call timeout.  
 
Bayless once again ended NU's scoreless drought, making a pair of free throws, which then led to a Henderson pull-up jumper to cut the Purple Eagles' deficit to 12, 20-8, with 10:38 remaining in the first half. 
 
A few minutes later, Henderson would draw the foul on a fast-break layup to trim the Hawai'i lead to nine, 22-13, but the Rainbow Warriors made back-to-back 3-pointers to go back up by 15, 28-13. 
 
Aime Rutayisire connected on a 3-pointer from the wing with 6:31 on the clock, completing a five-point swing for NU and putting the Purple Eagles down 11, 35-24. 
 
Niagara's Bullock would put the Purple Eagles down by ten, 42-32, with just over two minutes to go in the frame after making one of two at the line.
 
The half ended with the Rainbow Warriors ahead by ten, 48-38. The Purple Eagles scored 23 points off the bench in the first half, including 11 from Bayless and seven from Bullock, to trim a 16-point Rainbow Warrior lead to ten at the break. 
 
Niagara would trim the Hawai'i lead to single digits for the first time since the 15:52 mark (11-2) with a basket from Obioha with 19:34 on the clock in the second half. 
 
Hawai'iHawai'I would make four straight field goal attempts to take a 60-47 lead over Niagara with just under 15 minutes to go in the contest. 
 
A 3:15 scoring drought for Niagara led to the Rainbow Warriors' then-largest lead of the night, a 20-point advantage, 72-52, with 10:22 remaining in the contest. Malik Edwards's back-to-back jumpers ended the Hawai'i run and Niagara scoring drought, marking his first points as a Purple Eagle. 
 
The Rainbow Warrior's lead would balloon to 24, 83-59, before a 7-2 Niagara run that was capped off by a 3-pointer by Erving to make it an 85-66 game as the game reached the under-four media timeout, put Niagara down by 19.
 
Hawai'i would earn the 19-point win, 92-73, over Niagara as the final buzzer sounded. 
 
Niagara Notes
• Thursday marked the first meeting of all time between Hawai'i and Niagara. 
• Marble Jr. made his first start for the Purple Eagles and the 37th of his career. The graduate transfer finished with a season-high 11 points and five rebounds. 
• Bayless set a new career high with 20 points, surpassing his previous career-best of 19 set last season against Fairfield on Feb. 24, 2023.  
• Niagara's 44 points off the bench is the most in a game since it tallied 44 points from its reserves on Dec. 21, 2019, at Buffalo. The most points by the Purple Eagle bench during the Paulus era was 54 in a 93-82 overtime win against Colgate on Dec. 8, 2019. 
• Edwards made his debut for Niagara, playing 11 minutes and scoring four points.
• After being held out of the scoring column in the first two games, Bullock scored nine points. 
• Niagara played 11 of its 12 players on the roster. 
• The Purple Eagles set season-highs in points (73), field goals made (26), field goals attempted (59), free throws made (17), and free throws attempted (28).
 
Up Next
Niagara will travel to Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday, Nov. 25. The Purple Eagles and Red Flash will tip off at 4 p.m.
 
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