Niagara University, NY - Men's Basketball snapped an eight game losing streak defeating Houghton 81-58 Saturday afternoon inside the Gallagher Center.

The Purple Eagles improved to 3-9, while the Highlanders fell to 3-6.

Niagara got out to a 14-0 lead to begin the contest with Justin Hawkins recording five points and Landon Williams adding four.

Houghton finally got on the board at the 15:06 mark of the first half, but the Purple Eagles went on another run, this time 8-2 led by four points from Vice Zanki to take the game to the under 12 media timeout.

Out of the media timeout Niagara went on a 12–4 run with six different players all scoring a basket to make it a 32-8 game.

The Highlanders went on a 7-0 run to cut the Purple Eagles lead to 17, but Brian Griffith hit a three to put Niagara back up by 20 right before the under four media timeout.

Kabeya Tshibangu added two dunks in the final two minutes to give the Purple Eagles a 41-20 lead entering halftime.

Houghton started the second half on a 9-3 run forcing Niagara to call a timeout.

Both teams traded buckets keeping the Niagara lead around 20 until the Highlanders got on a 7-0 run.

Tshibangu and Justin Page hit back-to-back buckets leading into the under eight media timeout with the Purple Eagles leading 64-48.

Niagara put together a 11-6 run led by four points from Hawkins to force the Highlanders to call a timeout.

The Purple Eagles ended the game on a 6-4 run with AJ MdBride getting his first basket of the contest to defeat the Highlanders 81-58.

Game Notes

Niagara is now 2-0 all-time against Houghton

The Purple Eagles snapped an eight game losing streak with the victory

Five Purple Eagles hit double-digits for the first time this season

Hawkins led the Purple and White with 16 points

Up Next

Niagara takes a week off before returning to conference play January 2 to take on Sacred Heart at 4 pm inside the Gallagher Center.