Niagara University, N.Y. — Justin Hawkins's 18 points were not enough as Niagara men's basketball fell 73-66 to Merrimack Sunday afternoon at Gallagher Center.

The Purple Eagles wrapped up their season at 8-22 overall and 5-15 in MAAC play, while the Warriors improved to 21-10 and 17-3.

Hawkins set the tone on the game's very first possession, drawing a foul and converting a layup to give Niagara an immediate 3-0 lead. He then added another basket in the paint and found Will Shortt for a layup to help push the advantage to 10-5. Reggie Prudhomme fueled the surge with back-to-back 3-pointers, the second of which, assisted by Shortt, stretched the lead to 16-8 with just over 14 minutes remaining in the half.

The Purple Eagles continued to push. Sabino buried a 3-pointer to put Niagara ahead 22-19, their largest lead of the game at that point.

Merrimack, however, refused to fold to take its first lead at 28-26, only for Shortt to answer with a driving layup off a Drew Larson assist that knotted it at 28 with two minutes remaining.

The Warriors converted on a last second tip-in before the buzzer to give them a 30-28 halftime advantage.

Niagara opened the second half with Hawkins converting a layup and drew a foul just 22 seconds in, completing the three-point play to take a 31-30 lead.

Merrimack proceeded to go on a 21-9 run that stretched over the next seven-plus minutes with Kabeya Tshibangu and Vice Zanki scoring four and three points respectively for the Purple Eagles.

A free throw from Tshibangu stopped the run for a minute, but the Warriors continued scoring, this time with a 14-2 run in the next six minutes of the contest to bring it to a 64-43 game with 6:53 remaining.

The Purple Eagles, however, tried mounting a comeback with a 16-3 run of their own in the next six minutes to cut the lead to 67-59.

The final minute of the game was full of free throws with the Warriors converting six and the Purple Eagles making three with Merrimack ultimately winning 73-66.

Game Notes

Niagara is now 0-3 all-time against Merrimack

Hawkins' 18 points were the second most he scored in a game this season

The Purple Eagles outrebounded the Warriors 27-25 with Hawkins leading the way with six

Hawkins, Sabino and Larson all recorded two steals