Feb. 11, 2006
Final Stats
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y.-Lorenzo Miles had 27 for the Niagara men's basketball squad, while Clif Brown posted his fifth career-double double (career-high 26 points, 13 rebounds) to lead the Purple Eagles to an 88-82 win over Marist Saturday in the Taps Gallagher Center. It was also Brown's fourth consecutive 20-plus point outing. Niagara improved to 10-13 overall with the win and 7-8 in the MAAC, while Marist dropped to 15-8 overall and 9-6 in the league with the loss.
With the loss, Marist will have to wait another year to sweep the "Buffalo Swing", due in large part to its 1-8 record at Niagara. It also snapped Marist's five game road winning streak, the longest for the program since the 1987-88 campaign and was just the sixth time in head coach Matt Brady's tenure that the Red Foxes have fallen when shooting 45 percent or better.
J.R. Duffey also posted 20 points for Niagara, making all seven of his free throws and three 3-pointers. The Purple Eagles held a commanding edge at the line, making 29 of their 35 attempts, while Marist made seven of just 11 attempts.
Marist guard Jared Jordan (Hartford, Conn.) fell one short of his career-high with 31 points on 11-for-15 shooting. The 6'2 point guard, who entered the game leading the nation in assists at 8.7 per game, tallied a game-high nine dishes and seven turnovers. Classmate Will Whittington (Kingwood, Tx.) also had 17 points, making five of his 11 3-pointers. Jordan, who also leads the nation in percentage of team minutes played (97.1 percent), played 40 minutes for the 12th time this season.
Stanley Hodge led Niagara with eight assists, while Brown had five steals.
Redshirt sophomore Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio) led Marist with six rebounds, while senior Carl Hood (Houston, Tx.) had three steals. The Red Foxes outrebounded the Niagara, their 11th opponent in 15 games, by a margin of 32-28. However, Marist was sunk by 18 turnovers for the game, 13 of which came in the first half.
Marist never led in the contest, mustering only a tie at the 5:51 mark of the first half when sophomore Ben Farmer (Clinton, Conn.) knotted the score at 29 on a 3-pointer from the left corner.
The Purple Eagles took a 37-31 halftime margin and blew it out to as much as 20 twice, the last time on a free throw by Brown at the 8:00 mark (69-49). The Red Foxes answered that run valiantly by nailing seven 3-pointers down the stretch but it was too little, too late as Niagara held on for the win.
Marist held the edge in shooting (31-for-57, 54.4 percent) to Niagara's 46.2 percent (24-for-52). The Red Foxes also knocked down 13 of their 29 3-point attempts (44.8 percent), while the Purple Eagles had 11 3-pointers in 26 shots (42.3 percent).
Marist will now turn its attention to Canisius, where the Red Foxes will play at 7 p.m. on Monday. The Golden Griffs (6-17 overall, 5-10 MAAC), who knocked off MAAC co-leader Manhattan 86-75 on Saturday, have won the past six meetings between the new schools.
