Jan. 11, 2009
Box Score
Press Conference
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Red-shirt junior guard David Devezin (Houston, Texas) scored a career-high 23 points as the Marist men's basketball team defeated Niagara 86-68 at the McCann Center on Sunday. The Red Foxes led wire-to-wire as they improved to 3-3 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play while handing the Purple Eagles their first conference loss.
Red-shirt senior forward Ryan Schneider (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) notched his second double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Red-shirt sophomore forward Lawrence Williams (Staten Island, N.Y.) added 10 points, six rebounds and two steals in 27 minutes off the bench. Red-shirt senior guard Kaylen Gregory (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands) finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists, and red-shirt junior guard Javon Parris (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had nine points and three rebounds.
Three-pointers on successive possessions by red-shirt sophomore guard Dejuan Goodwin (Baltimore, Md.) and sophomore forward Korey Bauer (Whitehall, Pa.) staked Marist to a 6-1 lead just 1:29 into the contest. Goodwin's basket with 13:41 left in the first half also started the Red Foxes on a 16-3 run over the next 5:55, expanding Marist's lead to 17. The Red Foxes never led by less than 13 the rest of the way.
Marist took a 19-point lead into the locker room. The Red Foxes shot 7-for-11 from three-point range in the first half, while the Purple Eagles were 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) from the field and 0-for-11 from three-point range.
A pair of free throws by Niagara's Tyrone Lewis with 13:05 remaining made the score 54-40 Marist, but the Purple Eagles never got closer than 14 points in the second half. From that point, Marist went on a 13-3 run to reach its largest lead of the game - 24, with 9:34 remaining.
Marist shot 48.1 percent (26-for-54) from the field, 66.7 percent (10-for-15) from three-point range and 77.4 percent (24-for-31) from the free-throw line. Niagara shot just 30.4 percent (17-for-56) from the field in the game.
Tyrone Lewis led Niagara with 17 points, also finishing with six rebounds, two steals and two assists. Lewis shot just 2-for-13 from the field, but was 11-for-12 from the free-throw line. Bilal Benn added 13 points and nine rebounds. The Purple Eagles are now 13-4 overall and 4-1 in MAAC play.
Marist now stands at 7-11 overall. The Red Foxes return to action on Thursday, when they host Siena, now the MAAC's lone undefeated team in conference play, at 7:30 p.m. The teams previously met on Dec. 9 in Albany, when the Saints earning a 77-60 victory.
