By Jonah Bronstein
Treating it like a dress rehearsal for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship tournament in March, the Niagara Purple Eagles sought to win three games in three days at the Glen Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla.
They got about 90 percent of the way toward their goal before fading down the stretch in Sunday’s loss to Austin Peay.
After beating Howard on Friday and Central Florida on Saturday, the Purple Eagles (3-2) went up 21-4 in the early going on Sunday, but allowed the Governors to come back and take the lead with 6:18 remaining and eventually lost 69-67.
“It was two different games, the first half and the second half,” coach Joe Mihalich said by phone afterward.
“The loss stings, but I’m really proud of this team. We’re down a first-team all-conference player (Tyrone Lewis), and but not for a couple of possessions, we could be 5-0.”
Lewis, last year’s leading scorer and defensive point man, hasn’t played since the first half of Niagara’s season opening loss at Auburn because of an unspecified foot injury. Mihalich has listed him as day-to-day. Niagara’s next game is Wednesday at Mount St. Mary.
Four Purple Eagles scored in double figures Sunday, led by Anthony Nelson who had 15 points. Bilal Benn and Demetrius Williamson both scored a dozen, and Rob Garrison had 11 points. Kashief Edwards had eight points and blocked four shots for the third game in a row. Austin Cooley had seven points.
There were six lead changes in the final three minutes. Benn hit two free throws to tie the game at 65 with 1:44 left. After an offensive foul on Austin Peay, Garrison missed a contested layup, and the Governors went ahead 67-65 on an Anthony Campbell jump shot with 35 seconds left.
Benn’s fadeaway 18-footer tied the game, but Marcel Williams scored the winner with 3.5 seconds left. Nelson’s desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.
Niagara shot 52 percent from the floor and made eight 3-pointers in the first half, then shot 25 percent with three treys in the second half.
