LEWISTON — Niagara had almost entirely erased a 13-point deficit in the second half.
They were within one point and they had a defensive rebound in their hands.
Then the whistle blew.
The whistle blew for a foul on Niagara.
It gave Manhattan another chance and they took advantage when Terrance Jones hit a layup to give his team a 56-53 lead.
The Purple Eagles still had an opportunity, but a miss and then a Manhattan three-pointer pushed the lead out to six points.
The Purple Eagles were unable to get any closer from there in a 76-69 loss to the Jaspers, Friday, at the Gallagher Center.
“That one for us, we thought if we were able to take the lead and make him call another timeout and then we were able to continue to build our momentum because that’s what run was,” Niagara head coach Greg Paulus said. “It was a big-time comeback for us and you’ve got to give credit to them for making the right play at the right time.”
The story of the first half was one in which the Purple Eagles struggled to take advantage of stops. It led to them heading into the intermission down 35-27.
In the opening 20 minutes, the Jaspers had 18 empty possessions and the Purple Eagles were only able to score 12 points off those possessions.
“The first half, they kind of kept it at that six-to-eight point range and then it was going into the half right there,” Paulus said. “So for us we want to be able to get a score, get a stop and get a score and then you’re either able to extend the lead, or chip away at a lead. We did that at different points really well, but took a little bit longer to do that.”
The Purple Eagles took an early 16-15 lead before the Jaspers responded with a three to take an 18-16 lead with 10:12 to go in the first half. From that point on, the Jaspers were able to outscore the Purple Eagles 20-11 while forcing them to shoot 5-for-13 from the field, 1-for-5 from three and completely off the charity stripe.
Over that stretch, the Jaspers shot 8-for-18 from the field, 3-for-7 from three and 1-for-1 from the free throw line.
“They’re a really good ball club,” Manhattan head coach John Gallagher said. “We got great respect, I think we just found the mismatch and we try to keep going to it and going to it. We were lucky. We were fortunate.”
The Purple Eagles were without their leading scorer, Justin Page, in this game, who has missed three out of the team’s last four games with an upper-body injury. After the game, Paulus said the junior guard remains day-to-day.
The loss makes Niagara’s road to the MAAC tournament and the 10th seed significantly more difficult with five games remaining. The Purple Eagles are now 3.5 games out of the final playoff spot as they head into a matchup with Iona at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
“For us, it’s one game at a time and how can we play at our best on Sunday?” Paulus said. “That starts with some preparation tonight, tomorrow and then with these quick turnarounds, whether you win on Friday night or you don’t, you’ve got to come back on Saturday … we’ll get back in here and we’ll get back to work tomorrow.”