LEWISTON — They just couldn’t hold on.
After two halves of trading buckets against the MAAC leader in an intense game that featured 12 lead changes, the Purple Eagles were just shy of the upset and fell to Marist, 67-65, in overtime on Thursday night at the Gallagher Center.
As soon as one team scored, the other responded with a bucket of their own.
“We’ll continue to learn how to play in these one-possession games and what we’re looking to do with execution on both ends of the floor,” head coach Greg Paulus said. “But for us to put ourselves in that position is something that’s a credit to our guys. We just got to keep working and believing, because we are making progress.”
Niagara (7-12, 2-6 MAAC) led 3-2 early in the game and then didn’t hold the advantage again until Olumide Adelodun bounced the ball around the defender and found Will Shortt under the rim for a layup and a 17-16 lead. Despite not being ahead, Niagara was aggressive and never trailed by more than five points.
Adelodun, who finished the game with 11 points, six boards and two assists, stretched out for the layup to lead 19-18, but Marist (14-3, 7-1 MAAC) responded with a triple on their next possession to take back their advantage. Jaedan Marshall found Shortt in the paint and Shortt had a dunk to tie the game at 21 apiece.
Justice Smith came through with a nice steal and a fastbreak layup to trail 29-28 with 2:26 until halftime. He followed up with a dunk to put the Purple Eagles down by one, and then Jhaylon Martinez tipped the ball into the basket after a miss from Smith, who led the team with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals, to give Niagara a 32-31 advantage at the end of the first half.
Smith believes there was better communication and rhythm between the group, and it was a factor in their intense performance against the Red Foxes.
“(Communicating) makes us play at a higher level, it helps our defense, it helps our offense. We’re clicking more, the ball is moving, so I think as long as we keep playing together, good things will happen,” Smith said. “We just need to trust the process.”
Adelodun netted a bucket to start the second half and go on a 7-2 run which featured a dunk from Josiah Davis and ended with a 39-33 lead. Marist’s Jaden Daughtry drove through the paint and netted a layup to make it a one-point game, still in favor of Niagara.
Davis found Smith in transition for the layup to cap a 5-0 run before Marist went on a 12-2 run and took a 52-48 advantage while NU was scoreless for five minutes.
“There’s going to be some stretches when you’re not making a shot or it’s not going the way we’d like it to on the offensive end,” Paulus said. “We want to make sure that we’re defending and rebounding then, and they did a great job in the second half in those areas.”
Niagara finished the game with 20 defensive rebounds and nine offensive boards.
Adelodun broke the drought with a layup at the seven-minute mark and Davis, who finished with 13 points, five boards and four assists, netted a free throw to make it a one-point game.
After a steal by Daughtry, a steal by Smith and a blocked layup, Marshall found the hoop but NU still trailed 54-53. Josh Pascarelli hit a wide-open three for Marist and Smith got the second chance points before Marshall swatted away Elijah Lewis’ layup attempt, allowing Davis to make the game-tying layup.
“We went back and forth, we forced overtime. I’m proud of our guys for their fight and resiliency, to put us in that position,” Paulus said. “They (Marist) just made one more play down the stretch.”
The match headed into overtime tied at 57 but Marist quickly went up by two after a foul on Smith sent Marist’s Lewis to the charity stripe for two.
Davis made a pair of free throws and Adelodun netted one to go up by one before Jackson Price hit a layup for Marist and Smith netted a free throw to tie it up at 61 apiece. The teams traded layups to tie the game at 65 but Daughtry made a layup to give Marist the 67-65 advantage with .5 seconds left.
Marist had 23 assists compared to Niagara’s 11 and outrebounded the Purple Eagles 31-29. Niagara had more points in the paint (38), bench points (29), and points off turnovers (13) than Marist. Both teams had 15 turnovers.
“I think there’s a lot of positives for us to build on, and we just got to continue to stay with the process and embrace what it takes,” Paulus said.
Niagara returns to action against Sacred Heart at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Gallagher Center.