By Ryan Brodsky
POUGHKEEPSIE – In a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference contest, the Marist men’s basketball team topped Niagara 64-61 for its fourth straight win on Sunday afternoon at McCann Arena.
First Half
Jadin Collins-Roberts opened the scoring for the Red Foxes with a pull-up jumper 19 seconds into the contest.
At the 15:16 mark, Caleb Mackrey connected from beyond the arc to give Marist an 11-4 lead.
Niagara would go on a 6-0 run, which was ended by a Trace Salton three-pointer at 11:10 making the score 14-10.
Zion Russell made a three-pointer to give the Purple Eagles its first lead of the game 15-14 with 9:12 left in the first half.
The Red Foxes went back ahead as Elijah Lewis made two free throws and the following possession drained a jumper to make the score 21-20 at the 3:20 mark.
Josh Pascarelli connected from downtown after receiving Tarik Watson’s feed to give Marist a 29-23 lead with 1:29 left in the half.
Marist was up 31-24 going into the break.
Second Half
The Purple Eagles struck first in the second half at the 17:49 mark with a layup from
Jhaylon Martinez to cut the Red Foxes lead to 31-26.
Pascarelli drained a floater to extend the Marist lead back to seven points 36-29 with 15:56 remaining in the contest.
Jaden Daughtry completed a layup to extend the Red Foxes lead to 40-29 at 14:22.
The Red Foxes would gain its largest lead of 12 points after Pascarelli nailed a three-pointer to make the score 52-40 with 6:01 remaining in the game.
Olumide Adelodun made a three-pointer to cut Niagara’s deficit to four points with the score 60-56 at the 1:24 mark.
Pascarelli put home the dunk with 45 seconds left to extend the Marist lead to 64-57.
The Red Foxes held on for the 64-61 win.