Niagara University, N.Y. (December 31, 2022)—Mount St. Mary's closed out 2022 with a 67-55 loss at Niagara on New Year's Eve.  Three-point shooting proved to be the difference in the game as Niagara made 12 three-pointers with the Mount connecting on four.  Dakota Leffew paced the Mount with 19 points in the game.

Niagara took control of the first half behind a torrid performance from three-point range.  The Purple Eagles hit their first four three-point attempts in grabbing an early 14-to-7 advantage.  Noah Thomasson stretched the lead to 27-15 when he hit Niagara's seventh three-pointer of the half.  Trailing 32-19, the Mount closed the half with an 8-to-4 run to cut the deficit to 36-27 at the break.

Leffew led the Mountaineers (5-9, 1-2 MAAC) with eight points and four rebounds in the opening half while George Tinsley added six points and three boards.  Niagara shot 14-of-27 (51.9 percent) from the field in the half, including 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from beyond the arc.  The Mount hit 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) from the floor and were held to 0-of-4 (.000) from three-point range.

Thomasson came out strong in the second half for Niagara (7-5, 2-1 MAAC), connecting on back-to-back three-pointers to push the Mount's deficit to 15 with 16 minutes remaining.  The Mount got back into the game, holding Niagara scoreless over the next four minutes while scoring six unanswered points to make it 45-36.  Niagara's Aaron Gray stopped the Mount's run by scoring the next five points to rebuild a 14-point lead.

The Mount responded, cutting the deficit to 52-44 on a Jalen Benjamin jumper, but the Purple Eagles countered with back-to-back triples from Sam Iorio and Lance Erving to make it 58-44 with just under six minutes on the clock.  The Mount made one last push, cutting the deficit to 64-55 after a Leffew three-pointer, but Thomasson countered with a drive on the other end to restore the double-digit lead with just over a minute remaining.

Leffew finished the game 7-of-14 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range while adding four rebounds and three assists to his team-high 19 points.  Leffew is averaging 21.0 points over the past two games.  Benjamin added 11 points and three assists while Tinlsey finished with eight points and five rebounds.  Thomasson led all scorers with a game-high 22 points for Niagara.  Iorio added 12, Gray had 12 and Bryce Moore chipped in 11 as Niagara had four double-digit scorers in the contest.

Niagara finished the game 12-of-23 (.522) on three-pointers in the game while connecting on 25-of-51 (.490) from the field overall.  The Mount converted 20-of-45 (.444) from the floor and 4-of-12 (.333) from three.

The Mountaineers return to action against Canisius on Monday, January 2.  Due to continuing clean-up efforts in and around Canisius' campus, the decision has been made to move the game to Niagara's Gallagher Center in Lewiston, N.Y., setting up a men's basketball doubleheader with Niagara and Rider. The Niagara – Rider game will tip-off at noon, followed by the Canisius – Mount St. Mary's game, scheduled for 3 p.m. Both of Monday's contests will be broadcast live on ESPN3.