LEWISTON, N.Y. - Niagara junior Kashief Edwards was credited with a basket on a Canisius goaltending charge as the final horn sounded to help lift the host Purple Eagles to a 67-65 win over Canisius College Wednesday night in the Gallagher Center in Lewiston, N.Y. The win improves Niagara to 7-21 overall and 4-12 in MAAC play, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 13-13 overall and 7-9 in league action.

The goaltending call closed out a furious final 1:42 in the game, which saw seven ties and six lead changes. Niagara took a four-point lead at 65-61 with 1:42 left on the clock when Eric Williams took a base and slammed on home for two of his 10 points. From there, the Griffs missed two shots before gaining the rebound. Out of a 30-second timeout, Canisius turned the ball over and was forced to foul with 1:13 left to play, but Niagara missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 situation, setting up another Canisius possession.

On their next trip down the floor, Canisius missed three-straight shots before sophomore Gaby Belardo grabbed an offensive rebound and drove to the basket for two points to make the score 65-63 in favor of the Purple Eagles with 39 seconds left to play. Canisius was again forced to foul, this time sending Edwards to the line with 35 ticks left on the clock, but he missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 as well, setting up the Blue and Gold's charge to knot the game. Canisius turned the ball over with 16 seconds left on the clock, forcing the Griffs to foul one more time in an effort to stop the clock. This time, Niagara reserve Malcolm Lemmons missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 chance, and Canisius senior Julius Coles grabbed the rebound and raced up the floor, where he found fellow senior Elton Frazier under the basket. Frazier, who had 13 points in the losing effort, laid one off the glass with 5.6 seconds left to knot the game at 65-65.

Following a 30-second timeout by Niagara, the Purple Eagles gave the ball to freshman Marvin Jordan, who drove baseline and floated one toward the rim, but it was blocked out-of-bounds by Canisius senior Tomas Vazquez-Simmons. Both teams, and all 2,293 fans in the building, thought the game was going to overtime, but after an official's video review, it was determined that there was 0.4 seconds left in the game. Niagara set up an in-bounds play off their baseline, and Edwards drifted free to just inside the free-throw line, where he was able to get a shot off toward the basket. It was there that a Canisius defender blocked the shot, but the officiating crew called the Griffs for a goaltending violation and the game was over with NU taking home a 67-65 victory.

"They got some separation there at the end somehow and they got an open look at the basket," Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. "I thought we had a chance to get to overtime, but we just didn't do enough good things tonight to win this basketball game. We gave them too many open looks and we had a couple of costly turnovers late."

The Griffs trailed by as many as 11 in the second half after Williams had a dunk with 15:19 left in the game to make the score 52-41 in favor of Niagara. From there, the Blue and Gold scored back-to-back baskets to make the score 52-45 with just under 14 minutes to play. The Griffs trailed by a score of 58-50 after Anthony Nelson hit two free-throws with 11:34 left in the game, but Canisius trimmed that margin to just three points at 58-55 with 10:33 left after a trey by Vazquez-Simmons and a jumper from senior Greg Logins. Niagara led by six points at 61-58 with 8:39 left in the game before Canisius outscored the Purple Ealges 10-4 over the final 8:34 to knot the game at 65-65.

For the game, Coles and Frazier each scored 13 points in the loss for Canisius, which has now dropped two straight after winning three in a row. Belardo added 12 points and seven assists to the Griffs' effort, as the team shot 40.6 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from long range and 66.7 percent from the free-throw line. Edwards scored a game-high 21 points in the win for Niagara, with 15 of those points coming in the second half. The Purple Eagles shot 53.2 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from behind the 3-point line, but ended the night 12-for-23 (52.2 percent) from the charity stripe.

The Griffs will end their four-game road swing Saturday, Feb. 19, when the team plays at Boston University as part of the 2011 Sears BracketBuster series. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.

Game Notes: Canisius and Niagara split the regular season series, with each team winning at home... The Purple Eagles now lead the all-time series 92-75... The Griffs have dropped eight straight in the Gallagher Center... Logins' game-high 11 rebounds in the loss gives him 733 for his career, which moves him into sixth-place all-time in school history, four boards shy of passing former Griff Bill O'Connor for fifth on the list... Belardo's seven assists matches his career high, which he previously set against Niagara Jan. 28, at home... Coles' two 3-pointers moved him into fifth all-time on the school's career 3-point field goal list... Senior Robert Goldsberry came off the bench to score five points and dish out four assists in 19 minutes of action.