The Niagara Purple Eagles and the Marist Red Foxes meet Sunday in college basketball action from McCann Arena. Niagara enters this one at 14-11 overall. The Eagles are fresh off a loss to Mount St. Mary’s. As for Marist, they’re sitting at 8-17 following a loss to Fairfield. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Niagara Purple Eagles
Niagara kicked off the year on a .500 clip, going 9-9 over their first 18 games. The Eagles are 5-2 since then with wins over Saint Peter’s, Manhattan, Canisius, Siena, Quinnipiac and Mount St. Mary’s alongside losses to Iona and Mount St. Mary’s.
In the Mount St. Mary’s game on Friday, the Eagles took a 33-26 deficit into the break. Niagara got better in the second half with 40 points but still lost 70-66. Noah Thomasson was the leading scorer with 21 points.
Marist Red Foxes
Over on the Marist side, they started out the year on a 7-11 run through their initial 18 outings. The Foxes are just 1-6 in the last seven with losses to Rider, Siena, Quinnipiac, Saint Peter’s, Siena again and Fairfield with a lone win over Canisius.
Matched up against Fairfield on Friday, the Foxes were up 32-31 going into the second half. Marist posted a 39-29 deficit from there in a 70-61 defeat. Patrick Gardner managed 13 points with four rebounds to lead the way.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stick with Niagara in this one. The Eagles are sitting on consecutive losses with just 121 combined points between them however, so they’ll need a good showing in this one. Niagara also has a revenge element going in this one; the Eagles lost 66-64 the last time these teams met up back on January 15 at Gallagher Center. Niagara will need to play better than they have lately in order to bag the road cover/win but I think they can do it.