The St. Peter’s Peacocks and the Niagara Purple Eagles meet Friday in college basketball action from Gallagher Center. St. Peter’s is 6-6 on the year so far. The Peacocks beat Canisius in their last appearance. As for Niagara, they’re 8-8 this season and coming off a win over Manhattan. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. Peter’s stumbled to a 3-6 record over their first nine games of the year. The only wins in that time were over LIU, Quinnipiac and Nyack College. The Peacocks have managed wins in their last three games however, beating Monmouth, Rider and Canisius.
In the Canisius game, the Peacocks held a slim one-point lead at halftime. St. Peter’s outscored the Griffins 37-30 from there for a 65-57 win. Isiah Dasher led the Peacocks with 17 points and two rebounds in 27 minutes of work off the bench.
Over on the Niagara side, their year began at a humble 3-6 as well. Since then, the Eagles have righted the ship with a 5-2 run. In that time they’ve beaten Buffalo State, Albany, Quinnipiac, Canisius and Manhattan.
Matched up against Manhattan on Tuesday, Niagara was down 33-24 at halftime. The Eagles stormed back on a 48-30 run from there for a 72-63 win, however. Noah Thomasson topped the team with his 20 points, three rebounds, four assists and four steals.
The Eagles are 18-7-1 ATS in their last 26 at home and 13-6-1 ATS in their last 20 overall. The under is 9-4 in Niagara’s last 13 overall.
Meanwhile, the Peacocks are 3-0-1 ATS in their last four overall and 5-16-1 ATS in their last 22 after a straight-up win. The under is 22-6 in St. Peter’s last 28 overall.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Niagara here. Probably staying away from this one, though; it should be a pretty tight matchup and it’s tough to tell how things will shake out. That said, the Eagles have been decent scoring-wise over this 5-2 run, hitting 66 or more points in six of those seven games. Canisius has been at 58 or below in two of their last three, but I think they’ll post a decent offensive outing here. Should be an interesting matchup, but I’m leaning Niagara on the potential cover.