BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton men's basketball team fell to Niagara County Community College (NY) on Saturday afternoon at the Arthur L. Scott Center, by a score of 78-76.

The Spartans jumped out early on the NJCAA Division II Thunder Wolves, leading 17-13 ten minutes into the contest and taking a 37-30 advantage into the locker room at intermission. 

The second half was a back-and-forth affair with Niagara taking their first lead at 54-52 with 10:11 remaining in the game. 

The Spartans led 73-70 with 2:03 remaining in the contest, only to see Niagara rally and tie the game at 76 with 50 seconds remaining. 

After a couple of missed opportunities for both teams, a scramble for a loose ball resulted in a foul being called on Northampton, giving the Thunder Wolves two free throws with 9 seconds remaining. Fode Camara calmly sunk both free throws to give Niagara a 78-76 lead and the Spartans could not convert, in falling to 0-2 on the season. 

Jay Davis (Northwest, PA/Hatboro-Horsham) led Northampton with 23 points and hauled down 8 rebounds, while Tony James (Harrisburg, PA/Harrisburg) added 19 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Elijah Barrett (Harrisburg, PA/Harrisburg) had 7 points and 8 boards, while freshman Nasir Scott (Elkins Park, PA/Boy's Latin of Philidelphia) chipped in with 10 points. 

"I thought we played much better today than we did Thursday," remarked Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "unfortunately for us we started the season with two pretty good DII programs ... hopefully we can use this experience moving forward as we open league play next week.  A couple things here and there ended up biting us, but when you are playing a team like that, which is not only talented, but deep, you can't afford to make those type of mistakes.  I think the guys were move confident in each other today and hopefully that translates into some good things next week."

The Spartans are now off until November 10th when they travel to EPAC foe Community College of Philadelphia for a 2pm contest.