For senior forward Charron Fisher and senior guard Stanley Hodge, there may have been no better way to script their last home game. The pair combined for 49 of the Niagara Purple Eagles' 87 points en route to NU's win over the Canisius Golden Griffins at the Gallagher Center on Sunday afternoon, 87-63.

"Me and (Hodge) have been through a lot," Fisher said. "We just wanted to finish tonight on a good note on our home court and win the game."

Fisher, who leads the nation with 27.8 points per game, finished with a game-high 28 points and eight rebounds while Hodge tied a career-high with 21 points.

"We've been through a lot with these two guys (Fisher and Hodge), both good times and bad times," said Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich. "It's amazing what they've done these two. I'm a lucky guy living a dream coaching people like these two guys."

With the win the Purple Eagles (19-8, 12-6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) avenge a previous loss to the Golden Griffins (5-24, 2-16 MAAC) earlier in the season, when Niagara fell toits local rival70-62 at the Koessler Athletic Center.

NU made an extra emphasis on defense as the team's 10 steals helped lead in part to 19 of the Griffs' turnovers.

"Our defense was so poor Friday night," Mihalich said. "I thought we played that zone all right. It was pretty effective. Our guys had some energy defensively where we seemed to have been missing that (on Friday). Defense won the game for us."

The Purple Eagles also held an advantage at the charity stripe, as Niagara made 28 trips to the free throw line compared to the Golden Eagles' five.

"Going 28 to five at the line, we're not going to win games like that with such a huge disparity," said Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta.

The game remained choppy during the first 10 minutes of the first half, with the leading changing hands eight times before the Purple Eagles secured the lead on a three-pointer by junior forward Demetrius Williamson to go up 20-17. Shortly after, Niagara went on a 17-4 run to extend its lead to 15 before going into halftime up 37-28.

Canisius cut the NU advantage down to eight on a dunk by freshman forward Tomas Vazquez-Simmons at the 17:41 mark of the second half. However, the Purple Eagles responded by going on another 17-4 run to push their lead to 27 points, their largest of the game. Niagara held the lead by at least 20 points for the rest of the game.

"(Niagara's) a team that goes on runs," Parrotta said. "That being said, they also go on lulls. When they went on lulls, we weren't able to put the ball in the basket."

Junior center Benson Egemonye and sophomore guard Tyrone Lewis also finished in double-digit scoring with Egemonye scoring 15 points and Lewis netting 16 points.

The Golden Griffins were led offensively by freshman forward Greg Logins with 23 points while sophomore guard Frank Turner pulled down six boards and freshman guard Robert Goldsberry made a game-high seven assists.

With the win, Niagara planted itself as the No. 3 seed the MAAC Tournament and will next face the sixth-seeded Marist Red Foxes. Meanwhile, the last-place Griffs will move on to play against the Iona Gaels in the MAAC Tournament.

"We still have a job to do," Hodge said. "It's nice to dwell on this but next week is tournament time and that's what we came here for."