VESTAL, N.Y. - Senior center Tariq Balogun tallied a career-high 21 points and Binghamton men's basketball (7-4) made four free throws in the final 2:43 to hold off visiting Niagara (3-7) 74-69 Tuesday night at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. The win was BU's third straight and seventh in their last nine games.

Binghamton led for more than 30 minutes of the game but needed to rally from four down in the closing minutes. The Purple Eagles used a 14-3 run to grab a 65-61 lead with 6:52 left, thanks to a big stretch by 5-foot-9 guard Ahmad Henderson II, who scored 16 of his game-high 23 points after halftime.

Graduate forward Armon Harried scored five of BU's final 13 points, including a pair of free throws that iced the game with four seconds left. Harried notched his first double-double of the season and third as a Bearcat with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Balogun scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half, when BU traded blows with Niagara before claiming a 35-31 intermission edge. 

Graduate guard Symir Torrence, who entered the game ranked 10th in the nation in assists (6.7/game) continued his nightly hunt for a triple-double with 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Senior forward Nehemiah Benson gave Binghamton its fourth double-figure scorer with 12 points.

"It was one of those games that wasn't pretty ... but we grinded it out and we made some plays at the end," head coach Levell Sanders said. "We will take the wins however we can get them. We have to win these kinds of possession-by-possession games and I thought we did a good job executing down the stretch."

The Bearcats looked to be in control most of the game but could never quite pull away, especially after Henderson caught fire in the second half. The two teams jockeyed between a seven-point margin over the final 18 minutes of the game. 

Binghamton next heads to Olean for a Friday night test against Atlantic-10 member St. Bonaventure (7-3).