LEWISTON — Joe Mihalich sunk his head in his hands after the latest in an improbable string of defeats.

“This one really hurts,” the Niagara coach said Sunday. “This really, really hurts.”

Playing again without leading scorer Tyrone Lewis, the Purple Eagles were on the verge of beating another struggling Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team in the Rider Broncs. Instead, they wound up squandering a 10-point halftime lead and losing 62-61 when Novar Gadson tipped in Ryan Thompson’s missed layup with five seconds remaining before 1,691 stunned fans at the Gallagher Center.

“When we broke the huddle, we said we were one rebound away from winning the game,” Mihalich said. “Thompson got a half-step on Bilal (Benn) and everybody went to help. We over-helped. Everybody went thinking they were going to block a shot.”

After a timeout, the Purple Eagles inbounded underneath their own basket but were unable to get off a shot to win.

After being projected to finish among the top three teams in the conference for the third year in a row, Niagara and Rider are now both middling MAAC teams, with identical records 11-11 records and 4-6 marks in league play that have them tied for sixth-place.

“Right now, neither team looks very good,” Rider coach Tommy Dempsey said. “They’ve got a little bit of an excuse, being banged up. We don’t. But we can’t worry about that. We needed to get on that bus with a win. We couldn’t afford to come out here today with a loss.”

Gadson’s putback basket was just the fifth offensive rebound of the game for Rider. But the fourth was just as crucial. After Mike Ringgold missed a pair of free throws with 2:37 to go, Gadson chased down the second miss, which led to Justin Robinson going to the line for two foul shots that made it 60-58.

After Niagara’s Rob Garrison hit one of two free throws, Gadson used a six-inch, 50-pound size advantage to score over Anthony Nelson in the post, making it 61-60 with 46 seconds left

Niagara called timeout with 30 seconds left, but the play Mihalich drew up got snuffed out, and Austin Cooley wound missing a 3-pointer from the wing with 20 seconds left to play and 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock.

Cooley, who hit two big 3-pointers earlier in the second half, appeared to have an open lane to drive to the basket instead of firing from long range. Asked if he liked the shot Cooley settled for, Mihalich stammered a bit before noting that Rider had double-teamed Anthony Nelson inside, leaving Cooley wide open.

Starting his second game in a row, Cooley played all but one minute, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the second half and grabbing seven rebounds. The long-armed, quick-jumping sophomore guard was also active on defense.

Demetrius Williamson led the Purple Eagles with 17 points. The 6-foot-6 swingman started at center for the third game in a row, and was the tallest player on the floor for all but two minutes in the second half.

Anthony Nelson had 11 points, five assists and six rebounds. Bilal Benn had six points, six assists and eight rebounds. Rob Garrison scored eight points.

Lewis, who is averaging 17 points in MAAC games, was in full uniform with a protective sleeve over his bruised left shoulder but did not play. Mihalich said after the game that Lewis “should be fine,” but stopped short of saying he’d return for Friday’s game at Canisius.

Ringgold led Rider with 18 points. Gadson had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Thompson, the preseason player of the year in the MAAC, finished with 12 points after going scoreless for the first 17 minutes of the game.

Niagara led by as many as 11 points in the second half and was up 42-32 with 16:12 to go before Rider went on 13-1 run. Cooley hit a 3 in front of the Niagara bench to put his team back up 46-45 with 12:43 left, and after the Broncs regained the lead, Cooley sank another bomb to give the Purple Eagles a 55-53 lead at the 8:07 mark. Two minutes later, Cooley drove sailed along the baseline for a layup that gave Niagara seven-point lead.

Continuing a month-long trend, Niagara had a hard time on offense, scoring only 26 points on 32 percent shooting in the second half. For the game, Niagara made 36.7 percent of its field goals, right around its 37.1 success rate in January.

“We got some shots, we just didn’t knock them down,” said Nelson. “Austin got a good look. Bilal had one. I air-balled one.

“... This can’t continue.”

If it continues much longer, Niagara is going to have a hard time building momentum for the MAAC tournament in March, Dempsey said.

“In the next couple weeks, you’re going to have to hit your stride,” Dempsey said. “It’s probably too late by the middle of February.”

Dempsey said Niagara and Rider, which had lost five of seven before Sunday, are having confidence issues.

“These are teams that over the last couple of years, I would call the two most confident teams in the league, with Siena, obviously,” he said. “We always seem to play well against each other. The game looks like an NBA game. There’s always good players on the floor, the games are in the 80s and 90s, they’ve been some of the best MAAC games I’ve been involved in. Today’s game was a slugfest between two teams that are having trouble putting the ball in the basket.”

Nelson said the Purple Eagles still expect to win every game, and Mihalich said he his confidence hasn’t wavered.

“I believe in this team. I believe in these guys,” Mihalich said. “We’re one great win away from being back to where we need to be. It’s just that we need to get that win. Today could’ve been a giant step in that direction. That’s why it hurt so much.”

Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.