Belmont, CA - The Simon Fraser University men's basketball team earned their first victory of the season over an NCAA Division II opponent on Friday night, defeating Holy Names 123-121 at the Notre Dame de Namur Thanksgiving Classic.

The Clan, who will play the hosts from NDNU Saturday evening, were led by Sango Niang (Paris, France) and Justin Cole (Los Angeles, CA) who continued to dominate for Simon Fraser.

Niang had 29 points and six rebounds to lead all players on the night, while Cole had 27 points, including the game-winning free-throw.

"We had good individual efforts from our seniors Justin and Sango," said head coach James Blake. "But this is a team game and in order to play our best we need to share the ball and make better decisions."

SFU continued what appears to be a trend this season, scoring 100 points for the fifth game this year, but it wasn't a clear path to victory as the teams battled tooth and nail from tip-off until the final buzzer.

The Clan led through the majority of the first half, but the Hawks fought back to a 35-35 tie with nine minutes remaining in the period.

Patrick Simon (Port Coquitlam, BC) scored the go-ahead lay-up at 8:02 sparking a 15-10 run for the Clan, but again HHU mounted a fight, battling back for a second time.

The Clan led by a single point 60-59 at the half time mark, and used their first half momentum to take an early lead in period two, leading 81-71 at 14:25.

With 7:56 left in regulation, however, Simon Fraser trailed 100-93 following a surge by the Hawk's offence as they were forced to mount their most-impressive comeback of the season.

This time it was a Michael Harper (Melbourne, Australia) lay-up that sparked the fire in the Clan side, leading to a 15-8 run for the visitors, the game tied at 108-108.

The Clan and the Hawks traded points to a 117-117 score before SFU was able to gain advantage as Niang and Cole combined for five points to put them up 122-121 with four seconds left in the game.

Hidde Vos (Barendrecht, Netherlands) sunk a free-throw for insurance with a single-second left on the clock, as the Clan secured their first Division II victory of the season 123-121.

"This was a sloppy road effort for us, but a win is a win," Blake continued. "As we grow as a team this season we need to buy into taking charges, winning fifty-fifty balls and defensive rebounding with a purpose. We can score but ultimately our system relies upon deflections and steals to increase our possession."

The Clan shot 47.9 percent from the field, but were outrebounded 42-31 and were outscored in the paint. They also forced 32 turnovers and had 19 steals in the victory.

With the win Simon Fraser improves to 4-2 on the season, and they will look to build off tonight's momentum and extend their win streak tomorrow night against the tournament hosts from NDNU.

Tip-off against the Argonauts will be at 7:00 p.m. PST and fans can follow-along with the live-stats at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ndnu/.