MHERST - Few expected the outcome to remain in doubt late in the second half. By then, questions that surfaced in the first half were supposed to have been answered. Instead, they became more worrisome: namely, what was Niagara doing within striking distance of handing 23d-ranked Massachusetts a season-opening home loss?

Why hadn't the taller and deeper Minutemen offset their early struggles with a second-half flurry to make any Niagara hopes of an upset short-lived? Was it merely first-game jitters? Had the Minutemen taken the presumably overmatched Purple Eagles lightly, anticipating a Preseason National Invitation Tournament second-round showdown against St. John's?

Or would the Minutemen's 1998-99 campaign be much like that of last season, when UMass relied all too often on its aggressive defense to make up for a suspect offense?

At game's end, many of the questions remained unanswered. UMass managed to hold off its scrappy opponent to register an 87-73 victory. But it never shook its poor play, never mounted a confidence-building knockout surge, and prevailed in part because Niagara wasn't capable of mounting a big run.

''We won, that's about it,'' said UMass coach Bruiser Flint, whose team appeared primed to put Niagara away at the start of the second half with a 9-0 run that put the Minutemen ahead, 42-30, with 18:11 left. But with 14:29 left, Niagara had cut the lead to 45-42.

UMass put the game away at the foul line, sinking 17 of 22 over the last 3:50. Monty Mack had 24 points to lead the Minutemen, which shot 43 percent.

''We played good in spots, and we didn't play good in spots,'' said Flint. ''In the first half, guys were out forcing things, and in the second half we just didn't communicate well and if you make mistakes against this team, they can capitalize on it.''

With the win, UMass will travel to New York to face St. John's, a 105-50 winner over North Carolina-Asheville, tomorrow night at 7:30. St. John's is coached by first-year mentor Mike Jarvis, an old UMass nemesis formerly of George Washington and Boston University.

Niagara lost two starters from a 14-13 team last season but it returned a senior backcourt that frustrated the Minutemen all evening. Guards Jeremiah Johnson and Alvin Young combined for 31 points and 8 assists. They led four starters in double figures and stayed close with the Minutemen despite shooting just 41 percent and turning the ball over 19 times.

''We're an old team, not a team of freshmen,'' said Young. ''When people make runs at us, we turn around and make runs at them.''

Lari Ketner went in the post early and often.

That's what happened at the start of the second half. ''I think once we started getting up defensively we broke down because we became more comfortable,'' said UMass center Lari Ketner (16 points, 9 rebounds). ''We thought they were going to go away.''

UMass struggled to get going in the first half. The Minutemen had trouble running their offense and then converting attempts when the schemes weren't run well. They turned the ball over on four of their first 10 possessions and missed badly on layups and perimeter attempts.

UMass staged its first run of the half late, outscoring the Purple Eagles, 11-4, to take a 31-26 advantage with 1:40 to go. But miscues down the stretch prevented the Minutemen from pulling away and they led, 33-30, at halftime.

''I think it was first-game jitters,'' said Mack. ''We were really hyped before the game but once the game began, we didn't know what to do.''

UMass announced that Micah Brand has signed a letter of intent to play beginning in fall 1999. Brand, a 6-foot-11-inch, 235-pound center, is ranked among the top 100 seniors in the country by most recruiting services.

''Micah is a quality person who comes from a caring family who came here [Milford Academy, Milford, Conn.] not to get his grades elevated, because they were already good, but to get bigger, stronger, and obtain some more exposure to the bigger programs like UMass,'' said Milford Academy coach Brad Shapiro. ''The sky's the limit.''

As a junior last season, Brand averaged 16.4 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.2 blocked shots.

''We're very happy he's coming because he should be a good fit for our team next year,'' said Flint.

MHERST - It jumps right off the floor and screams for attention, after only one game.

UMass basketball - and center Lari Ketner in particular - needs Monty Mack on his game as desperately as rye bread needs corned beef.

Without the junior guard's 24-point performance in last night's season-opening 87-73 win over Niagara, the Minutemen would have struggled to climb out of this first-round game of the Preseason NIT.

Without Mack's medium-to-deep range game, Ketner would have been even harder pressed to fight through that swarm of Purple Eagles for his 16 points.

That said, there's a lot of room for improvement.

``Monty didn't guard a soul tonight - not a soul,'' said UMass coach Bruiser Flint, who has to play the role of critic now.

Win No. 1 has earned the Minutemen a trip to Queens for tomorrow night's second-round game (7:30) against the Mike Jarvis-coached St. John's team that torched UNC-Ashville last night, 105-50.

``They have to be pressing, if they're scoring that much,'' said Flint, who has something new to worry about as a result.

His team turned the ball over 15 times against Niagara, a team with a senior-based backcourt that was able to give the UMass guards fits for most of the night. Charlton Clarke was 2-for-9 and Jonathan DePina 3-for-7 under steady harassment from the Purple Eagles tandem of Alvin Young and Jeremiah Johnson.

Thankfully for the Minutemen, however, Mack was not the sum total of UMass' outside game last night.

Sophomore forward Winston Smith, who was redshirted last season because of knee surgery, stepped into his first game in over a year last night with a surprisingly polished jumper.

The 6-foot-6 forward scored seven of his nine points from 15 feet and beyond, including a first-half trey and an elbow jumper - in the classic Dana Dingle style - that gave the Minutemen a 61-49 lead with 6:59 left in the game.

The shot was vital, considering that the Minutemen opened the second half with a brusque 9-0 run, only to allow the 12-point lead it created to slip back to three points (50-47) with 10:38 left in the game.

Mack responded by driving the floor, picking up a foul, and finishing off a three-point play with 10:30 left. Ketner scored on a jump hook 30 seconds later, followed in turn by two Smith free throws and two more from the line by Ketner for a 59-47 UMass lead.

The Minutemen dabbled with a 10-point edge the rest of the way. Emphasis here should be placed on the word ``dabble.''

``We have to play better than this to beat anyone,'' said Flint, who obviously had his speech for the next practice ready to go. ``Charlton hit a couple of shots in the second half, which was good for him, because he was awful in the first half. Print that - he was awful.''

MHERST -- If Monty Mack is concerned about his hearing for assault in Northampton District Court on Friday, he certainly didn't show it last night.

The 6-foot-3 junior guard tied his career high with 24 points as UMass barreled over Niagara, 87-73, in its season opener at the Mullins Center.

The win puts the Minutemen in the quarterfinals of the Chase NIT at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at St. John's, which dominated North Carolina Asheville, 105-50.

"We've got to play better than this to beat anybody," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said.

Mack's 3-pointer ignited a 9-0 run that built the Minutemen's lead to 59-47 with 8:25 left. Niagara pulled to within 67-62 on a Terry Edwards trey with 3:05 left, but Lari Ketner slammed home a missed Chris Kirkland foul shot with 2:24 left and the Minutemen made 14 of 16 foul shots down the stretch to pull away.

"I think it was first-game jitters," Mack said. "We were all hyped up before the game. We were too hyped up."

The Purple Eagles collapsed on Ketner down low and dared the Minutemen to beat them from the outside.

"You'd be a fool not to play him like that," Flint said. "That kid would get 100 points (if they didn't)."

The Minutemen shot just well enough (43.1 percent) to keep the Purple Eagles from completely ignoring their outside shooters.

"We were worried that if they shot well, it would be a tough night for us," Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said. "You don't plan on (Jonathan) DePina (3 of 7) making jump shots. Mack was great, but we knew he could shoot it."

Ketner had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Charlton Clarke recovered from an 0-for-4 first half to finish with 10 points. Mike Babul also had 10. Winston Smith, back from a knee injury which forced him to sit out most of last season, and DePina each had 9.

Edwards and Alvin Young each scored 16 points for Niagara (1-1).

A female student accused Mack of assault and battery during a dining hall fight earlier this month. Asked if he was concerned that Mack might be distracted last night, Flint remarked, "All I know is, he didn't guard a soul tonight. All he did was shoot."

The Minutemen especially needed Mack's shooting in the first half. He hit 4 of 8 while the rest of the UMass backcourt sank only 2 of 10. No wonder Niagara, picked to finish fourth in the MAAC this year, trailed by only three, 33-30, at the break.

But Clarke opened the second half with the first of his two treys to ignite a 9-0 run to stretch the UMass lead to 42-30. Niagara responded with a 12-3 surge to get back in it.

"If we didn't let down defensively, we could have put the game away," Ketner said.

"We played good in spots and we didn't play good in spots," Flint said. "It might have been first-game jitters in the first half, but in the second half, we just didn't communicate well."

The Mullins Center was only a little more than half full. Attendance was announced as 5,078, one of the smallest crowds in the Mullins Center's 5.5-year history. Students are normally charged a fee for the season, but few decided to pay the extra $5 the NIT mandated for last night's game.

As a junior last season, he averaged 16.4 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.2 blocked shot.

The Minutemen have one scholarship left to give. Guard Shannon Crooks of Everett will become eligible to play next season after transferring from St. John's.

Lari Ketner for the short jumper.

Charlton Clarke goes for the steal.

MHERST - Is the Niagara University men's basketball team better than all the so-called experts thought, or does Massachusetts still have some work in front of it?

Maybe both. UMass opened its season with an 87-73 Preseason NIT victory at Mullins Center, a game that saw the Minutemen unable to put the pesky Purple Eagles away until the very end, despite two separate second-half spurts.

UMass will travel to St. John's for Wedesday night's 7:30 Preseason NIT quarterfinal. The winner of that game goes to Madison Square Garden for next week's semifinals, and it won't be an easy journey for UMass, given that St. John's roasted North Carolina-Asheville 105-50 last night. "We had some jitters in the first half, not in the second half,'' UMass coach Bruiser Flint said. "In the first half, guys were going nuts out there. But some guys played well in spots, and we won. We'll have to play better than that to beat anybody, though.''

Last night's game drew a paltry 5,078 fans, and they left the building without a clear idea of what they'd just seen. Leading 33-30 at halftime, UMass roared out of the locker room with a 9-0 run in the first 1:49 of the second half. That made it 42-30, but Niagara still managed to get right back in the game with a 16-6 run.

Lari Ketner went 7-14 from the field.

Another 9-0 run made it 59-47 with less than eight minutes left, but Niagara got off the floor again and was still within seven (73-66) with 1:30 left. Shooting guard Monty Mack scored 24 points, center Lari Ketner had 16 with nine rebounds and three blocks, and Mike Babul and Charlton Clarke scored 10 each.

But one of the key UMass contributors was sophomore forward Winston Smith, and that was a pleasant surprise. Smith missed last season after knee surgery and seemed a candidate for odd-man out in a crowded rotation, but the 6-foot-5 forward delivered nine points and four rebounds in 17 spirited minutes off the bench, and without him, UMass might have flirted with a devastating loss.

"I'm just glad I'm playing,'' Smith said. "I knew I had to do all the little stuff out there, give the team some energy. We made some mistakes that we can correct tonight, but Niagara is also a pretty good - very good - team.''

The first half was a head-scratcher for 23rd-ranked UMass, which held Niagara (1-1) to 35.5 percent shooting but still led only 33-30 at the break. The Purple Eagles owned an unexpected 19-18 rebounding edge, and without Monty Mack's nine points, the Minutemen would have been in even more distress.

In the second half, Clarke opened the 9-0 run with a 3-point shot, and it looked like Niagara might finally cave in. But instead, it was UMass that couldn't finish off the Eagles, a team led by guard Alvin Young and small forward Terry Edwards, who finished with 16 points each. "Defensively, we broke down and let them back in,'' Ketner said. "But you've got to give Niagara credit, too. They played hard.'' Edwards hit two second-half 3-pointers to help keep Niagara in the game. It was 50-47 when Mack converted a Jonathan DePina fast-break pass, scored and made it a 3-point play with the foul. Ketner followed with a turnaround and Smith and Ketner hit two free throws each, making it 59-47 with 8:29 left.

Yet Niagara, 14-13 last year but playing its first game under new coach Joe Mihalich, got back to within 61-54 with 4:47 left. UMass owned a 43-39 rebounding edge, with guards Clarke and DePina grabbing seven and six, respectively.

"Mack was great, but DePina has improved,'' Mihalich said. "You don't count on DePina making jump shots, but he made some. And I think Ketner has become as good a post player as there is in the country.''

"I thought it would take some time,'' said Mack, who thought jitters were a factor. But if we swung the ball and got it into the post, I had confidence we could do it.''

MHERST - University of Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint banged his hand on the floor in frustration.

With 29 seconds left in the half, the No. 23 Minutemen had a chance to hold the ball for the last shot, but Ajmal Basit was called for a charge, which turned the ball over to Niagara.

With his heavily favored team leading just 33-30 at intermission Flint stormed angrily into the locker room.

Whatever he said there paid off, as the Minutemen opened the second half on a 9-0 run en route to an 87-73 win Monday night in the first round of the Chase NIT at the Mullins Center.

"We won," Flint said. "We played well in spots. We didn't play well in spots. We didn't communicate well."

The win sets up a battle between the Minutemen and St. John's, which is coached by old UMass nemesis Mike Jarvis. That game will be played Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Alumni Hall in Queens. The Red Storm defeated North Carolina-Asheville Monday, 105-50.

Ketner took advantage of the smaller Niagara front line.

Monty Mack led the Minutemen with 24 points and his second-half scoring opened things up inside for Lari Ketner, who added 16 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Alvin Young and Terry Edwards each scored 16 for Niagara.

Flint said his half-time message was a simple one. "I just told everybody to settle down.".

The Minuteman defense and Charlton Clarke keyed the second-half run. Clarke opened the half with a three-pointer from the right corner. After a Mike Babul block gave the Minutemen possession, Ketner hit a turnaround hook in the lane. Steals by Babul and Clarke set up a fast-break pull-up jumper by Mack, while Clarke capped the run with a pair of free throws to put UMass ahead 42-30.

"It was good for Charlton to knock down a couple of shots because he was awful in the first half," Flint said.

Niagara counterpunched with a 15-6 run to pull within three at 48-45, but the Minutemen responded shortly after with another 9-0 surge and never looked back.

Chris Kirkland hauled in 6 rebounds in 16 minutes of action.

The Purple Eagles made a last-ditch effort to rally by fouling, but Babul, Mack, Clarke, Jonathan DePina, and Chris Kirkland all made free throws down the stretch.

"We're disappointed," said Niagara coach Joe Mihalich. "We thought we had a chance to win, but we hope to use this experience to win some basketball games down the road."

Turnovers and missed shots plagued the Minutemen early as the Purple Eagles led on three occasions, but never by more than two points.

"I think it was just first-game jitters," Mack said. "Before the game we were just too hyped. We were able to swing the ball but nobody was hitting shots."

Sophomore forward Winston Smith agreed.

"This was our first real game," he said. "We're going to make a lot of mistakes in our first real game. Against St. John's I don't think we're going to be making the same mistakes we made today."

If Monty Mack had jitters, he didn't show it, leading all scorers with 24 points.

MHERST - While teammates Mike Babul and Chris Kirkland were establishing themselves for the University of Massachusetts last year at small forward, Winston Smith was fighting through rehabilitation, suffering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

So when preseason started this year, there were questions about Smith's role in the Minuteman rotation.

But on Monday Smith showed he's ready to play. In 17 minutes he scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds. He also buried a three-pointer shortly after checking into the game.

"I'm just glad I'm playing. It felt real good," Smith said. "When I hit that three-pointer my confidence got real high. Then I got in a groove.

"I knew when I came back this year that I had to bring the team a lot of energy, go after loose balls and do all the little stuff," Smith continued. "Right now I'm doing the little stuff and I'm also shooting the ball pretty good."

UMass coach Bruiser Flint was pleased with Smith's outing.

"Winston keeps you honest," Flint said. "Is he going to break (the defense) down and get you a basket when you really need one? No. But if you don't play him, he's going to knock it down. That's what he does. He's solid that way.

"The biggest thing Winston does is come up with balls," Flint continued. "There could be three guys around him and he comes up with balls. He'll taken somebody out to come up with the ball."

* * *

The commitment of Micah Brand became official as the 6-foot-11 center from Milford Academy signed his offical letter of intent Monday to play at UMass.

Brand averaged 16.4 points and 11 rebounds for Milford last year.

"I think he can be a good player for us," Flint said Monday. "He rebounds. He's big. He has nice skills for a 6-11 guy. He was a guard in high school and had a growth spurt. He just has to get stronger. He passes. He can shoot a little bit, score inside "

UMass also got bad news on the recruiting front Monday as Jonathan Oden, a 6-8 forward heavily recruited by UMass, chose DePaul.

* * *

The Minutemen moved up one spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday, as UMass displaced Atlantic 10 rival Rhode Island at No. 23. The Rams slipped to No. 25 after falling to Providence Saturday, 87-63.

* * *

St. John's, which faces UMass Wednesday, pummeled North Carolina-Asheville, 105-50, Monday. Ron Artest led the Red Storm's up-tempo attack with 16 points, while Lavor Postell had 15, and Albert Richardson and Erick Barkley each had 13.

t times, it looked like no one told the University of Massachusetts basketball team that the exhibition season was over. Against Niagara University, the Minutemen struggled often in the first half and in the second half couldn't put the knife in the heart of the annoyingly pesky Purple Eagles.

The Minutemen committed nine first-half turnovers. And the turnovers weren't due to a smothering Niagara defense. We're talking step-on-the-line kind of turnovers. Coach's Flint description of the first half. "Awful, just awful. Print that."

The good news about the ragged play was that it came from having too much nervous energy. And there is something refreshing about hearing a 6-10, 270-pound All-America candidate admit he was nervous. If you can be too ready for a game, the Minutemen probably were.

Here a few tidbits from the Niagara-UMass game:

Anything you can do, I can do worse: The score was surprisinlgy close, but the scary thing is that even though Niagara hung tough, it didn't play that great. The Eagles committed 10 turnovers in the first half (19 for the game). Niagara shot a paltry .355 for the night. What would have happened it Niagara had a great night?

Student body left: Maybe no told the UMass fans the exhibition season was over -- 5,078 fans for the season-opener for a top 25 team? The truly sad part is that the empty seats were predominantly in the students section. Only 400 students shelled out the $5 for a student ticket. Something tells me we're not in Kansas ....

Working-class hero: Winston Smith scored nine points and collected four rebounds (three offensive) in 17 minutes of play. Smith, who sat out last season with a knee injury, also shot with confidence from the outside. "He'll keep you honest," said Flint. Smith's scrappiness is equally impressive. "Winston comes up with the ball."

Mack Attack: Monty Mack scored a game-high 24 points, but that isn't the headline for Mack, according to coach Flint. "He's supposed to score points; we run plays for him and he had a lot open looks. He didn't guard a soul all night. All he did was shoot."

Play of the game: With 2:25 remaining and the Minutemen up 67-62, Chris Kirkland went to the line for two free throws. He missed the first. When he missed the second, Ketner crashed the boards and dunked the rebound. UMass led 69-62 and Niagara never got any closer.

The team that wouldn't leave: Niagara apparently likes the Mullins Center, because the Eagles squeezed every last second of the action. In the final minute of the game, the Minutemen spent more time at the line than Private Ryan. Thanks to Niagara's gratuitous fouls, UMass shot 14 of its 33 free throws in the game's final minute and 43 seconds. Most of the fans left the arena before Niagara would let UMass leave the court.

Guards on the rebound: Charlton Clarke and Jonathan Depina combined for 13 rebounds -- the same amount as Lari Ketner and Ajmal Basit. This was the second game in a row in which the 5-9 Depina was among the rebound leaders.

Heard in the stands: "Boy, he's rotating a lot of people in."

Name of the game:Niagara guard Jeremiah Johnson.

Did you know? The Minutemen are playing in the NIT for the first time since 1993. That year, the John Calipari-led team advanced to the Finals with first and second round wins over Cleveland State and Towson State and a huge semi-final overtime victory over No. 1 ranked North Carolina, 91-86. Kansas defeated UMass in the 1993 NIT final, 86-75.

NIAGARA (73)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Edwards         35  7-11   0-0   1-4  1  5   16
Piwerka         27   2-8   0-0  5-11  0  4    4
Jobity          32  5-14   4-5   3-6  0  3   14
Johnson         34  3-14  8-12   1-4  6  4   15
Young           31  8-13   0-0   4-5  2  5   16
Dobrich         18   0-1   3-3   0-1  1  3    3
Greene          17   2-3   0-1   0-2  0  1    5
Strobl           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Waheed           5   0-2   0-0   1-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-66 15-21 15-34 10 25   73
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.409, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
4-14, .286 (Edwards 2-4, Piwerka 0-3, Johnson
1-3, Young 0-1, Greene 1-2, Waheed 0-1). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 2 (Edwards, Young).
Turnovers: 19 (Edwards 4, Johnson 4, Young 3,
Dobrich 2, Greene 2, Jobity 2, Piwerka 2).
Steals: 4 (Johnson 2, Edwards, Jobity).

MASSACHUSETTS (87)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Babul           22   3-5   4-4   0-1  3  0   10
Basit           20   2-3   1-2   2-4  1  4    5
Ketner          33  7-14   2-4   3-9  3  1   16
Clarke          26   2-9   4-4   0-7  2  5   10
M Mack          32  8-20   5-5   0-1  3  1   24
Oates            4   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Depina          21   3-7   3-4   1-6  3  4    9
Cruz             1   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Smith           17   3-4   2-2   3-4  1  0    9
Kirkland        16   0-0   4-8   4-6  0  3    4
Blizzard         8   0-2   0-0   0-1  0  2    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 28-65 25-33 13-39 16 21   87
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.431, FT-.758. 3-Point Goals:
6-16, .375 (Clarke 2-4, M Mack 3-8, Smith 1-2,
Blizzard 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 8
(Ketner 3, Blizzard 2, Babul, M Mack, Basit).
Turnovers: 15 (Basit 3, M Mack 3, Smith 3, Clarke
2, Babul, Depina, Ketner, Oates). Steals: 10
(Depina 3, Babul 2, Kirkland 2, Clarke, Ketner, M
Mack).
__________________________________
Niagara            30   43  -   73
Massachusetts      33   54  -   87
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 5,078. Officials:
Michael Kitts, Leroy Hendricks, John Cahill.