(Matt McCarthy/Daily News photo) Niagara sophomore Logan Weber shoots over St. Thomas Aquinas Brennan Cry-Smith (32) in the first half as teammate Aiden Colenso, behind Weber, looks on Saturday afternoon at Niagara, Wis. The Badgers won the M&O Conference game 58-53.

NIAGARA, Wis. — In a seesaw game that went down to the final minute, Niagara slipped past St. Thomas Aquinas 58-53 in Marinette-Oconto Conference boys basketball Saturday.

The Badgers had three players score in double figures, led by senior Aiden Hagerty canning 15 points off the bench. Sophomore Ed Swanson chipped in 12 points on four three-pointers and senior Charles Swanson added 11 points, including four straight to clinch the win.

His layup with 4.0 seconds left in game put the Badgers up 56-53. STAA head coach Ric Powers called a timeout — only to be told by the scorer’s table that the team was out of timeouts, which resulted in a technical foul.

Charles Swanson stepped to the free throw line and sank both free throws.

The game started out with Niagara as a ball of fire, getting out to a 13-0 lead. In fact, the Cavaliers didn’t get on the scoreboard until the 14-minute mark, when Ethan Russell drained a three-pointer. “Niagara had a couple of guys hitting 3s that I wasn’t expecting,” Powers said. “But our guys fought back as they cooled off on offense.”

Russell drained 19 points while teammate Ethan Braley netted a game-high 20 points.

“We started off on fire, then as we seem to do sometimes, we stopped moving our feet on defense,” said Niagara head coach Steve Derwinski.

As the game progressed, the Badgers were lethargic getting back on defense and the Cavaliers capitalized, pushing the tempo in transition.

“We tend to do that as well. We work on it in practice, but today we didn’t do it enough or effective enough,” Derwinski said.

All of a sudden, Niagara’s 10-point lead turned into a 18-17 advantage for the Cavaliers.

From the midway point in the first half, into the second half’s midway point, Niagara was rushing on offense, not getting good looks at the basket.

“Our boys noticed that Niagara wasn’t getting back on defense and we could push the tempo. But we also were taking good shots,” Powers said. “We turned the ball over way too much again today, that was what did us in, in the end.”

Down the stretch, Derwinski called a couple of timeouts. “I said the same word to them as they came to the sidelines during each of those timeouts — patience,” Derwinski said. “I even pointed out to our guys that STAA was taking their time and getting good looks on offense, to point out that we weren’t.”

The Cavaliers, who fall to 2-5 on the season, also lost the JV game, 50-14. Preston Stoltz netted 18 points for the Badgers.

Niagara improves to 2-3 on the season and returns to action tonight as they travel to Crivitz in a makeup game from Dec. 11. On Dec. 30, the Badgers travel to Three Lakes for game one of a varsity doubleheader, at 3:30 p.m.

STAA 34 19 — 53

Niagara 35 23 — 58

STAA: Braley 20, Russell 19, Powers 5, Hofer 5, Knox 2, Pisani 2;

FT: 10-15; F: 17; Fouled Out: Russell; 3-point FG: Braley 4, Russell 3; Technical: No timeouts.

NIAGARA: E. Swanson 12, Lincoln 8, C. Swanson 11, Colenso 4, Krueger 3, Hagerty 15, Weber 4; FT: 9-16; F: 17; Fouled Out: None; 3-point FG: E. Swanson 4, Lincoln 2, C. Swanson 2, Krueger.