ALBANY – Freshman Tyrone Lewis (Levittown, Pa.) scored a career-high 22 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Niagara University men’s basketball team (1-5, 0-1) dropped its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener, 81-69, vs. Siena College (4-3, 1-0) Wednesday night in front of 5,013 fans at the Pepsi Center.

Lewis sank the fifth-most three-pointers in a single game at Niagara when he sank six of the Purple Eagles’ season-high 10 treys. The last Purple Eagle to record six three-pointers was Lorenzo Miles (Washington, D.C.) at Siena Feb. 25, 2006.

Senior J.R. Duffey (Ft. Worth, Texas) posted his first double-double of the season and fourth of his career with 18 points and a team-best 10 rebounds. Senior Clif Brown (Ferndale, Mich.) added 15 points.

Siena was led by Michael Haddix with a career-high 29 points and game-high 11 rebounds. Edwin Ubiles added 14 and Tay Fisher had 12.

After Lewis opened the second half with his fifth three-pointer, Siena went on an 8-0 run to take a 52-43 lead. Niagara broke back to make it a four-point game when Lewis nailed his sixth trey and followed with a dunk to make it 52-48.

Siena built an eight point lead, 59-51, but the Purple Eagles again made it a three-point game after Duffey canned a three-pointer and added a layup at 10:07 left.

The Saints then took control of the game when they went on an 11-2 run over the next 5:13 to take a 72-60 lead. They pushed it to 16 points when Haddix scored four-straight points for a 78-62 lead.

Niagara fought back to within nine when Brown and Lewis sank jumpers, and Brown hit a three-pointer to make it 78-69 with 1:05 left to play, but Siena’s David Ryan sealed the win for the Saints, making three of four from the foul line.

In the first half, Siena broke out to an 18-7 lead when it hit four of its seven first half three-pointers, and Haddix scored six of his 15 first-half points.

Lewis fueled a 13-3 run to pull the Purple Eagles to within three when he sank three consecutive three-pointers en route to 12 first-half points. Siena then took a six-point lead, 41-35, on a layup by Ubiles at 2:14. Duffey sank a long jumper with two seconds remaining in the half to cut the lead to four, 44-40.

Niagara returns to action Saturday when it hosts Big East and long-time rival St. John’s University at 4 p.m. in the legendary Taps Gallagher Center.