ALBANY, N.Y. – The No. 9 seed Niagara Purple Eagles fell to the eighth-seeded Siena Saints, 71-54, in the 2015 MAAC Championship First Round on Thursday at the Times Union Center.

"We needed to battle more consistently over the course of the 40 minutes," head coach Chris Casey said. "There was a stretch in the first half where they really hurt us around the basket and that was the difference in the game. We needed to make a few more shots and get a few more rebounds."

MAAC All-Rookie Team selection Dominique Reid poured in career-high 24 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.  Emile Blackman added 13 points and five rebounds as the duo combined for 37 of Niagara's 54 points and 14 of NU's 27 rebounds.

Reid scored the game's opening points with a layup 1:57 into the contest for the Purple Eagles' only lead in the game. The Saints (11-19) scored the next six points and built a 19-12 lead after eight minutes. A layup by Ramone Snowden cut the lead to 21-16 with 5:21 left in the half, before Siena went on an 11-2 run over the next three minutes. Reid answered with four straight free throws to trim the lead to 32-22, but a Lavon Long layup with six seconds on the clock gave the Saints a 34-22 halftime lead.

Siena opened the half on an 8-2 spurt and later built its largest lead of the game at 49-28 with 16:11 remaining. The Purple Eagles (8-22) cut the deficit to 11 points twice; a 3-pointer by Wesley Myers made the score 59-48 with 6:51 on the clock and a layup by Reid trimmed the lead to 61-50 with 5:58 left. Though, the Saints used another run to hold off Niagara in the final minutes.

"We progressed throughout the season, in particular the last 10 games," Casey said. "It's a starting point, but you have to continue to move forward."