ALBANY, N.Y. – For the first time in nearly two-decades Niagara won its second-consecutive game at MVP Arena, topping Siena (4-26, 3-16 MAAC) by the final score of 66-59 Thursday night in MAAC basketball action from the State Capital.
 
Three Purple Eagles recorded double figures, led by 15 points on 4-for-5 shooting from Harlan Obioha. The big-man added a team-high eight rebounds in the contest. Braxton Bayless and Ahmad Henderson II came off the bench in the win scoring a combined 25 points with 14 and 11, respectively. As a team, Niagara shot 47.8 percent from the field and 70.8 percent from the line.
 
Siena was led by Giovanni Emejuru's 14 point and 10 rebound double-double effort while Brendan Coyle led the Saints with 19 points. The Saints finished the game 38.5 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from the perimeter and 73.3 percent from the line. Siena
 
How it Happened
Niagara jumped out to a 7-1 lead by the first media timeout and would eventually go up by as much as 11-points in the first half as a 9-0 run from the 14:33 mark to the 11:44 mark gave the Purple and White a 16-5 advantage. Randy Tucker, who finished with nine points, connected twice from the perimeter in the first nine minutes to help Niagara get ahead.
 
Over the next six minutes of action the Saints would outscore Niagara 12-4 to pull within three, 20-17, going 4-for-5 from the field, including two makes from behind the arc.
 
Niagara would take a 26-22 lead into the break as Lance Erving connected on back-to-back three's to keep the Saints at bay.
 
It would take Siena less than three minutes to tie the game in the second half as the Saints got five of its first seven points of the half from Coyle to tie the game at 29-29.
 
Neither team would take anything larger than a two-point lead over the next 5:14 of game action before a Tucker 3-pointer and a Bayless jumper made it a six-point Niagara lead, 45-39, with 11:31 to play.
 
A minute later the Saints would cut the Purple Eagle lead back to three, 45-42, before a 12-5 spurt for the Purple and White over the next four and a half minutes of action put Niagara up by 10, 57-47. Niagara went 4-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 at the line during the stretch with half of its points coming from Bayless, who scored all 14 of his in the second half.
 
The Saints would make it a five-point margin, 64-59, with five seconds to play, before Henderson sealed the win at the line with a pair of free-throws.
 
Niagara Notes
• Thursday marked the 112th meeting all-time between Niagara and Siena, with Niagara improving to 53-59 all-time against the Saints.
• The win also improved to 19-38 on the road against Siena with just its fourth win in the last 20 trips to Siena.
• Niagara is now 4-2 when shooting 25.0 percent or less from 3-point range, 9-2 when leading at the half, and 8-1 in MAAC road games.
• Obioha recorded his 14th game this season with double-digit points, while leading NU in scoring for the seventh time.
• Henderson has recorded 21 games with 10 or more points, including 14 in league play.
• Tucker matched his season-high with three 3-pointers.
• For the 15th time this season, Luke Bumbalough led Niagara in assists with four.
• The win secured Niagara its first above .500 win percentage in MAAC play since 2017-18. 
• It is also the first time since 17-18 that Niagara has won 10 games on the road in a season. 
 
Up Next
Niagara will close out the regular season with a trip to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to take on the Marist Red Foxes at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 9 at McCann Arena. The game will air on ESPN+ and fans can tune in to Todd Callen who will have the call on 1400n AM.  
 
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