Jan. 24, 2009
Final Stats
ALBANY, N.Y. - For the second straight Saturday, Siena met the second place team in the MAAC and for the second straight Saturday the Saints led from start to finish, this time toppling Niagara 82-65 before a sellout crowd of 7,980 at Times Union Center. With the win, Siena takes a three game lead on the rest of the MAAC with half the conference schedule remaining.
Ryan Rossiter played a flawless game, finishing with 18 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks, three assists and two steals. He made all seven of his field goal attempts and all four of his free throws.
Edwin Ubiles led all players with 20 points and made 9-12 field goal attempts. It was his seventh 20-point effort of the season.
The Saints (15-5, 9-0) showed no signs of rust from their one-week layoff - their longest stretch without a game in over a month. Siena led 24-11 at the 10-minute mark of the first half, scoring 10 of their first 11 baskets in the paint.
Niagara (14-6, 5-3) cut the deficit to 28-25 on a Benson Egemonye layup, but Siena pushed the lead back to 42-36 at intermission.
The Saints shot 60% from the field for the game and converted 63% of their shots in the first half.
Tyrone Lewis' 3-pointer cut the lead to 44-41 moments into the second half, but that was as close as the Purple eagles would get.
Siena used a 10-2 run to push the lead back to double figures and coasted home. Egemonye's layup cut the lead to eight points, 67-59, at the 8:09 mark, but Rossiter answered with a layup to push the lead to double figures for good.
The Saints were typically balanced on offense. Alex Franklin scored 15 points and had eight rebounds and Kenny Hasbrouck scored 13 points despite playing just eight minutes in the first half.
Egemonye had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead four players in double figures for Niagara. Austin Cooley came off the bench to score 13, Anthony Nelson finished with 11 and 10 assists and Bilal Benn had 10 points and six rebounds.
Niagara was explosive at times on offense, but shot just 39.7% for the game in losing for the third time in four games.
Siena scored 65 of its 82 points in the paint or on the foul line.
The Saints return to action Monday night against Iona here at Times Union Center.
