Albany, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Evan Hymes netted 14 points and recorded five steals to lead his eighth-seeded Siena Saints past the ninth-seeded Niagara Purple Eagles, 71-54, in the first round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament at the Times Union Center.

Ryan Oliver came off the bench to score 13 points with six rebounds for Siena (11-19), which will advance to the quarterfinal round Saturday to face top- seeded Iona. Marquis Wright chipped in with 11 points and six assists, and Lavon Long added 10 points with six boards before he fouled out.

Dominique Reid scored a game-high 24 points and tallied nine rebounds to pace Niagara (8-22), which snapped its four-game win streak. Emile Blackman contributed 13 points with six turnovers in the loss for the Purple Eagles.

Siena netted 45.2 percent of its shot attempts in the first half, and buried 5-of-15 from 3-point distance to take a 34-22 lead into the intermission. Niagara hit a cold 33.3 percent from the floor with an 0-of-4 mark from beyond the arc in the opening frame.

The Saints picked it up in the second half behind 55.6 percent shooting to further bury the Purple Eagles, who improved to 46.2 percent shooting in the period but couldn't make a dent in the Siena lead.

Siena held Niagara to 1-of-11 shooting from 3-point range in the contest, and owned a 20-2 advantage in bench scoring as the Saints live to play another day.