SPRINGFIELD – The Niagara Purple Eagles, the top seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, prevailed over Siena 74-62 in a game whose intensity was only matched by its loosely called physicality.

Sophomore Antoine Mason led the Purple Eagles with a game-high 21 points, his teammate Juan’ya Green iced the game with a three from the wing to give the Purple Eagles a 70-61 lead. Green scored 15 points on the day.

Siena’s Evan Hymes and Rob Poole led the way with 14 points each. Senior O.D. Ansoike scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his final career double-double as a Saint.

Niagara challenged Siena’s Anosike early on and the senior couldn’t answer. Senior Devon White defended him in the early part of the game, getting physical with the Siena captain on the low block, but drew two fouls in a manner of a nine second sequence and was forced to sit the rest of the first half on the bench.

“We were just trying to throw the kitchen sink at him,” Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. “I thought that if we had an unsung hero today it would have been Joe Thomas. He came in and had couple buckets and banged it around a little bit. [Anosike is] a load, he’s a tough guy to guard.”

The Purple Eagles continued to hurt Anosike, who didn’t get his first basket of the game until a putback off an Evan Hymes miss with 9:28 left in the first half. Niagara responded by taking their largest lead of the game as Juan’ya Green drove the lane and dished it to Joe Thomas for an easy layup.

Sophomore Ameen Tanskley drove to the basket with 6:25 left, drawing a foul on Imoh Silas. The late whistle did not go over well with the Siena crowd, neither did sophmore Rahkeem Brookins like it and his words to the officials drew a technical foul.

Green made one of two tehcnical free throws, Ameen Tanksley made both of his off Silas’ foul. Following a Siena turnover on the other end, Niagara took their largest lead on a T.J. Cline layup over Silas and Anosike underneath the basket to make it 28-19. However, Siena responded with a 7-0 run capped by a Hymes three pointer to cut the lead to two. Hymes’ next three pointer with four seconds left cut the lead to one, 32-31 at halftime.

Mason said that they just needed to get out and play, lose the jitters of playing in their first game, in the locker room at halftime.

“I told everybody especially like T.J. [Cline] just relax and it’s going to come to you,” Mason said. “We just have to execute on defense is what started it.”

Niagara struggled from outside in the first half, making just two of 13 three pointers but heated up offensively the second half. The Purple Eagles went on a 10-0 run to start the half, starting with a Marvin Jordan three pointer next to the Niagara bench and ending with an Antoine Mason traditional three point play in transition off an Anosike turnover. Siena cut into the lead with a Rob Poole three pointer but Tanksley drove the baseline and made a nifty behind the back pass to Thomas who threw down a two handed dunk to keep the lead at ten, 44-34.

Siena responded with an 8-0 run featuring two baskets from Anosike in the post, a transition layup by Trenity Burdine and two Hymes free throws to cut the lead to four. However, T.J. Cline responded with a deep three to extend the lead back to five.

Cline led the bench with nine points for a team that got 27 of their 74 points from the bench.

“T.J. [Cline] was the rookie of the year,” Mihalich said after the game. “He put his team in first place. He made plays, he had the best stats and he made his team win. I don’t know how you judge it, but he was the rookie of the year.”

The game appeared to reach a breaking point on the physical play when Anosike posted up on Cline and drew a foul with 8:45 left. After the whistle, Anosike fell to the ground inadvertently and the referees reviewed and decided against any technical fouls.

“It was chippy but we all brought it together and said we can’t lose our cool,” Mason said. “We don’t need no flagrant fouls, nothing to lose the game. We just have to play our game.”

When play resumed Niagara took over the next three minutes, taking a 10-point lead on a Cline layup with 5:23 left, forcing a Siena timeout. The Saints came back with baskets from Brookins and Anosike but minutes later Burdine traveled in the lane to squander an opportunity to cut the lead to five with 3:38.

Burdine’s travel was Siena’s 19th turnover of the game. The Saints turned the ball over 20 times on the day.

“The turnovers have been a problem all year,” Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro said. “You can’t turn the ball over against a team like Niagara.”

Freshman Tajere McCall went down with just over 15 minutes left in the first half, falling on a drive to the basket. McCall winced in pain with a left leg injury and was helped off the court by a trainer and teammate.

Mihalich said that McCall was on crutches after the game and that he is not sure whether or not he will play in tomorrow’s semifinal game.

“If anybody can do it he will, but it don’t look good,” Mihalich said.

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.