They went to the big dance before and didn’t expect it to be their swan song. Three of the four seniors on the Niagara men’s basketball team — Tyrone Lewis, Bilal Benn and Niagara Falls native Rob Garrison — participated in the 2007 NCAA tournament. Lewis had just led Niagara to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship as the first freshman ever named most valuable player of the conference tournament. Benn and Garrison were sophomore reserves for two of the nation’s premier programs, Villanova and Connecticut.

For Lewis’ older teammates, it was their second NCAA tournament trip. When the likes of Lorenzo Miles, J.R. Duffy, Stanley Hodge and Charron Fisher graduated, they made sure to tell Lewis he needed to win the MAAC at least one more time in his career.

Benn went to the tournament in his first two years of college, but realizes it was future NBA players like Randy Foye and Kyle Lowery who got him there. One of Benn’s former Villanova teammates, Allan Ray, once told him he was going to play in the NCAAs all four years. When Niagara lost last year’s MAAC championship game against Siena, that dream died.

“This is my last go-round,” Benn said Thursday, before the Purple Eagles packed their bags for another weekend in Albany that will determine whether they will take part in March madness — or March sadness.

“It’s now or never,” Benn added.

“This is a big weekend for me,” Lewis said. “As a freshman, I was just playing my role, doing what I was told. If ’Renny (Miles) and them said ‘dive on the floor,’ I dove on the floor. Now I play a bigger part on this team, and being a leader, it’s going to feel good to say I had a big part in winning this one.”

Lewis is the only Purple Eagle left from the last championship run. Benn, Garrison and senior classmate Demetrius Williamson transferred into the program the year after. Along with junior point guard Anthony Nelson and graduated center Benson Egemonye, this core group led Niagara to one of its finest seasons in school history a year ago. The Purple Eagles won 26 games, a modern-era record, including 14 in the MAAC regular season, its most ever. They advanced to the MAAC title game before losing to a Siena squad that enjoyed a considerable home-court advantage at Albany’s Times Union Center.

With everybody but Egemonye back this season, Niagara was expected to be just as good, if not better. The Purple Eagles started strong, but injuries and the lack of a solid center threatened to derail their season. After losing seven of their first nine conference games, they regained their confidence in February, but still finished with a mediocre 9-9 MAAC record.

“We thought we were going to be better. We underachieved for the regular season,” Benn said. “But we can’t worry about that now. It’s a new season, a three-day season, and we’re going to take a advantage of that.”

All along, Niagara’s mantra was “three days in March.” No regular season outcome swayed their belief that the success of the season would be determined by their performance in the MAAC tournament.

As a No. 6 seed, it would be a mild surprise if Niagara got to Monday night’s championship game. It opens up with a quarterfinal matchup Saturday against Iona, a team it lost to twice this season. If it gets to the semis, Niagara will meet either Fairfield or Canisius, two teams it split the season series with.

The Purple Eagles can’t afford to think ahead to a possible finals rematch with Siena. But they have had the heavily-favored Saints in mind as they prepare for the tournament. Niagara is the only MAAC team to beat Siena this season, and that dominating performance at the Gallagher Center three weeks ago showed what the only team in the league with four senior contributors is capable of when playing at its peak.

“It gives you confidence knowing that you beat the best team in the conference,” Lewis said. “Now you have to go out and play every game like you’re playing Siena.”

EXPERIENCE FACTOR

Of the 17 seniors playing at least 15 minutes per game this season in the MAAC, four of them are Niagara Purple Eagles

Niagara

F Bilal Benn — 36.1

G Tyrone Lewis — 34.1

G Rob Garrison — 32.2

F Demetrius Williamson — 26.4

Siena

G Ronald Moore — 35.4

F Alex Franklin — 32.1

G Edwin Ubiles — 30.2

Manhattan

G Darryl Crawford — 33.4

G Antoine Pearson — 23.7

G Patrick Bouli — 28.6

Fairfield

C Anthony Johnson — 30.2

F Mike Evanovich — 19.0

Loyola

G Brett Harvey — 29.5

F Jawaan Wright — 15.3

Rider

G Ryan Thompson — 36.5

Canisius

G Frank Turner — 38.5

Iona

F Jonathan Huffman — 16.4

Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.