The Saints pulled out a close one against the third place Stags, extending the nation's current longest win streak to 15 games. It's Siena's longest winning streak in school history. Derek Needham's 26 points were no match for Edwin Ubiles' clutch 18. Read: Recap
The Siena Saints (21-4, 14-0) defeated the Fairfield Stags (16-8, 9-5) by a final of 69-67 in downtown Albany on Monday night. Fairfield trailed by 8 at halftime, but kept it very close in the second half. Siena’s starters did not leave the floor in the second half, but were outscored by Fairfield the whole way. Fairfield trailed by 1 possession twice in the final five minutes, once being the meaningless last two seconds of the contest. The Stags got a career high performance from Sean Crawford, who scored 15 points, but turned the ball over twice in the final four minutes. Derek Needham finished two points shy of his career high with 26.
Siena was led by Edwin Ubiles, who took over late in the game, driving into the lane with for some crucial buckets. Ubiles finished the game with 18 points on 8 of 16 shooting. Ryan Rossiter had 17 points and 10 rebounds, matching a school record with his 14th double-double of the season. Siena got some nice minutes late in the first half from Wignot and Anosike when Franklin was forced to sit on the bench after the 12:29 mark.
Siena will head to Buffalo this weekend while Fairfield will travel to Rider for their second game of a four game road trip.
The Siena Saints (20-4, 13-0) will put the nation’s longest winning streak and second longest home-court winning streak on the line at 7:00 Monday night when they face the Fairfield Stags (16-7, 9-4) at the Times Union Center. The game will be televised on MSG. Fairfield is currently tied for second place in the MAAC with Iona, but a win by Siena would clinch the conference title for the Saints. Siena’s conference record is the best start in the MAAC since LaSalle went 16-0 in 1989-90, and a win Monday night would also give the Saints the longest winning streak in program history.
Fran McCaffery talked to the media after Siena’s 88-68 win over the Iona Gaels Friday night at the Times Union Center. Stay tuned to SienaSaintsBlog and the video page for more exclusive high-definition videohighlights, interviews and much more!
Edwin Ubiles hits a three pointer in Siena’s 88-68 victory over the Iona Gales at the Times Union Center Friday night. Stay tuned to SienaSaintsBlog and the video page for more exclusive high-definition videohighlights, interviews and much more!
The Saints (20-4, 13-0) continue their winning ways in front of a sell out crowd as they beat the Iona Gaels (17-7, 9-4) 88-68. This is the team’s 14th straight win, and their 33rd at home.
Siena spread the scoring around with Alex Franklin leading the way with 23 points. Clarence Jackson added 20 points coming off six 3-pointers and two foul shots. Once again, Ryan Rossiter puts up a double-double effort with 19 points and 12 rebounds. During the game Ronald Moore became the 35th player in Siena history to reach the 1,000 career scoring mark. Siena shot exactly 50% from the field and hit nine 3’s. The Saints extended their 10 point halftime lead up to 23 points less than ten minutes into the second half.
Scott Machado led all scorers with 24 points. Big man Alejo Rodriguez had a double-double of his own with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Known as one of the conference’s best 3-point shooting teams the Gaels were hampered in the first half after going 0-8 from 3-point range. They ended up shooting 4-18 from beyond the arc and 38% from the field. One positive that can be taken away for this team was their 90% foul shooting numbers.
Ronald Moore will be on the verge of two milestones tonight when Siena faces Iona at Times Union Center.
The senior point guard is just six points shy of 1,000 for his career.
With a Siena win, Moore also will have been a part of 90 victories, which is more than any player in program history.
The Siena Saints (19-4, 12-0) welcome the second hottest team in the MAAC Conference to the Times Union Center Friday night as they host the Iona Gaels (17-6, 9-3.) The Saints hold the country’s longest winning streak at 13 in a row, and have won 32 consecutive at home. They have also won 36 of their last 38 MAAC conference games. While they are without a doubt the most dominant team in the conference, they are closely pursued by the Gaels who have won eight in a row themselves. The one streak that may mean the most to the Gaels though is the one they most want to erase – no player on the Iona roster has ever beaten a Siena team with Edwin Ubiles, Alex Franklin, and Ronald Moore– though they came very close last season in Albany.
There’s been a lot of buzz among the Siena fan base lately about the tarps behind the baskets in the lower bowl. A lot of what Pete Iorizzo wrote almost exactly one year ago still reigns true– spamming Siena’s employees with e-mail to ‘take them down’ isn’t going to change their decision. I’m sure you’ll find a spot into “Deleted Items.”
I recently caught up with Siena’s Jason Rich to find out if the school was currently considering removing the tarps,
The capacity will remain as is for the time being. We have said from the start that if we outgrow the current configuration on a regular basis, we will reevaluate. We are very pleased with the way the seating arrangement has worked out – it has obviously enhanced the atmosphere in the facility”
Understanding supply and demand, from a business perspective this makes sense. This obviously increases the demand for tickets and increases pre-sales, as well as creates a tougher place to play for opponents.
There is the argument that capping ticket sales and saying it’s a “sellout” is misleading and lame. What people don’t acknowledge is this– Siena has 3,000 students, and a (generous) average attendance hovering around the 7,000 mark. There’s no logical reason why this team should be playing in a 14,500 seat arena in the first place.
In my opinion, Siena needs a 7,000 seat facility that the students could (literally) shake night in and night out, like a typical college their size. However, due to the location of the school and limited land, it’s not in the cards. I used to talk to players who would hate that Siena was the big stage of the MAAC– it was every team’s chance to shine, every team’s superbowl. Since then Siena’s talent level has jumped far ahead of the rest of the league, but the big lights still shine bright in downtown Albany. If I’m Siena, I’d take the better atmosphere over the 1,000 extra people sitting upstairs any day of the week.
The Siena Saints (20-4, 13-0) will put the nation’s longest winning streak and second longest home-court winning streak on the line at 7:00 Monday night when they face the 
The Siena Saints (19-4, 12-0) welcome the second hottest team in the