The Siena Saints defeated the Fairfield Stags 87-81 in Albany, NY Thursday afternoon.

Siena now stands alone in first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Saints have won seven of their last eight games and improve to 9-4 with today’s victory, 3-0 in conference play. Fairfield is now 8-5 and falls to 2-1 in conference play. What can you say about this game– so many lead changes, so much excitement. Great day to be a Siena guard. The three juniors and Kenny Hasbrouck all scored more than 15 points today.

Ronald Moore had a terrific game; accounting for 24 of the team’s 45 first half points between both his points and assists. He finished up with 9 assists, 5 rebounds and set a new career high with 20 points. Edwin Ubiles was really the other story, who finished with 22 points and a great defensive effort. Josh Duell also had a solid game, getting his teammates some good looks and getting back to his usual self. Duell by nature is a very intelligent basketball player. As he gets healthier, he’s starting to gain confidence and play to his strengths. I have to mention that Moore and Ubiles missed a few front ends [of 1 and 1 opportunities,] but hit the free throws when they counted, late in the second half.

Johnathon Han picked up his 4th foul with about eleven minutes to go which really killed the Stags momentum. Han lit the nets on fire in the beginning of the second half. After that foul, Siena wouldn’t look back. Big win for the Saints who showed they can play big games on short rest, putting the team in sole possession of first place.