UNI, welcome to the Dog House. Siena defeated Northern Iowa 81-75 in front of 8,049 at the Times Union Center Saturday afternoon. Siena has now won 18 games in a row at the TUC. Northern Iowa has now lost three in a row and will head back to close out the season at Illinois State and at home to Evansville. I seem to remember a lot of people coming to this site to talk smack– we’ll see you next year Panthers.

The Saints took the lead from the get-go and did not look back. It was Clarence Jackson who fueled the team in the first half, scoring 4 of his 5 attempted shots from beyond the arc. Jackson finished up with 14 points. Siena also got quality minutes from senior capitain Josh Duell. Josh finished up with 8 points and 5 assists (4 in the first half). It’s great to see Josh back and contributing, especially with Rossiter on the bench and in foul trouble. We will need that come Tourney time. Kenny Hasbrouck rounded out the Siena scoring with 16 points and 3 assists.

By the time halftime rolled around, the Saints opened up a 40-19 lead. The defense was really the story– holding UNI to under 23% from the floor and just 5 successful attempts.

Siena got comfortable in the second half and frankly took some poor shots; allowing Northern Iowa to sneak back into the game. From the 13:51 mark to 6:22, the Saints scored just two points and credit to the Panthers, they never quit.

Northern Iowa was sinking some ridiculous shots in the second half. Siena got out on D, but they were hitting shots with hands in their faces– which is why UNI is a dangerous team. Fran spoke in the post game about how disrupting UNI’s rhythm with the press was a primary goal.

The crowd went absolutely ballistic when Brendan Bradt hit a half court shot to win $25,000. All the players admitted to watching the shot and cheering for Brendan.