Siena (5-3, 0-0) will get its first conference test tonight when the Siena Saints square off against the Iona Gaels (4-3, 0-1) in New Rochelle, NY. Iona couldn’t quite catch up to St. Peter’s this past weekend, falling to the Peacocks 56-54 in their first league play contest. It was a close game the whole way, with St. Peter’s making a small push towards the end of the second half. Iona doesn’t stop fighting.

Junior forward Alejo Rodriguez leads the team with an average of 11 points per game and 7 rebounds. He’s complimented by last year’s MAAC ROY, Scott Machado, who is averaging 10.7 points per game and leads the team in assists and steals. Iona played up to their competition in Orlando at the Old Spice and will need to elevate their game for the Saints tonight.

Last year, in the first match up between these two teams, Siena needed some late magic from Edwin Ubiles to overcome Machado and the Gaels in Albany– Audio: here

Siena is coming off a terrific defensive performance against Albany and CJ an outstanding effort– scoring 25 points off of 9-15 shooting. He missed his career game high total by three points. Look for Ronald to be fresh– Coach McCaffery decided to rest Ronald Moore on Saturday for the majority of the second half. This is particularly important when you factor in that this is Siena’s 3rd city in 6 days, and the one day turn around.