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.

Fairfield is again battling injury as it recently lost its second leading scorer, junior swing man Yorel Hawkins.  They have been without the services of senior forward Greg Nero for the entire year, but they have gotten senior forward Anthony Johnson back who is averaging 14.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.  The biggest story for the Stags this year is the play of Rookie of the Year favorite Derek Needham.  The freshman is leading the team in scoring with 15.7 ppg, and is distributing the ball well averaging 5.2 assists per game.  Needham scored 16 against the Saints in Bridgeport and filled up the stat sheet, grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing 7 assists and making 4 steals.  The only thing he didn’t do was protect the ball that well, committing 8 turnovers that game.

The Stags can put points on the board, but head coach Ed Cooley emphasizes strong team defense – he was very vocal about his team allowing Rider to score 88 and Siena 81 both in home court losses in the last couple of weeks.  The team must have heard him, because they pulled off an impressive win against resurgent St. Peter’s on the road, holding the Peacocks to 46 points.  The Saints are averaging just under 77 points per game, so if the Stags want to pull off the road upset they are going to need to keep Siena in the 60’s or less.

The Saints will attempt to keep streaking in to February, being led by the player many now consider the MAAC Player of the Year favorite Alex Franklin.  Some are touting Ronald Moore as being the potential player of the year, but the vote will most likely come down to either Franklin or Edwin Ubiles, and Franklin’s numbers have been outstanding.  He is the only player in the conference to place in the top-5 in scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage.

While the Saints have Ubiles back he still isn’t quite 100%, which may have contributed to an 11 point performance on only 4-12 shooting Friday night against Iona.  Franklin scored 23 against the Gaels and Ryan Rossiter had his eighth double-double in nine games, but the story Monday night was the hot hand of Clarence Jackson.  After missing his first three shots from beyond the arc, Jackson made six more over the course of the evening, finishing with 20 points.  He was the catalyst to opening up the game in both halves.  If Jackson, and the team itself, is making threes there aren’t many teams in the conference, if any, who can keep up with them.

Friday night’s game turned out to be much more one-sided than many would have imagined.  Fairfield clearly has the talent and the ability to knock off the Saints, but having to over come the home-court advantage of the Times Union Center may prove to be too much.