Manhattan was lead by the conference’s leading scorer Rico Pickett who put up a dominating 33 points. Darryl Crawford contributed a double-double performance with 16 points and 10 rebounds. A huge factor in this game was Manhattan’s impressive free throw numbers, going 38-46 (82.6%).

Loyola ends their season despite shooting 50% from the field. Shane Walker led the Greyhounds with 26 points. Jamal Barney also had 13 points.

The Loyola Greyhounds, the team who last beat Siena at home, gave the shorthanded Saints their toughest fight in the MAAC season thus far. Siena trailed by as many as nine early to the Loyola Greyhounds, who were the last team to beat Siena at the Times Union Center on February 16, 2008.

Alex Franklin, who scored a team-high 22 points, scored 14 straight Siena points in the second half to bring the Saints within two. Ryan Rossiter, who had his fifth straight double double, made a jumper to tie the game at 60. Rossiter had a team-high 12 rebounds and 12 points.

Siena struggled with a short bench, playing only seven tonight, and appeared out of sync in the first half. Siena played only O.D. Anosike and Owen Wingot off the bench. Loyola scored 13 bench points, while Siena’s bench played 17 minutes, scoring only 6 points.

Loyola was without their two high scorers, Brett Harvey and Jamal Barney. The Greyhound’s offensive was centered around guard Brian Rudolph who finished with 13 points, and Shane Walker also added 13 points.

Edwin Ubiles scored 18 points 6 of 10 shooting while battling his back issues. Clarence Jackson struggled, shooting 1 for 10 from the field. Ronald Moore had 7 points and 7 assists.

Siena’s winning streak of 32 straight home wins is the second longest streak in the nation.

Edwin Ubiles Postgame Reactions: Video on SienaSaintsBlog.com

If we can establish that Siena, Niagara and Rider are the likely top three in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference let’s try to hash out that next tier of contenders. It’s time to find out who is for real and who isn’t in the MAAC. Are the Gaels as good as advertised? Are the Greyhounds going to take some of their non-conference momentum into the conference season? Will the Fairfield Stags, relatively untested in the non-conference, show that they are a top 5 team in the MAAC?

Is Iona for Real?

Reasons Iona is for Real: Iona erased doubters thoughts about their right to contend in the MAAC this year with a 63-60 win in Buffalo over Niagara. All of Iona’s non-conference wins have been by eight points or more. Iona’s most impressive wins: beating Creighton (by eight) in Orlando and beating Providence (by nine) on the road. Iona wasn’t expected to win at top-25 UConn and lost by 19 but the Gaels played hard in Orlando putting up tough fights against Florida State (loss by 6) and Baylor (played the Bears to overtime but lost 72-62).

Counter-Arguments: Iona dropped two straight MAAC home contests; a two point loss St. Peter’s and a 13 point loss to Siena in December. They went on the Buffalo swing and beat Niagara but lost by 12 at Canisius Monday night. The Gaels, who shot 39.9% (30th nationally) from behind the arc entering tonight, went 7 for 30 from three point range (23.3%) and were out rebounded by 12 against a team that isn’t necessarily dominant inside.

Verdict: Iona is most likely for real this year and could be contending for a #4-#6 seed.

Is Loyola (MD) for Real?

Reasons Loyola (MD) is for Real: Loyola’s best win this year is their big win over Indiana in the Big Ten. It is big in the historic context: it was Loyola’s first win over a Big Ten team in school history. Loyola led by as much as 24 points during that game and Brett Harvey has been on a hot streak as of late, despite not playing last night against Siena. Second team All-MAAC member Jamal Barney has been the leader for the Greyhounds, taking most of the shots and shooting 42% from the field.

Counter-Arguments: Loyola dropped a game in overtime at Coppin State, a team with only one other Division-I win. A 19 point loss at Mount St. Mary’s does not help define this team’s profile either. The Mountaineers have lost eight straight which included a tough overtime loss at Siena. A three point win over 1-12 UMBC doesn’t impress either.

Barney and the Greyhounds had a chance to impress on Monday night but failed to do so in a 20-point home loss to Siena. They had to try and play the Saints with Brett Harvey sitting out due to an undisclosed injury. The Saints got lucky to be spared of Harvey in the lineup and took advantage, leading by as many as 30 points on Monday night.

Verdict: It is difficult to see given the current situation. If the Greyhounds lose Brett Harvey for a significant amount of time, Loyola would be at a huge loss. They have two more tough games at Fairfield and home Sunday against Iona. If Harvey is back and they can split or win both, we are looking at a real contender.

Is Fairfield for Real?

Reasons Fairfield is for Real: The Stags have started out really well, starting 10-3 and got off to a 3-0 start in the MAAC. One thing we know for sure, Derek Needham is a top candidate for MAAC Rookie of the Year. Needham has won or shared the award five times already this season. The true freshman has scored double digit points in every game but one this season. Junior Yorel Hawkins has been impressive as well in 2009-10. Hawkins has significantly improved his field goal and free throw shooting from last year, he leads the team in field goal percentage at 53.9% coming into Monday night.

Counter-Arguments: Fairfield won seven non-conference games so far this year. However their strength of schedule out of conference ranks 2nd to last in the MAAC and ranked 337th in the nation of 347 going into Monday night. Fairfield ranks in the middle of the pack of the MAAC in three point shooting. The assist (204) to turnover (194) leaves much to be desired.

Verdict: Even though they lost at Niagara, Needham made a career high 12 field goals and scored a career high 28 points. There is chance that Fairfield is a team that is shining through smoke and mirrors right now but they should be locked into at least a #6-#7 seed range.

Marist Notches Win #1!

Marist went 7 for 17 from three point land and got an even performance from their entire team in their first win of the season, a 72-66 win over Manhattan. Marist has guaranteed themselves not going winless this year. How did they follow that up? By losing at St. Peter’s by 12.

Marist has only had one win streak, a streak of two on December 23 and 28 of 2008, during the Chuck Martin era.

When not worrying about Siena’s chances in the MAAC this season, Ryan is writing about Fantasy Baseball on Rotosavants.com, reporting on the Colonial Athletic Association for Rushthecourt.net and writing on his own website: RyanRestivo.com.

• Saints win convincingly at Loyola– recap »
  

  ---

• Siena crushes Loyola
  

  Siena improved to 4-0 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with a 76-56 rout of Loyola on Monday at Reitz Arena.
  The Saints won their fifth in a row behind 24 points from Clarence Jackson and 22 from Edwin Ubiles.
  Siena led by as many as 30 points. The Saints blew open the game [...]

  ---

• Road Report: Greetings from… Albany!
  

  Albany is one of Hoops Nation’s most vital strongholds. Last year, it hosted the tourneys for both the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and America East. The University at Albany won the AE in 2006 and 2007, and in the former year came about as close as any team to pulling off the first 16-over-1 upset in NCAA history. The Great Danes were up by as many as 12 points in the second half before UConn came roaring back for the win. And then there’s Siena.

  ---

• Rossiter named MAAC Player of the Week
  

  Hello from Reitz Arena, where Siena is warming up in preparation for tonight’s game against Loyola at Reitz Arena.
  A few hours before the game, the Saints learned that Ryan Rossiter has been named MAAC Player of the Week. The 6-foot-9 junior averaged 16.7 points and 12.3 rebounds while shooting 56 percent in [...]

The Saints took advantage of Loyola’s first half offensive struggles and went into halftime with a 34-19 lead. The second half featured a number of timely Siena runs that quickly put the Saints well out of reach of the opposition. The largest point margin reached 30 points. Clarence Jackson led all scorers with 24 points and Edwin Ubiles added 22 points. Jackson also had a career-high 7 steals, while Ronald Moore had another big assist night with 11. The entire team ended up with 18 steals on the night. Siena’s bench also received a lot of minutes with Kyle Downey chipping in 6 points and O.D. Anosike putting up 5 points.

Loyola suffered from a devastating early shooting performance that prevented them from making this a competitive game. The Greyhounds simply could not overcome committing 14 turnovers in the first half alone, in addition to only hitting 8-25 from the field before half. Jamal Barney was the only player to put up double-digit points with 15 (all of which came in the 2nd half), and Julius Brooks added 8 points. A huge factor that hurt the Greyhounds was the absence of their best offensive weapon, Brett Harvey. Loyola only went to the free throw line 12 times, making just 6 opportunities.

• NCAA Men’s basketball: Siena ready for Loyola
  

  It didn’t take long for Siena coach Fran McCaffery to open his team’s eyes to the Saints’ next opponent.

• MAAC upsets have Siena’s attention
• Saints return to MAAC play vs. Loyola
• Siena men could be heading into hornet’s nest at Loyola
• Shades of 08-09 in Siena’s win over Mount St. Mary’s
  

  The Siena men’s basketball team saw shades of its 2008-09 victory over Marist in Saturday’s 79-76 overtime win against Mount St. Mary’s.
  On Jan. 16, 2009, the Saints trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half before coming back to beat the Red Foxes, 91-85, in overtime.
  Saturday’s win wasn’t quite as dramatic, but [...]

• Thoughts on Loyola
  

  Here’s the six-pack of thoughts on Loyola, the team Siena faces Monday in Baltimore:
  1. Loyola, under sixth-year coach Jimmy Patsos, is 8-5 and 1-2 in the MAAC. The Greyhounds have won four consecutive games, and the most recent three are particularly impressive: at Indiana, at Bucknell and against Rider.
  2. Brett Harvey, a senior guard, has [...]