The Saints and Jaspers battled for 45 minutes with the Saints holding on for a 84-82 victory in the final game of the night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

Manhattan had an opportunity to tie the game in the final 5 seconds but saw their shots rattle around the backboard and Rob Poole grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded to give the Saints a win in their first overtime game of the season.

With 53.8 seconds remaining in overtime, the Saints couldn’t convert and turned the ball over on a shot clock violation up 83-82. Manhattan’s Liam McCabe-Moran missed a three pointer on the ensuing possession with 32 seconds left.

With 5.8 seconds left in regulation, Manhattan’s Kidani Brutus missed a fade away jumper that spun around the rim twice and spit out to the ground. The shot would have won the game for the Jaspers and advanced them to the MAAC Semifinals for the first time since 2006.

Siena, with under two minutes left in the second half, forced the ball inside to First Team All-MAAC Junior O.D. Anosike, who posted up and scored with his back to basket to give the Saints a 75-73 lead with 1:05 to go. The lead wouldn’t last long when Kidani Brutus made a three pointer at the top of the key with 46 seconds left to give the Jaspers a 76-75 lead.

Rob Poole missed a three pointer with 20 seconds to go from the wing but Owen Wignot did not miss knocking down a huge three pointer in front of the Siena bench with 7.8 seconds to go.

Fouls gave the Saints trouble all night. O.D. Anosike was assessed a technical foul along with Manhattan’s Torgrim Sommerfeldt in an altercation during the first half. Kyle Downey fouled out of the game with 4:17 left, ending the game with 7 points and 5 assists. Downey had to run the point for the first three minutes of the game since freshman Evan Hymes did not start. Hymes entered with 17:09 left in the first half.

Evan Hymes ended up with 6 points on 2 of 7 shooting. Hymes moved to second place All-Time for Freshman scoring in the Siena history, passing Jack McClinton from 2004-05. Only Michael Haddix, who scored 440 points during the 2002-03 season, has scored more in their first year than Hymes.

O.D. Anosike finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds on the night. Anosike is now third all-time amongst Siena’s single season rebounders. Last year, Ryan Rossiter moved to first in the record book with a 408 rebound season.

Freshman Rob Poole scored a career high 16 points in his fifth career start for the Saints.

Siena moves on to face Loyola in the MAAC semifinals on Sunday at approximately 4:30pm ET on ESPN3.

Kyle Downey ran the point for the first three minutes, until Hymes entered with 17:09 left in the game. Hymes made his first three pointer with 13:11 left to cut the Manhattan lead but Junior George Beamon followed it up with his 4th three pointer made in as many attempts.

Evan Hymes attempted to give it ago in warmups, changing from sleeve on the knee to being heavily taped up but did not crack the starting lineup for Siena. Rob Poole started in Hymes’ place, his fifth start for the Saints this season.

Without Hymes, Siena struggled in the first 28 seconds of the game. The Saints gave up a three pointer to Donovan Kates and then turned the ball over in the Manhattan fullcourt press, allowing a Emmy Andujar dunk in transition. Saints Head Coach Mitch Buonaguro called an immediate timeout.

Siena cut the Jaspers lead to one, at 29-28, with a Rob Poole two-pointer with 7:46 left, energizing the Saints crowd. Siena forced Manhattan into some stops but tempers flared at 6:51 when a technical was assessed to Siena Junior O.D. Anosike and and Manhattan Sophomore Togrim Sommerfeldt. Sommerfeldt shoved Anosike out of the paint after the whistle blew, the referees ran in to take control of the situation while Manhattan Head Coach Steve Masiello ran out to get his players out of jostling with the Saints. Anosike tied the game up at 29 with a free throw on the previous foul by Sommerfeldt prior to the technical call.

Then the two teams went back and forth on for the remaining minutes. Senior Brandon Walters grabbed a rebound off a Rob Poole miss to give the Saints 34-32 lead with 4:50 left. Fellow senior Owen Wignot made a mid-range jumper to give the Saints a 36-32 lead with 3:59 to go. Manhattan’s Roberto Colonette made a shot plus a free throw on a foul to give the Jaspers a 37-36 lead. Walters took a pass from Poole and scored a traditional three point play to give the Saints a 39-37 lead with 1:29 left. Colonette made two free throws on the other end to tie it with 1:16 left. Owen Wignot two point fade away jumper gave Saints 41-39 lead with 33 seconds left.

Rob Poole has 12 points to lead the Saints. The Saints are 7-1 when Poole scores double-digits in a game, their only loss was to Hofstra in the BracketBuster game. Beamon leads the Jaspers with 15 points, all on five made three pointers.

Siena has made 55% of their two pointers, going 11 for 20 from two point range and adding four three pointers. Siena is holding Manhattan to 23.5% from inside the arc, the Jaspers just making 4 of 17 from the inside – but their 8 three pointers on 14 shots have kept them in the game.

Siena and Manhattan split the season series, with the Saints winning a 70-64 game over the Jaspers at home.

However, both teams might be without key players on Saturday night. Michael Alvarado has not played since injuring himself against Siena on February 14th. Alvarado appeared to take an elbow to the face and missed the Jaspers final three games of the regular season. Meanwhile Siena freshman Evan Hymes status is up in the air after bruising his knee in Siena’s finale against Canisius on Sunday.

Siena has played a rotation of about six players over the last two months and might have to let senior Kyle Downey run the point on Saturday night against the Jaspers press. Hymes led the Saints with 21 points and turned the ball over just 3 times in their last meeting. The Saints had trouble turning the ball over in their first meeting at Manhattan, turning the ball over 20 times in a 72-53 loss.

The Saints will need O.D. Anosike to get going, in their last meeting he went just 3 for 12 from the field but made 8 of 9 free throws to finish with 16 points. Manhattan’s George Beamon went for 24 points in the Jaspers win over Siena and scored a team-high 16 in their loss in Albany on February 14th. Beamon has shot 16 for 33 (48.4%) from the field against the Saints in their two meetings. Siena has held teams to 40.9%  from two-point field goals, which ranks as tops in the MAAC.

Siena has won each of the last six meetings against the Jaspers in MAAC Tournament play; however, this will be the first time since 1994 that Manhattan will be the higher seed against Siena. The Saints beat the Jaspers in the first round of the MAAC Tournament last year with a 68-66 overtime victory.

SienaSaintsBlog: What are the keys on offense against Manhattan?

Mitch Buonaguro/Siena Head Coach: “We tried to pass the ball a little more.  We did too much dribbling at manhattan, they create turnovers in traps. 20 to 22 turnovers will not win this game on Saturday, we need to be around 13, it’s all about our turnovers. When we make shots, we’re a lot better. Hymes made 5 threes [in their last meeting - Siena's 70-64 win over Manhattan].”

SienaSaintsBlog: How will you defend Jaspers Junior George Beamon?

Mitch Buonaguro/Siena Head Coach: ”You have to keep him out of the lane, he needs to not get to the foul line. If he gets to the line 10 times he’ll end up with 25 points, we cant have that.”

SienaSaintsBlog: How can Kyle Downey help break the Jaspers press?

Mitch Buonaguro/Siena Head Coach: “Kyle has developed into a good off guard ball handler.  He has run the point in 4 games this year, so if we’re without Hymes, he will be the guy.”

The Saints took a game high eleven point lead with about two minutes to go on their 18th consecutive successful free throw attempt. Siena was 25 of 30, by far their best performance of the year from the free throw stripe.

The Siena Saints (7-9) defeated the third place Manhattan Jaspers (11-5) by a final of 70-64 on Tuesday night at the Times Union Center. Evan Hymes led the Saints with 21 points on 5 of 8 from beyond the arc while Downey and Anosike added 18 and 14 respectively.

Manhattan’s PG Michael Alvarado left the game early in the first half after taking an elbow to the eye. Early reports are that the bone could be broken and he may have a concussion.

The Saints wanted it tonight. This puts Siena a half game up on Niagara for 6th place in the MAAC.

[Evan Hymes] played like he was the best PG in the league tonight.
- Steve Masiello

* – Mass Mutal Center
** – MSG

The two teams split their regular season match-ups.  Siena won 64-57 in Albany on February 4th, and Manhattan won on their home court 84-81 on February 13th.  The Saints were unable to contain sophomore guard George Beamon in either game – Beamon scored 17 points in Albany and broke out for a career high 35 point night in Riverdale.  If the Saints are going to win Friday night, they must find a way to not only limit Beamon’s touches, but also shut him down.

The Saints have found themselves relatively healthy the last few weeks as they are now dressing all 12 scholarship players for game action.  Rahkeem Brookins missed the last game with a sprained wrist that he suffered in last Friday night’s Fairfield game, but he is expected to play on Friday night.  Clarence Jackson has looked more and more healthy as well, evidenced by his 19 point effort on Senior Night on Sunday against Marist.

The bottom line is that for the Saints to go on a run in the MAAC tournament newly elected MAAC Player of the Year Ryan Rossiter and his four year compatriot Clarence Jackson are going to need to get to their season averages every game.  The team will need to play 40 minutes of defense, as well as displaying more motion in their half court sets like they did the last time out against Marist.

Look for Coach Buonaguro to try and run Brookins with sophomore Jon Breeden more together in the backcourt, as well as getting improving freshman wing-man Trenity Burdine more minutes as well at the three.

All four games will be difficult for the Saints to win, but they should get by Manhattan on Friday night.  Their second round game could potentially find them meeting the hottest team in the league, Iona.

Siena is the only team in the league to win four games in the season ending tournament to wrap up the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, so the precedent has been set.  The fans will find out this weekend if this team has anything left in the tank to write a new chapter in the history of the Siena Saints basketball program.

Manhattan coach Barry Rhorssen could be coaching his last game when the Saints and Jaspers play on Friday night. The New York Daily News is reporting that Rhorssen will be let go after Manhattan exits the MAAC Basketball Championships. Sources told the Daily News that Manhattan will likely make a move at the end of the season and have been wrestling with the idea of letting him go despite the fact Rhorssen has one year left on his contract.

Rhorssen, in his fifth season as Jaspers coach, is 58-93 overall and has a 37-53 record in the MAAC.

Geez, could Doug Sherman sound more bored?