* – 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?

2006-2007 Season

Siena beats UAlbany in double overtime 76-75. Ubiles scores 20 points after hitting 4 from beyond the 3-point arc.

In a normal February game against Manhattan, Ronald Moore has his first double digit asst game with 10 dimes. This would be the first of many. Recap »

After losing two very close games to Marist earlier in the year, the Saints beat the #1 ranked Red Foxes in a semifinal classic and head to the title game for the first time since 2004. Recap »

Alex Franklin ends his freshman year with a bang by scoring 27 points on 10 out of 12 shooting in Siena’s 83-79 MAAC championship loss to Niagara. Recap »

2007-2008 Season

Siena defeats 20th ranked Stanford 79-67 at the Times Union Center. Franklin scores 14 points and Ubiles adds 11. Students and fans stormed the court after the win. Recap »

Josh Duell came up big on the road in Lawrenceville, NJ, hitting a three with 1.3 seconds remaining and capping an 11-2 run in the final 1:58 against the fiesty Broncs. Recap »

In the BracketBuster game the Saints went to Boise State to play the 20-win Broncos and crushed them 93-70. Franklin had a monster game with 30 points and 18 rebounds. Ubiles had 22 points and Moore had 9 assists. Recap »

Siena trounces Rider in the MAAC championship game 74-53. In a game known primarily for Tay Fisher’s six 3’s off the bench, Ubiles added 15 points and Franklin with 10 points. Recap »

For the program’s first NCCA tournament win since 1989, Siena upsets #4 seeded Vanderbilt 83-62. Ubiles scores 11, Franklin 10, and Moore has 6 assists for Siena. Recap »

2008-2009 Season

Siena plays their toughest schedule in school history. #12 Tennessee, Oklahoma State, #3 Pitt, and a Kansas team one year removed from a national title.

After going through the season not being able to beat any significant non conference teams, Siena defeats Northern Iowa 81-75 in their BracketBuster match up. In a balanced scoring game Ubiles scores 10 points, Franklin 9 points, and Moore 8 points. Even a kid made a $25,000 shot. Recap »

Siena gets revenge on Niagara from two years before by beating them in the MAAC championship game 77-70. Franklin puts up 16 points, Ubiles contributes 9 points, while Moore has 7 assists. Recap »

After getting bumped up to a #9 seed, the Saints beat Ohio State 74-72 in double overtime. Ubiles has 20 points and Franklin has a double-double performance with 10 points 13 rebounds. Moore has 11 points with his 7 assists, along with two of the most well-known shots in Siena history that extends the game into the 2nd OT where he then won it. The greatest game in Siena history Recap »

Siena took Rick Pitino and the #1 seeded Louisville to the brink, but lose a close game 79-72. All three players played well with Ubiles scoring 24 points, Franklin 19 points, and Moore with 10 assists. Recap »

2009-2010 Season

After opening up the season with a win against Tennessee State, Siena gets another victory over a solid Northeastern team 59-53. Ubiles scores nearly half the team’s points with 26. Franklin finishes with 9 points and Moore adds 5 assists in this low scoring game. Recap »

The Big Three end their career vs UAlbany with a nearly 30 point victory, 83-54. Ubiles doesn’t play much due to injuries but Franklin has 14 points while Moore puts up a double-double with 13 points 11 assists. Recap »

The seniors’ last victory together made them MAAC champions in a 72-65 defeat of Fairfield. Ubiles leads all scorers with 27 points. Franklin adds a double-double of 22 points and 12 boards. Moore contributes 9 points and 6 assists. Recap »

An end of an era came in the team’s opening round 72-64 loss to Purdue. Franklin scores 10 points and grabs 14 rebounds. Ubiles leads the team with 18 points, and Moore scores 14 points. Recap »

Franklin is by far the most fouled person on the team with 225 attempts so far this season, which is already a career high for the senior. His 66.2% from the line is the best free throw numbers he’s put up since his freshman year. However, it’s his stellar performance during the MAAC tournament (when it really matters) that demonstrates how much emphasis Franklin is placing on connecting from the line.

Against Manhattan he went a solid 9-14 (64.2%), but went an amazing 12-13 (92.3%) in the semifinal game against Rider. These percentages are massively higher than his shooting from last year’s tournament when the largest number of free throws he made in a game was 2 against Niagara.

With Siena struggling out of the gate in both of their recent games, it has been Franklin and his free throws that have kept the team within striking distance. His 7 first half points from line against Manhattan helped contain the Jaspers early momentum.

With the number of times Franklin normally goes to the foul line, combined with his much improved shooting makes Franklin a more dangerous threat. His aggressive offensive style not only gets opponents into foul trouble, but now consistently results in points. If he is able to continue this trend, it will be very difficult for anyone to beat the Saints tomorrow in the championship game.

Siena Press Conference 3/6: Fran McCaffery refuses to answer a reporter’s question. Rather than take the high road, the reporter lashed out in his column on the game.

When the buzzer sounded Manhattan coach Barry Rhorrsen and his Jaspers stood ready, only problem was Fran McCaffery’s Saints weren’t coming to shake their hands.

The Siena coach ordered his players back into the locker room after Siena’s 78-61 win over the Jaspers Saturday night. McCaffery was so insistent that when he found Kyle Downey still sitting at the end of the bench he told him leave the sideline immediately.

In the post game press conference Coach McCaffery claimed it was to protect against any form of altercation between the two team’s players, but refused to go into greater detail.

“The reason why i sent my starters to the locker room was to avoid any possible incident that would affect their safety,” McCaffery said. “That’s my number one concern, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

The potential incident McCaffery was hoping to avoid stemmed from a growing tension amongst the players. Throughout the game Manhattan’s Rico Pickett was making gestures toward the Siena bench and was jabbing with the starters during breaks in the action. Ryan Rossiter was clearly frustrated by constantly getting tangled up with the Jaspers’ big men.

However, what drew the most attention was a hard foul against O.D. Anosike in the second half where after he fell to the ground, guard Darryl Crawford stepped back on his knee. The starters had to be escorted to their benches and Anosike didn’t return to action. While McCaffery said later he didn’t think the injury was too severe, it did not stop the 8,914 fans at the Siena-heavy Times Union Center from booing Crawford every time he touched the ball.

When asked if the physical play and trash talk had an effect on the team, Owen Wignot said that the best response is success on the court.

“When you really start rolling you can kind of just put it to the side,” Wignot said.

Alex Franklin said that he wasn’t surprised at his coach’s decision.

“Coach is just looking out for our safety,” Franklin said.

Dirty play has been a concern for McCaffery all season and it is an issue he has addressed on more than one occasion this year. Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time McCaffery has sent his players into the locker room early. McCaffery did the same thing last year during Siena’s 83-71 win over non-conference team Holy Cross when the game grew chippy.

The Saints went on a 15-1 run in the middle of the second half to take what was a close game and turn it into a solid win. Ryan Rossiter struggled but made all six of his free throws to finish with his third straight double-double.

The Saints appeared to start in a shooting drought that rivaled their second half in Hinkle Fieldhouse. Siena made just one of their first 13 shots, missing their first four and turning the ball over five times in that span.

Manhattan’s strategy of backing off of Siena’s big men and bottling up the inside appeared to stifle the Saints early. The Jaspers then used zones to push the game to behind the arc. The Jaspers also let Moore go unguarded to help inside and finished the half up four.

Player of the Year Alex Franklin missed the first two shots for the Saints but scored Siena’s first four points while every other Saint starter struggled to score. Darryl Crawford started out strong, scoring 10 points early before drawing two fouls.

Clarence Jackson’s three pointer with 15:26 left gave Siena their first lead at 46-45. Alex Franklin’s spin move with 13:27 to go gave the Saints a 50-49 lead. Franklin led the Saints with 21 points.

Jackson struggled, making just 2-15 shots and going 2-11 from three point range.

Coach Fran McCaffery turned to his bench for scoring and got contributions early from O.D. Anosike, Kyle Downey and Owen Wignot. Wignot made Siena’s first two three pointers. Anosike left the game with an apparent injury with 16:39 to go after getting into an altercation on the court. Downey scored 8 points off the bench for the Saints who led Manhattan in bench points 22-16.

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.