Purdue dominated from the first minute of the game against St. Peter’s on Friday night. Congrats to those three seniors, Nick Leon, Ryan Bacon, and Wesley Jenkins for reaching the NCAA tournament. As Siena fans, we know what it’s like to come back from a 6 win season, and you should really be proud of what you accomplished.

Boy it really hurt all week not to have Siena in this tournament. I am serious. It’s like withdrawal, we really forget how lucky we were. What sucks even more is I still think it’s going to be a while if we ever even reach that level of success again. But we’ve got some good recruits coming in, so here’s to 2012!

The lead got as large as 19 on a Nick Leon three pointer with 14:34 to go. From there, the Peacocks hit a big drought; going without a point for 5 minutes and 19 seconds. That allowed Siena to take all the momentum and creep back into the game.

The Saints used their defense to transition into offense, getting into the lane and drawing fouls. Siena cut the lead to 5 when John Dunne got a technical foul, and continued to pour on points at the free throw line. St. Peter’s then got a three point play with 3:15 to go to put the lead at 7 and the Saints just could not catch up.

Siena did trail by 3 with 1:07 to go when Mitch Buonaguro intelligently had Owen Wignot foul Ryan Bacon, a 56% free throw shooter, but unfortunately, he hit both. Bacon had a monster game, closing the night with 25 points and 15 rebounds, along with 6 blocks, 4 steals and 2 assists. St. Peter’s senior guard Wesley Jenkins finished with 17 points.

Rossiter closed with yet another double-double; 21 points and 16 rebounds. Trenity Burdine and Stephen Priestly saw extended minutes today none of the key players in Wignot, Downey, and Jackson were on the floor for the Saints’ second half run. Clarence left the game when he aggravated his left ankle.

Siena has not won a game where their opponents have scored more than 70 points, they are 0-8. The Peacocks snapped an 8 game losing streak against the Saints.

The Peacocks boast a BCS win over Alabama earlier in the season, but they find themselves in the middle of the conference and tied with Siena in fifth place, two games back of Fairfield and Iona who are tied for first.

St. Peter’s is led by their star shooting guard Wesley Jenkins, who is leading the team in scoring with 14 points and averaging about 5 rebounds per game.  There is also plenty of other senior leadership on the team as well.   5’11″ point guard Nick Leon is averaging about 10 points a game, 6’7″ forward Ryan Bacon is an excellent presence inside scoring 8 points a game and grabbing 6 rebounds per game, and 6’6″ forward Jeron Belin is third on the team in scoring with 9 points a game.  The Peacocks will be at a little bit of a size disadvantage to the Saints, though, and for a team that averages only 34 rebounds they will need to find a way to keep up with the Saints on the glass or else the game could get away from them.

The Peacocks are only averaging about 56 points a game, but they are an excellent defensive team, only giving up about 60 points a game.  For a team like Siena, who has had some issues shooting the ball as of late, there will be a need for a concerted effort to get high percentage shots and shoot the ball effectively.

That issue may be resolved more easily now that the Saints have welcomed back Clarence Jackson from injury.  The senior guard helped the Saints to wins over Marist and Canisius the last two games out, scoring 19 and 15 points in each respective contest.  Rahkeem Brookins continues to excel running the point, averaging an assist to turnover ratio of 4:1 over his last six games.  And OD Anosike appears to making the sophomore leap as he has averaged almost 13 points and 10 rebounds over the last four games.

Things are getting better for the Saints, but Owen Wignot’s thumb injury on his shooting hand continues to bother him, and Davis Martens may still be recovering from a sprained ankle.  The Saints will still need to continue to nurse injuries and continue to get the best out of the players and rotations they put on the floor to try and get back in to the MAAC conference race.  Iona and Fairfield are probably not coming back to the pack, so the Saints will need every win that they can get, and a difficult road win at St. Peter’s on Friday night would do a lot to build confidence for the Saints.

Siena will play four of their next five games at home, beginning on Monday night January 24th against the Rider Broncs at the Times Union Center.

Without Edwin Ubiles due to a back issue and the reigning MAAC Player of the Week Alex Franklin struggling for most of the game, the Saints got a dominant effort from Ryan Rossiter and a crucial drive and lay-in by Franklin with 36.2 seconds left to propel the Saints to a 66-58 victory Thursday night.

Ryan Rossiter led the Saints with 21 points on 9-15 shooting but finished one rebound short of his seventh-straight double-double. Ronald Moore finished one assist short of a double-double with 10 points and 9 assists.

St. Peter’s harassed Rossiter in the second half, at a point two defenders camped over his back wtih just over 13 minutes left. Rossiter left the game for a minute but returned after a brief stay on the bench.

Siena turned up the defense in the second half, pressing and playing aggressive multiple defenses to stifle the Peacocks in the 2nd half. Siena was able to force 19 Peacock turnovers.

O.D. Anosike came off the bench to rattle in 4 points in a tough stretch with under 10 minutes left and Kyle Griffin’s first points of the night, Siena’s first three point field goal of the night, gave the Saints a six-point lead with 8:41 to go.

Clarence Jackson made two crucial free throws with 28 seconds left to seal the Siena victory. Jackson scored 15 points on 4-11 shooting and made 7 of 10 free throws on the night.

Alex Franklin, the reigning MAAC Player of the Week, registered 10 rebounds and scored 9 points while going just 4 for 11 from the field and making just one of five free throws.

St. Peter’s kept the game too close for comfort by making 5-10 three point field goals in the second half. Wesley Jenkins led the Peacocks with 13 points on 5-15 shooting but the Peacocks made just three of eight free throws.

The Siena Saints will put the longest winning streak in the nation on the line tonight in Jersey City against the streaking St. Peter’s Peacocks.

The Saints will likely see a different team than the one they beat at the Times Union Center on New Year’s Eve. Since then, the Peacocks have gone 6-1 in 2010 and are in a three way tie with Fairfield and Iona for second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Siena’s 11-point win over the Peacocks on New Year’s Eve came without leading scorer Wesley Jenkins. Jenkins came back the next game against Marist and has averaged 13.7 points per game since which included a 27 point performance in an Overtime win over Niagara and a 26 point performance in an 11-point win over Rider.

However this time the Saints may be without Edwin Ubiles who is questionable due to a lingering shoulder injury. Ubiles has sat in three games this season, two of them coming in the last three games. If Ubiles plays Thursday night, he is not expected to be at 100% recovered from the soreness in his shoulder.

Without Ubiles Siena will have to go to their offensive firepower inside led by reigning MAAC Player of the Week Alex Franklin. Franklin, who also shared the ECAC Player of the Week honors with George Mason’s Cam Long, made a season-low one field goal in their first meeting. However Franklin has been on his A-game as of late, averaging 22 points over the last four games. Meanwhile Ryan Rossiter has recorded a double-double in 11 of Siena’s last 12 games. They lead an attack that is first in the MAAC in 2-point Field Goal percentage offense and 63rd in the nation at 51.1%. Siena generates almost 60% of its offense, 59.3% which is 27th in the nation to be exact, from inside the arc so a huge key will be to keep Siena’s Franklin-Rossiter combination active.

The Peacocks five-game win streak has been largely led by defense. Coming into the week the Peacocks ranked 14th nationally in effective Field Goal percentage defense at 42.9%. They have been very tough from inside the three point line where they are 10th in the nation in 2-point Field Goal percentage defense at 40.6%, both rankings are tops in the MAAC. The Peacocks have also got their outside game on track, making a season-high nine three pointers in a 13-point win over Canisius Sunday.

St. Peter’s has the third longest winning streak in the MAAC entering Thursday night’s game winning five in a row. The Iona Gaels are on a six game win streak. The Peacocks are on a three-game home winning streak entering Thursday’s game.

Statistical rankings are as of the end of games on 1/25, courtesy of Kenpom.com.

Led by Edwin Ubiles’ game high 21 points on 6 of 16 shooting from the floor. Ubiles has scored double digit points in five straight games.

After shooting 6 for 28 (21.4%) from the field in the first half and barely leading 27-25, Siena recovered to shoot 11 for 25 (44%) and put away the Peacocks for a third straight double digit win.

Ryan Rossiter led the front court with his second straight double-double. Rossiter (14 points, 10 rebounds) has pulled down double digit rebounds in each of the last four games.

The Peacocks were without the services of Junior Wesley Jenkins because of a mild concussion. Darius Conley led the way for the Peacocks with a double double (14 points, 13 rebounds).

Siena made over 20 free throws for the second straight game, sinking 26 of 35 (74.3%).

Siena will look to continue the momentum from their 17-point win over St. Joseph’s Tuesday night. Siena out rebounded St. Joseph’s 40-29 and totaled 18 offensive rebounds Tuesday night. Ryan Rossiter set a new career high in offensive rebounds (11), Alex Franklin recorded his second straight double-double and Ronald Moore dished out 12 assists for the second straight game.

The Peacocks are led by a pair of talented juniors Wesley Jenkins (14.0 ppg) and Nick Leon (12.1 ppg). Jenkins has scored double digit points in every game but one this year. Ryan Bacon, a 6’7″ forward, is also pulling down nearly 8 rpg. This season St. Peter’s has had some trouble scoring and shoots 26.2% from behind the arc, good for 332nd in the nation. Their offense ranks 303rd in Kenpom’s efficiency ratings, ranking them 9th among MAAC teams, only above winless Marist.

Siena is currently tied with Missouri with 26 consecutive home wins, trailing Dayton (27), Pittsburgh (29) and Kansas (49). A win would give the Saints their first three game win streak of the season.

Marist Keeps Struggling & Ticket-Gate?

Marist had more turnovers (9) than field goals (7) in the first half in a loss at Holy Cross Monday. Marist had a lead at Fairfield Thursday night but the Stags went on a 13-1 run to take the lead with under 4 minutes to go. Head Coach Chuck Martin has said he sees some progress, Marist has shot better in each of its last 3 games after being blown out by Hartford by 37.

Siena fans have been complaining that Marist is intentionally not selling tickets online to hold off Siena fans from coming to Poughkeepsie for their game later this year. We are currently investigating this story but so far have no heard any incidents that may have caused this stonewalling of online ticket sales.

Marist and Siena fans will both suffer for the inability to secure tickets to a game that is very popular, especially those who planned to come from out of town to go see this game in late January. I would say this decision would be more infuriating to out-of-town alumni who like to go see rivalry games, not just Siena fans.

Meanwhile, Marist is still seeking their first win despite not having played a home game yet this season.

Niagara, Rider & Fairfield: Looking Like Contenders

Niagara blew out Manhattan by 24 but the Purple Eagles have had trouble managing expectations this year. Losing Tyrone Lewis in the opening game of the year for a few games did not help either. Niagara lost a winnable game at Auburn, lost by 2 to Austin Peay on a neutral floor and last week could not stop Akron in a 12 point road loss.

Rider has returned to form, picking up an impressive 8 point non-conference win over St. Joseph’s. Preseason Conference Player of the Year Ryan Thompson has not truly gotten going yet. So far he has scored more points from the free throw line (77.8% FT shooter) than from behind the three point line (39.3% 3pt shooter). Thompson has also turned the ball over more this year than in years past.

Other than a Maryland loss and a Charles Jenkins’ led 38 points at Hofstra, Fairfield has done very well in the non-conference slate this year while battling injuries. Fairfield managed a 9 point win over Marist to open the 2009-10 MAAC regular season schedule.

Iona & St. Peter’s: Who will rise to contend?

Iona won one game in Orlando and gets a tough test in Siena at home on Monday night. They were unable to hold off St. Peter’s in a 56-54 loss at home to open their conference slate. Jonathan Huffman led the way for Iona with 14 points. Iona put up a fight in Orlando in two tough losses to Baylor and Florida State and has another tough test at Providence later this month.

While for St. Peter’s Wesley Jenkins has been a force. Jenkins took the team on his back on this week in two close wins. On Monday, Jenkins sank two free throws, for his team-high 16 points, with 2.2 seconds left then stole the inbounds pass to ensure the Peacocks a 58-56 win over Lafayette. On Friday night Jenkins, scoring 12 of his 16 points in the second half, gave the Peacocks their first conference win.

Jenkins made a season-high 4 three pointers and has scored double digit points in every game this season. Darius Conley delivered a career high 11 points in their win over Iona.

MAAC Monday: Mon-defeated

Fairfield 72, American 56. Fairfield turned a two-point halftime deficit into a big win by shooting a 72.2% effective FG% in the second half. Yorel Hawkins led the Stags with 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting. Fairfield was out rebounded by American by 10 but forced the Eagles into 20 turnovers.

Manhattan 73, Florida Atlantic 66. The Jaspers never surrendered the lead in their second win of the season. Antoine Pearson led the way with 18 points, Darryl Crawford and Patrick Bouli each had 12 points.

The MAAC is 3-0 on Mondays this year.

Tuesday: British Strike for Rider & Loyola

Rider 88, Florida A&M 73. London-native Justin Robinson scored 23 to lead Rider in their first game outside the United States, an 88-73 victory over Florida A&M. Rider opened up with an 18-4 run to start the second half to turn a 2 point deficit into a 12 point lead. The Broncs were able to force 19 turnovers on a winless team.

Loyola (Maryland) 58, Dartmouth 41. Loyola had a scary situation going into the second half with Dartmouth hanging close. They saved their best for late: going on a 14-1 run and not allowing a point in the final 5:41 in Loyola’s second road victory of the year. Northampton (England) native Shane Walker posted his first career double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds on 5 of 12 shooting. Brett Harvey was Loyola’s only other double digit scorer with 10 points on 4 of 11 shooting. Harvey made Loyola’s only three pointer of the night.

Canisius 73, Buffalo 71. Frank Turner nailed a jumper with one second to go to finish a 7-0 run and give the Golden Griffins their 2nd win in a row. Canisius was able to close a halftime deficit of 10 by shooting a 56.6% effective FG%. Julius Coles led the Griffs with 26 points on 9 of 16 shooting, going 4 of 7 from behind the arc. Turner had a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Greg Logins (14 points, 5 of 12 shooting) made a three with 14:33 to go off an assist from Turner to give the Griffs their first lead since 3-0.

Long Island 77, St. Peter’s 71. Two starters fouled out and St. Peter’s could not shoot well enough to beat Long Island in a 6 point loss. The last lead the Peacocks held was with 13:54 to go off a Wesley Jenkins (11 points) three pointer. Jeron Belin led the Peacocks with 22 points. Darius Conley and Ryan Bacon both fouled out for St. Peter’s, who only made 11 of 19 free throws on their end. Their 28 fouls are the most for the Peacocks in a game this year.

Wednesday: Tyrone Lewis Returns

Niagara 74, Mount St. Mary’s 64. Tyrone Lewis returns after a 4 game absence, scoring 18 with 5 three pointers, in a 10 point win for the Purple Eagles. Niagara went on a 15-6 run to take a tie score to a 9 point lead to end the first half. Both teams combined to go 14 for 48 (29.1%) from three point range: each team shot 24 threes. Niagara’s road win ended Mount St. Mary’s 11 home court win streak.

Fairfield 81, Howard 60. Fairfield got off to a hot start, shooting an effective FG% of 63.3% in the first half, and put away Howard quickly in an 81-60 rout. Yorel Hawkins led the way for the Stags with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting. Sophomore Mansfield native Ryan Olander scored 14 points off the bench and had a team-high 4 of Fairfield’s 6 blocks.

Manhattan 69, American 62. Manhattan used a 12-2 run in the second half to break free from a tie score. Darryl Crawford helped too with 26 points and nailing seven of 11 free throws to seal the deal for the Jaspers. This was the Jaspers first road win on the season.

Sam Houston St 80, Rider 68. Rider could not stop Southland Conference favorite Sam Houston State who went on a 9-0 run within 2 minutes in the 2nd half to get ahead of Rider. Ryan Thompson led the Broncs with 23 points which moved him to 10th on the all-time scoring list. Rider went only 7 of 24 from behind the arc to finish their two days in Mexico.

Rider opened up their home schedule with an 11-0 run to start and would not surrender the lead in a 15 point win over Lehigh. Rider shot 48.4% for the game which included an absurd 16 of 29 from three point range (55.2%). Novar Gadson led the Broncs with 20 points, Ryan Thompson (7/13, 5/9 from three point range) added 19. Andy Katz posted on Monday that Rider hopes the Mississippi State win comes in handy for March:

The Broncs aren’t done, either. If they don’t slip where they’re not supposed to (like, say, against Lehigh on Monday night) and possibly steal a road game Thursday at Virginia, even if they lose Saturday at Kentucky, they already will have done a lot to keep them in the at-large discussion come March. All this might sound a bit premature in November, but it’s not that far fetched, especially if the MAAC continues to be as strong as it is showing so far.

Rider has got votes into the AP poll for the first time in school history. This is Rider’s second 2-0 start since 1974-75.

Tuesday

St. Peter’s opened the morning for ESPN’s marathon at 6am and put a hurting on Monmouth. St. Peter’s had a lead as large as 26 in their 58-34 win. Wesley Jenkins led the Peacocks with 10 points and  8 rebounds. This was a great win for the Peacocks after losing a heart breaker at Seton Hall. They are my sleeper team this year and could be a tough team in the conference schedule. I don’t care what you say about it, the 24 hours of basketball was a well executed idea that led to a lot of excitement on campuses you might not normally see.

Niagara did not make things easy in a 76-69 victory over Drexel. Niagara held a lead as large as 15 but Drexel used a six minute run to cut that to two possessions. In a game that was tight, without Tyrone Lewis, the Purple Eagles were able to survive. Reports were good that Lewis would be back for the Drexel game on Saturday. Rob Garrison led the Purple Eagles with 20 points, 10 of which came from the free throw line. Niagara did not shoot well (40.5% effective FG%) but was helped by going 25 for 31 (80.6%) from the free throw line.

However, the main story is that Lewis was ruled out of the game and watched with street clothes in a protective boot. Things did not appear to be any clearer after the game as the Niagara Gazette reported:

“I don’t know exactly what the injury is,” [Joe] Mihalich said. “It’s a long word.”

When asked about when he’d return from reporters, Lewis said he’d be ready for the next game.

Iona went down to Hampton and won 68-63 propelled by a great first half. Iona shot 48.3 eFG% in the first half with 22 points coming from off the bench. Iona took a lead as large as 14 with 14:38 to play and were barely holding on as Hampton used a 13-1 run to cut the lead to 1 with 5:33 to go.  Junior center Alejo Rodriguez is making his run as being the Gaels go to guy, scoring 17 points in 23 minutes, going 7 for 8 from the field and adding three free throws. Add that  with a good win over Boston University and the new-look Gaels are looking pretty good.

Loyola of Chicago took a lead close to the middle of the first half and never gave it up in a 20 point win over Canisius. Elton Frazier was the only starter for the Golden Griffins to not have 4 or more turnovers. Canisius’ 22 turnovers will be a problem but being down forced them to jack up three’s which they only shot 6 of 21 from behind the arc (28.6%). Julius Coles led the Griffs with 18 points, Frank Turner scored 17 and Greg Logins scored 11 in the loss. The defense was another problem as Loyola shot a 64.5% effective FG% including an 11 of 18 mark from three point land. Canisius has not won a season opener since 2003.

The good news is Fairfield had a 12-7 lead with 12:10 to go in the first half. The bad news? Maryland would open the game up after that and take a lead as large as 29 in their 71-42 win over the Stags. Freshman Derek Needham was the Stags only double digit scorer with 15. Needham led the Stags on Sunday in a win over Fordham with 19 points.  Fairfield was only down 8 at halftime but Maryland turned up the heat to give the Stags their first loss:

“Inexperience showed all over the place,” Fairfield coach Ed Cooley said. “I thought we had good spurts but didn’t have the experience to sustain it.”

There are some rumors that Greg Nero might not return this season due to his sinus surgery. Nero, Yorel Hawkins and Warren Edney have not appeared yet for the Stags. This will give the younger players a chance to play early and see if the Stags can build some much needed depth for the MAAC regular season.

Wednesday

Wednesday did not appear to be a great day for the MAAC. Princeton went on a 16-2 run to cut a 7 point Manhattan lead and beat the Jaspers 61-54. Princeton was able to outscore Manhattan by 10 in the second half despite shooting a 33.3% effective FG% and only making 6 shots from the field. Princeton made up their scoring at the line, making 16 of 20 (80%) from the line.

One noteworthy achievement in this game, Darryl Crawford scored his 1,000th point with 9:11 to go in the game. Crawford and Rico Pickett led the Jaspers with 14 points each. Crawford notched a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Loyola grabbed a great local road win in a 69-66 victory over UMBC. Jamal Barney scored 14 of his team-leading 21 in the second half which included the game deciding layup with 11.7 seconds left. Former Siena Saint Chris De La Rosa scored 6 and dished out 8 assists for UMBC.

It took Marist about 25 minutes to score 38 points against Rutgers on Saturday in their seven point loss to the Scarlet Knights, but it took them a lot longer to get to that number in West Hartford on Wednesday in an embarrassing 75-38 loss. This appears to be the least amount of points scored in a loss Marist Men’s Basketball Division I history. (*In quickly scanning the Marist Media Guide, the least amount of points in a loss in Marist history appears to be 41 in a 43-41 loss in February of 1984) Marist 2nd year Head Coach Chuck Martin did not sugarcoat this one either:

“Arguably the worst game I’ve ever been affiliated with in my 12 years” [Martin] told the [Marist] broadcast team after the game. “The score is really hard to swallow,” said Martin, adding the Red Foxes’ “selfish play” was “something as a staff, we’re not going to tolerate.”

Marist shot a 30.5% effective FG% and went 7 of 27 from three point range. Marist had one double digit scorer in Candon Rusin and freshman have led the Red Foxes in scoring in both of their games. Friend of mine (and so, the site) Greg Hrinya posted his quick take on his site. The good news? They get a long time to practice before their next game at New Hampshire.