Category: Siena

Buonaguro’s Future at Siena Unclear

I asked Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro in late January, what he would go back and tell himself now when he was first hired as head coach. He said he would tell himself to “have thick skin.” Continue reading “Buonaguro’s Future at Siena Unclear” →

Niagara Survives Siena 74-62 in MAAC Quarterfinals

SPRINGFIELD – The Niagara Purple Eagles, the top seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, prevailed over Siena 74-62 in a game whose intensity was only matched by its loosely called physicality.

Sophomore Antoine Mason led the Purple Eagles with a game-high 21 points, his teammate Juan’ya Green iced the game with a three from the wing to give the Purple Eagles a 70-61 lead. Green scored 15 points on the day.

Siena’s Evan Hymes and Rob Poole led the way with 14 points each. Senior O.D. Ansoike scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his final career double-double as a Saint.

Niagara challenged Siena’s Anosike early on and the senior couldn’t answer. Senior Devon White defended him in the early part of the game, getting physical with the Siena captain on the low block, but drew two fouls in a manner of a nine second sequence and was forced to sit the rest of the first half on the bench.

“We were just trying to throw the kitchen sink at him,” Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. “I thought that if we had an unsung hero today it would have been Joe Thomas. He came in and had couple buckets and banged it around a little bit. [Anosike is] a load, he’s a tough guy to guard.”

The Purple Eagles continued to hurt Anosike, who didn’t get his first basket of the game until a putback off an Evan Hymes miss with 9:28 left in the first half. Niagara responded by taking their largest lead of the game as Juan’ya Green drove the lane and dished it to Joe Thomas for an easy layup.

Sophomore Ameen Tanskley drove to the basket with 6:25 left, drawing a foul on Imoh Silas. The late whistle did not go over well with the Siena crowd, neither did sophmore Rahkeem Brookins like it and his words to the officials drew a technical foul.

Green made one of two tehcnical free throws, Ameen Tanksley made both of his off Silas’ foul. Following a Siena turnover on the other end, Niagara took their largest lead on a T.J. Cline layup over Silas and Anosike underneath the basket to make it 28-19. However, Siena responded with a 7-0 run capped by a Hymes three pointer to cut the lead to two. Hymes’ next three pointer with four seconds left cut the lead to one, 32-31 at halftime.

Mason said that they just needed to get out and play, lose the jitters of playing in their first game, in the locker room at halftime.

“I told everybody especially like T.J. [Cline] just relax and it’s going to come to you,” Mason said. “We just have to execute on defense is what started it.”

Niagara struggled from outside in the first half, making just two of 13 three pointers but heated up offensively the second half. The Purple Eagles went on a 10-0 run to start the half, starting with a Marvin Jordan three pointer next to the Niagara bench and ending with an Antoine Mason traditional three point play in transition off an Anosike turnover. Siena cut into the lead with a Rob Poole three pointer but Tanksley drove the baseline and made a nifty behind the back pass to Thomas who threw down a two handed dunk to keep the lead at ten, 44-34.

Siena responded with an 8-0 run featuring two baskets from Anosike in the post, a transition layup by Trenity Burdine and two Hymes free throws to cut the lead to four. However, T.J. Cline responded with a deep three to extend the lead back to five.

Cline led the bench with nine points for a team that got 27 of their 74 points from the bench.

“T.J. [Cline] was the rookie of the year,” Mihalich said after the game. “He put his team in first place. He made plays, he had the best stats and he made his team win. I don’t know how you judge it, but he was the rookie of the year.”

The game appeared to reach a breaking point on the physical play when Anosike posted up on Cline and drew a foul with 8:45 left. After the whistle, Anosike fell to the ground inadvertently and the referees reviewed and decided against any technical fouls.

“It was chippy but we all brought it together and said we can’t lose our cool,” Mason said. “We don’t need no flagrant fouls, nothing to lose the game. We just have to play our game.”

When play resumed Niagara took over the next three minutes, taking a 10-point lead on a Cline layup with 5:23 left, forcing a Siena timeout. The Saints came back with baskets from Brookins and Anosike but minutes later Burdine traveled in the lane to squander an opportunity to cut the lead to five with 3:38.

Burdine’s travel was Siena’s 19th turnover of the game. The Saints turned the ball over 20 times on the day.

“The turnovers have been a problem all year,” Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro said. “You can’t turn the ball over against a team like Niagara.”

Freshman Tajere McCall went down with just over 15 minutes left in the first half, falling on a drive to the basket. McCall winced in pain with a left leg injury and was helped off the court by a trainer and teammate.

Mihalich said that McCall was on crutches after the game and that he is not sure whether or not he will play in tomorrow’s semifinal game.

“If anybody can do it he will, but it don’t look good,” Mihalich said.

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.

Siena Advances with 70-64 Win Over Marist

SPRINGFIELD – Siena held on to a 70-64 victory in the first game of the MAAC Tournament at the MassMutual Center, scoring the game’s final six points in a minute capped by an emphatic dunk from senior O.D. Anosike.

Anosike led Siena with 24 points on 9-21 from the floor and a game-high 12 rebounds.

“This is definitely the epitome of a team effort,” Anosike said. “I’m a senior and I don’t want to go home.”

“They understood that if we didn’t play with a sense of urgency, we were going home. I’m real proud of these guys.”

Marist Sophomore Chavaughn Lewis also tied Anosike’s game-high 24 points but could not convert when he had the ball in his hands with the chance to go ahead and just over a minute left.

The Red Foxes ran two-man action through the sophomore at the top of the key but, Lewis lost the handle after getting double-teamed. On the ensuing loose ball Lewis managed to gave up his fourth foul with just over a minute left.

Head coach Chuck Martin was out beyond the coaching box to distress his unhappiness with the loose ball foul on Lewis.

“Something happened there,” Martin said. “Lewis was on the floor so, something happened. It looked like a foul but, the officials said he didn’t see it that way and that’s his call.”

“Chavaughn Lewis is dribbling and then in two seconds he’s on the floor. Something happened. He didn’t trip by himself.”

Lewis said in the locker room after the game he apologized to the seniors for missing out on the opportunity to tie.

“I like to take the blame on myself because I had two big time possessions where I could have put us in the lead or even gave us a good opportunity,” Lewis said. “I apologized to the seniors for that and wish them the best of luck.”

Trenity Burdine went to the line and missed the first and made the second  to give Siena a 65-64 lead.

Lewis had a chance to take the lead with a jumper from the free throw line; however, his shot went in and out.

“Definitely that was the play where I saw how open I was, all I was thinking about was knocking the shot down, but I let it go too hard and I missed.” Lewis said.

“It’s crazy because all week that’s what I’ve been in the gym just shooting and thinking about that moment when I had the opportunity I would knock that shot down. It’s disappointing to know that all that work, I actually missed the shot.”

On the other end Burdine drove to the basket on Lewis and dropped in a layup to give Siena a 67-64 lead.

On the next possession Lewis had a contested three point look but missed the shot with just under 30 seconds left. From there Siena managed to ice the game. Marist missed their final seven shots of the game

The game went back and forth until the final media timeout. Marist went on an 8-0 run early to take an 18-17 lead. Off an Evan Hymes tunrover, Isaiah Morton threw it in transition to Manny Thomas who missed the layup. However, Adam Kemp trailed the play and threw down a dunk, forcing a Siena timeout.

O.D. Anosike dominated early, scoring 12 points in the half. However, Anosike was held without a bakset for the final 8:27 of the half. The senior missed four shots from the field with shots blocked from Manny Thomas and Pieter Prinsloo. Siena led 32-31 at halftime thanks to Trenity Burdine free throw in the final minute.

In the second half, defense dominated early. Silas had a hook shot rejected by Kemp and on ensuing possession Silas blocked Morton’s drive early in the second half. Kemp blocked a Brookins drive to the basket a few feet from the stands from the paint.

T.J. Curry off a Burdine turnover drove to the basket for the layup to give Marist a 49-48 lead, their first since leading 20-17 in the first half. Chavaughn Lewis drove in transition got fouled by Martens and made the basket. His three point play capped a 7-2 Red Fox run to give Marist a 56-52 lead with 5:54 left.

However Rob Poole dialed up a response with a game-tying three pointer from the left baseline with 3:47 left.

Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro said that Poole’s two late three pointers came on the same set play.

“I was just going to try to let the game come to me,” Poole said who had 11 of his 19 points in the second half. “I just kept shooting, and luckily, they went in.”

After a Siena timeout, the Saints went man to man and Lewis drove off a pick from Kemp drawing a foul on Poole. Lewis made one of two free throws to give Marist a 61-60 lead.

Redshirt sophomore Rahkeem Brookins, who last played February 10th against Saint Peter’s, played 20 minutes off the bench scoring four points. Brookins free throws with 2:53 left gave Siena a 62-61 lead, a lead they would hold on for good. On the next possession Kemp drew a charge backing down in the post for his fourth foul with 2:33 left. Poole banked a jumper off the window to add to the cushion and give Siena a 64-61 lead.

The junior Bowie had 14 of his 16 points in the second half to help Marist come back in the game. Kemp finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks but fouled out of the game in the final minute.

Siena has won each of the six tournament meetings against the Red Foxes.

Martin said after the game that this close loss will be motivation to rally the team for next season.

“I think that it is but if there’s anything I could tell my guys it’s that you are who you are and in the critical moments you reveal yourself,” Martin said. “This is who you were all year long, you could fake it and hide it but in the moment of truth you are who you are and hopefully the same lesson for us to commit from day one.”

“Completely commit from day one, everyone, staff, players, managers because if you don’t do it that way in critical moments, you are who you are you reveal yourself and that happened tonight a little bit.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.

Mid-Major College Basketball Failures: The Worst of the Worst

This season, mid-major college basketball hasn’t had quite the impact on the college basketball landscape when compared to previous years. Sure, you have programs like Gonzaga, Creighton, and Wichita State, but overall there isn’t an impressive stable to mid-major schools that are primed to mess up people’s NCAA brackets come March. Continue reading “Mid-Major College Basketball Failures: The Worst of the Worst” →

10,000 Sims: Canisius Surprises MAAC

Coming into the season Canisius wasn’t well regarded by most human prognosticators or the computers. Everyone knew that Jim Baron was going to have a lot of talent, but how it would come together was a big unknown. Well now Canisius is the only 2-0 team after the December weekend of conference play and appears to be in the driver’s seat for conference play.

Continue reading “10,000 Sims: Canisius Surprises MAAC” →