Dec. 9, 2005

Final Stats

Kojo Mensah followed up the program's first triple double in 15 years with one of the top individual efforts in recent Siena history. Mensah scored 18 of his 29 points in the second half, grabbed seven rebounds and did not commit a turnover as Siena rallied from 11 points down with just over five minutes remaining to win at Niagara 76-75.

Mensah was also 11-for-14 from the free throw line, but it was a miss from the charity stripe with the game tied at 74-74 and 52 seconds on the clock that turned out to be the turning point in the game. Junior David Ryan grabbed the offensive rebound and cleared the ball to Mensah who killed 23 seconds before driving past his defender for what proved to be the game winning score.

Stanley Hodge was fouled with four seconds left and sent to the line with a chance to tie the game for Niagara (2-4/0-1), but missed the front end of his two attempts. After he made the second, Siena (4-2/1-0) called a timeout and ran out the clock with an inbounds pass to Kenny Hasbrouck.

"We never panicked or lost faith in what we were trying to do," head coach Fran McCaffery said following the win. "Kojo's performance was as good as any you will see."

More impressive than the numbers was the effortless way in which Mensah got to the basket in the second half. Time and again he blew past his defender at the top of the key and either got to the line or scored on a layup.

Antoine Jordan scored 16 points for Siena, Hasbrouck had 15 and Tay Fisher scored 11 as Siena had four players in double figures for the fifth time in six games this season.

Niagara was led by Charron Fisher who scored 19 points. James Mathis scored 17 before fouling out with less than a minute remaining. Cliff Brown came off the bench to score 12.

Siena had its biggest lead, 37-27 in the first half before Niagara stormed back to score the final 13 points before intermission. The Purple Eagles used a 9-0 run midway through the second half to take their biggest lead of the game, 62-49, on a Fisher 3-pointer.

Niagara seemed in control of the game with a 72-61 and just 5:06 remaining, but the Saints scored 14 of the game's final 17 points (all on layups and free throws) to pull out their fourth straight win.

"We aren't surprised with what we have done so far," Mensah said. "We know, because of where we were picked in the preseason, that we will be the underdog every game, but we just come out and play hard. We have confidence in everyone in the lockerroom and we believe we will win each time out."

Mensah has made a lot of believers so far.