Dec. 5, 2011

Final Stats | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2

Contrary to printed reports, the Capital Region basketball landscape has not been turned upside down. Siena restored order to the rivalry it has owned Monday night at Times Union Center, ripping the Albany Cup from its crosstown neighbor with a thrilling 19-point comeback, and bludgeoning them with it throughout a dominant second half. When the dust settled, Siena earned a 64-60 win, its ninth in 11 Division I meeting between the schools.

"We needed this pretty badly," head coach Mitch Buonaguro conceded. "The kids had fought back in every game without a lot of success. This should put us over the edge. I've said it all year, I love coaching this team."

OD Anosike, pictured upside down on the cover of the Albany Times Union's annual basketball preview last month below UAlbany's right-side-up Logan Aronhalt, tortured the Danes with a monster double-double: 21 points and 18 back-breaking rebounds. His front court mate Brandon Walters provided plenty of muscle himself, 11 rebounds and 10 points, and Siena controlled a commanding 29-17 rebounding advantage in the second half.

Freshman phenom Evan Hymes scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half, keeping Siena within striking range after the Danes nearly put the game out of reach.

UAlbany led 31-12 after an 11-0 run midway through the first half keyed by six straight points from point guard Mike Black. Just when it appeared the Saints were on their way to a humiliating loss, they scored the next 11 points to cut the lead to eight. Hymes banked in a long 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the half to get it back to that margin, 37-29, and bring the Siena-partisan crowd of 8,252 to its feet as the two teams headed to their lockerrooms.

Siena carried the momentum into the second half, scoring nine of the first 11 points to trim the Danes' advantage to 40-39 at the first media timeout (14:01). They took their first lead of the half on a Kyle Downey tip-in with 11:03 left and never trailed again.

The lead reached seven twice, the last time on a strong post move by Anosike that made it 57-50 with 6:12 to play. UAlbany cut it back to three twice in the final minutes, the second time on a Blake Metcalf layup with 1:28 left, but Black a missed a contested three that would have tied the game with 29 seconds to play, and Hymes sealed it with two free throws.

Black scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in the first half to lead the Danes. Jayson Guerrier and Logan Aronhalt added 13 points, and Gerardo Suero, a focus coming in, had a quiet 12 on 5-14 shooting.

It marked the third straight game Siena dug itself a big hole, and rallied to get back in the game. This time the result was different. In other ways, the result was the same.