Feb. 11, 2012
Final Stats
Kyle Downey wasn't about to let the Saints lose this one. The senior scored 15 points and stuffed the statsheet with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in his final visit to the gym his brother once starred at as Siena rolled to its first MAAC road win in over a year, trouncing Canisius 60-50 in Buffalo Saturday.
The Saints snapped a four-game losing streak, and remain in a sixth place tie with Niagara, which defeated Rider 84-82 at home today. The top six teams get a bye in the MAAC Championships.
Siena dominated the game inside, out-scoring Canisius 42-18 in the paint. OD Anosike had 15 points and 11 rebounds to round out his 19th double-double of the season, and Brandon Walters added seven points and 10 boards.
Downey made 7-17 field goals, after connecting on just 2-14 in a 58-54 loss at Niagara Thursday. He scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half, the majority on aggressive drives to the basket. Classmate Owen Wignot finished off his strongest weekend of the season with nine points, four rebounds, four steals and three blocks.
The Griffs led 23-22 after a Gaby Belardo 3-pointer with 8:14 left in the first half, but the Saints scored 15 of the last 18 points before inter mission to take a 37-26 lead to the lockerroom, and led by double figures the rest of the way. Belardo and Alshwan Hymes made five of Canisius' six 3-pointers in the first 12 minutes of the game. Then Siena's defense locked down.
"After the last media of the first half, we said `They don't get another sniff the rest of the night,'" Downey said. "They were the only ones really hurting us."
The Saints limited Canisius to just a single basket over a nearly 12-minute stretch that bridged the two halves.
"I thought we were really well prepared," Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro said. "Our defense was tremendous, and our offense picked it up." Siena took much better care of the basketball than it did during its four-game slide. The Saints had 12 assists and just eight turnovers Sunday after entering the game with the worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the MAAC.
Harold Washington scored 13 of his-game high 16 points in the second half to lead Canisius, but many came after the outcome was already clear.
The Saints return home to face Manhattan on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. They close the season with road games at Hofstra and Marist, and a home game against Canisius Feb. 26.
