Feb. 3, 2012
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Saint Peter's made 14-22 (64%) shots in the second half, rallying from 16 down in the first to spoil Siena's annual Gold Rush game at Times Union Center, 63-58. In the process, the Peacocks became the first MAAC team to sweep the Saints in consecutive seasons since Marist did it three straight years from 2004-07.
OD Anosike fell a single point shy of extending his school-record double-double streak to 18 games. Siena saw its six game home court win streak snapped as well.
Saint Peter's used an 18-3 run to take a 57-49 lead with 3:17 left. Siena fought back to within a single point, 59-58, on a long 3-pointer by Evan Hymes with 23 seconds to play, but Brandon Hall made two free throws, and then stole the ball from Hymes before Siena could get a shot off, and laid it in on the other end for good measure.
"With (our) team, no loss is a bad loss." Mitch Buonaguro said. "Am I surprised by this? No."
Siena scored 16 straight points early to take an 18-5 lead, and led 25-9 after Anosike made a short jumper with 7:39 left in the first half. The Peacocks cut the lead to 28-19 at the half, but Siena seemed to be in firm control, especially after Owen Wignot scored the first four points of the second half to push the advantage to 13.
Saint Peter's got within striking distance by scoring 14 of the next 18 points, pulling within 36-33 on an Yvon Raymond layup with 15:03 to play. Siena still led 46-39 with just over 10 minutes to play, but that's when the Peacocks made their big move.
Darius Conley led Saint Peter's with 15 points, but he made his biggest contributions guarding Anosike.
"They were really physical with him," Buonaguro said. "Conley really dominated."
Anosike had to fight for every point, usually catching the ball eight feet from the basket where he was muscled up by Conley, with help waiting nearby.
Kyle Downey scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the first half for Siena , Hymes had nine of his 14 in the second. Wignot made all four of his field goal attempts for Siena, and Rob Poole contributed nine points off the bench.
Raymond added 11 points for Saint Peter's off the bench, and may have made the play of the game. After Hall missed a jumper with 1:13 left and the Peacocks clinging to a four-point lead, Raymond beat out three Siena players for a rebound and drew a foul. Hall and Lamin Fulton joined Raymond with 11 points. It was the fifth time the Peacocks placed four players in double figures, but the first time they have won when doing so.
"Give Saint Peter's credit," Buonaguro said. "It was a war. They really played well in the second half. We didn't."
Saint Peter's, the lowest scoring team in the MAAC, shot a season-high 64% from the field in the second half and out-scored the Saints 44-30 after intermission.
The Peacocks have only beat three teams all season - winless Binghamton, last place Canisius (twice) and the Saints (twice).
Because Niagara lost at Fairfield, Siena remains in sixth place in the MAAC. The Saints missed a chance to move into a fifth-place tie with Rider, which lost to Loyola. Siena travels to play Fairfield Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in a game that will be regionally televised on SNY.
