Dec. 28, 2014
Final Stats
Marquis Wright poured in a game-high 24 points and Siena shot a season-high 55% from the field in a 73-71 win over Bucknell Sunday at Times Union Center. John Azzinaro's running three-pointer to win the game at the buzzer rimmed out.
"Our guys fought for 40 minutes," Siena coach Jimmy Patsos said. "The guys who didn't show up in the stat sheet - Jimmy (Paige) and Willem (Brandwijk) gave us big minutes. Marquis was tremendous in transition."
Bucknell got a career-high 23 points from J.C. Show and led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Siena rallied. The Saints scored the final seven points of the first half to pull within 38-35 at the break, and then recorded the first basket of the second half to get within one. Wright scored 11 of 12 Siena points during a five-minute span that bridged the two halves.
The Saints then went on a 9-0 run midway through the second half, grabbing the lead for good on senior Rob Poole's three-pointer with 9:53 to play. Bucknell answered with a 7-0 spurt to tie the game for ninth and final time at 61 with 4:16 left. The Saints scored 10 of their last 12 points from the free throw line. Wright had a chance to put the game away with 5.1 seconds left, but missed the front end of a two-shot foul before making the second. Bucknell inbounded the ball to Azzinaro who raced into the front court and got off a lightly contested NBA-three that hit the front rim and the backboard before as the horn sounded.
As good as Wright was, Poole and classmate Evan Hymes provided a huge emotional lift. Poole scored 17 points and Hymes added 14. The pair combined for 10 rebounds and shot 11-25 from the field and 7-8 from the foul line.
"Rob Poole did a great job leading this program the last few days," Patsos said. "I'm not sure anyone did a better job on Chris Haas than he did today."
Haas was averaging 17.8 points per game for the Bison entering the game, but Poole limited him to seven points on 2-9 shooting. The Saints mixed in some zone, and pressed less than they have in recent games. They also fouled less, committing just 13 infractions which led to only 11 Bucknell free throws.
Javion Ogunyemi had another solid game inside with eight points and eight rebounds.
The Saints snapped out of a shooting slump in a big way. After shooting just 30% in the last two games (double-digit losses to Radford and Cornell), Siena was well over 50% in each half Sunday, ending 26-47 from the field for the game. The Saints have now had 10 turnovers or fewer in eight of their last nine games and they out-rebounded the Bison 32-27.
"Bucknell is really good," Patsos said. "And watch out for them next year, they have everyone back."
Siena will play at Bucknell next season, but the focus now turns to MAAC play. The Saints travel to 2-0 Fairfield Friday night for a game that will be televised on SNY and then host Preseason favorite Iona next Sunday.
