Final Stats

SMITHFIELD, R.I. â€" The Saints shot a sizzling 62% (31-50) from the field and led wire-to-wire as Siena Basketball blasted host Bryant 78-59 to capture the 2K Classic Smithfield Subregional Championship at the Chace Athletic Center. Siena led by double digits for all but 43 seconds over the final 34 minutes to record consecutive double-digit victories for the first time in nearly four years.

"It was time to play," said head coach Jimmy Patsos when asked about why his team executed so well. "In other words maybe two games in two days is good. They couldn't scout us, we couldn't scout them so let's just run our stuff and play. I thought we ran our offense really well and then we got good shots."

Red-shirt junior forward Brett Bisping scored a career-high 24 points and added seven rebounds to lead Siena (2-2), while classmate Marquis Wright poured in 14 points. Wright, who averaged 17.5 points over the weekend in the Saints' wins over Bryant (2-2) and Radford, was named the 2K Classic Smithfield Subregional MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Bisping.

Siena dominated the first half, building a double-digit lead just over six minutes in. Freshman guard Nico Clareth provided the exclamation point to the first half, beating the buzzer with a three to give the Saints a commanding 17-point cushion at the break 40-23. Clareth joined Wright and Bisping in double figures with 16 points on 7-10 shooting off the bench.

Siena picked up right where it had left off in the second half, extending its lead to as many as 23 points after Bisping banged a three to make it 52-29 with 14:15 to play. Bisping nailed a career-best five three-pointers, shooting 5-7 from distance.

Bryant would make a bit of a rally late, answering with a 21-7 run over 6:34. Bosko Kostur capped the run with the final seven points to pull the Bulldogs back within single-digits, 59-50 with 7:18 to play.

But Siena responded with an 11-4 run to push the advantage back to a comfortable 16-point cushion heading into the final media timeout as the Saints finished an impressive weekend with the program's first back-to-back double digit wins since defeating Fairfield 73-60 and Niagara 72-60 in consecutive contests on Jan.6 and Jan. 8, 2012 at the Times Union Center.

Hunter Ware led the Bulldogs with 17 points, while Preseason All-NEC selection Dan Gavin added 11 points and nine rebounds and Kostur contributed 12 off the bench.

The Saints conclude their season opening five-game road trip Tuesday with a 7 p.m. tip at Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa. Siena's home opener is set for next Saturday at noon against former MAAC foe Loyola at the Times Union Center.