CAMBRIDGE, MA – Siena Basketball whittled an 11-point second half deficit to just one in the final minute, but came up just short in a 59-56 defeat against Ivy League preseason favorite Harvard at Lavietes Pavilion. Donald Carey paced the Saints with a game-high 17 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

Freshman reserve Chris Ledlum scored all 14 of his points in the first half for Harvard (3-1), which advanced to the Second Round of the NIT last season and was amongst teams receiving votes in both the Preseason Associated Press and USA Today Top-25 polls. The Crimson received 30 of their 59 points from their bench.

Manny Camper scored 10 points and added eight rebounds for Siena (2-2), which shot just 41% from the field including only 4-22 (18%) from three after having averaged 79 points over their first three contests. Sammy Friday IV contributed 7 points and five rebounds in 11 productive minutes off the bench for the Saints which turned over Harvard 20 times leading to 17 points.

Carey accounted for 15 of his points in the first half and scored eight straight to stake Siena to its biggest lead of the night at 13-4 just over five minutes in. But the Crimson, which received 23 first half bench points, ended the stanza on a 13-4 run to reclaim the lead for good at 37-30 at the break.

Harvard opened as much as an 11-point advantage early in the second half, but the Saints hung tough and slowly chipped away thanks to a strong defensive effort. Siena held the Crimson to just 22 second half points on only 31% shooting.

Still down nine with just over five minutes to go, the Saints strung together a 10-2 run capped by a Friday put back to cut the deficit to a single point with 41.4 seconds remaining. Siena forced a turnover on the ensuing possession and had a look at the win, but a three-point attempt from Carey was off the mark with 1.4 seconds left. The Saints did get one final chance to tie with six-tenths of a second to go following a pair of Harvard free throws, however Jalen Pickett's half court heave narrowly missed banking in.

Siena resumes its season long four-game road trip next Wednesday when the Saints face last year's other Ivy League Co-Regular Season Champion Yale at 7 p.m. in New Haven, Connecticut.