LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – Siena Basketball punctuated a magical Thanksgiving Weekend at the Happiest Place on Earth with their second high-major win in four days. The Saints secured their first victory over a Big East program in 19 years with a 60-55 triumph over Seton Hall in the Third Place Game at the ESPN Events Invitational.
 
"That heart will win a championship at the end of the season if we take care of business, trust each other, work hard every single day, and don't care who gets the credit," said head Coach Carmen Maciariello as he addressed the team in the locker room post game. "That's a special team. That's a special win."
 
After posting a 17-point rout of Atlantic Coast Conference member Florida State on Thanksgiving, Siena (4-3) has now achieved multiple high-major wins in the same season for the first time since defeating nationally ranked programs in Stanford and Vanderbilt during the 2007-08 campaign. The only non-high major program in the eight-team ESPN Events Invitational field, the Saints' third-place finish matches the best-ever for a MAAC program (Monmouth 2015, Marist 2006) in this event which the conference sponsors, and has had a representative compete in annually since it began in 2006.
 
Florida native Javian McCollum capped a huge week showing out in front of his home crowd, leading four Siena players in double figures with 14 points as a part of a balanced attack. The sophomore point guard averaged 18.7 points, 6.3 assists, and 2.0 steals over three games this week in an exceptional tournament performance.
 
Al-Amir Dawes scored a game-high 15 points for a Seton Hall (4-3) squad led by familiar faces in former Saint Peter's Head Coach Shaheen Holloway and star player KC Ndefo. Despite the move to a higher conference, however, the outcome remained the same as Siena defeated the duo for the fourth straight time, which includes a regular season series sweep of the 2022 Saint Peter's Elite Eight team.
 
Siena led for 26:30 and by as many as 11 points against perennial Big East contender Seton Hall which has made five NCAA Tournament appearances over the past six years.
 
However, the Pirates started off with a 13-5 advantage out of the gate, although the Saints responded with a 14-1 run to take a 19-14 lead at the 8:31 mark, and led virtually throughout thereafter. Siena ultimately built as much as a 10-point first half lead, and took a 35-27 advantage into the break.
 
The Saints opened as much as an 11-point edge at 43-32 with 15:56 to go before Seton Hall slowly chipped away. The Pirates scored nine unanswered points to briefly reclaim a 51-50 lead with 5:52 remaining.
 
But Siena remained composed down the stretch. Jackson Stormo hit the go-ahead basket to put the Saints back in front for good at 55-53 with 2:19 left, and McCollum made a pair of key free throws with 6.9 seconds to go to push the lead back to three. Seton Hall had one final chance, but Michael Eley stole the ball at midcourt and finished a two-handed jam as time expired to put the exclamation point on a memorable weekend.
 
Stormo scored 11 points while Jayce Johnson added 11 points and nine rebounds, as Siena snapped an 11-game losing streak against the 10 current Big East programs with their first win over a current member since a 74-59 triumph over Villanova in the NIT on Mar. 18, 2003 in Albany. Eley chipped in an important 10 points and four steals while posting a team-best plus/minus of +12 in 20 minutes off the bench.
 
Tyrese Samuel scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half for the Pirates which shot just 33% from the field including only 1-9 from three-point range in an outstanding 40-minute defensive effort by the Saints.
 
After making a statement in a prestigious national tournament this week, Siena returns north – and to MVP Arena – where they'll look to build off their recent success when they open MAAC play Friday night vs. Canisius at 7 p.m.