ALBANY, NY – Siena Basketball begins a pivotal weekend stretch when the Saints host I-87 rival Marist Friday night at 7 p.m. at MVP Arena.
 
Tickets to the latest installment of the I-87 rivalry start at just $17 on gameday (service fees apply if purchasing through Ticketmaster) and can be secured by clicking the corresponding link, in-person at the MVP Arena Box Office, or by contacting Ticketmaster by phone at (800) 745-3000. The Siena Fan Relations Management Center is on-hand to handle all ticket-related inquiries, and can be reached by phone at (518) 487-2202 or by e-mail at sienatickets2@siena.edu. For all Siena Basketball ticket-related information, log onto sienasaints.com/tickets.
 
Siena (11-13, 6-7) enters the weekend in eighth place in the MAAC Standings, just two games back of third, but now only one game clear of 11^th. The top-10 teams qualify for the MAAC Championships which now begin in less than a month in Atlantic City.
 
The Saints will look to get some more home cooking and seek to get back to .500 in league action as they play the program's 700^th all-time MAAC game. Siena has won four straight at MVP Arena, while averaging 85.3 points spanning six conference contests.   
 
Atop the MAAC at the end of January, Marist (16-5, 9-3) has dropped back-to-back games for the first time all season to open February and slide to third in the standings. The Red Foxes too open a crucial weekend stretch with a pair of tough road matchups against both their primary rival as well as current MAAC leader Merrimack.
 
The I-87 rivals meet for the 96^th time in a series which Siena holds a decisive 63-32 advantage. The Saints are 36-11 (.766) at home where they've won 14 of the last 17 in the series. Marist survived Siena 72-67 in the first meeting two Fridays ago in front of a sold-out McCann Arena in a nationally televised primetime showdown. The Saints whittled two separate double-digit deficits in the final 10 minutes down to two each time before falling just short.
 
Robert Lee, Kelly O'Donnell, and Steve Jones have the call of the game locally in the Capital Region on My4 Albany as well as on ESPN+, which can be viewed by clicking the corresponding link. The "Voice of the Saints" Emmanuel Berbari and former Saint Andy Grazulis '92 will have the radio call of the game locally in the Capital Region on JAMZ 96.3 FM, with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Social media updates will be provided courtside throughout the day by following the Saints' official X (formerly Twitter) page @SienaMBB. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #MarchOn. Upload pictures of yourself and your friends enjoying the game through the Selfiefinder platform by clicking the corresponding link at the top of the page, or by downloading the Selfiefinder app and searching "Siena." The best selfies from the game will be displayed on the video scoreboard during the second half.