Saints capture another crown
Canisius closes within one three times in second half
Siena senior Manny Camper and his teamates lock up second straight MAAC regularseason title.
The Siena men’s basketball team is Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season champion for the second year in a row.
Canisius made the Saints earn it. The Golden Griffins whittled a 17-point deficit to just one on three occasions in the second half, but Siena fought them off for a 73-66 victory at UHY Center.
The Saints (12-3 overall, 12-3 league) clinched the No. 1 seed in the MAAC Tournament in Atlantic City, N.J. They’ll play at 5 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 first-round game.
On Senior Night, Siena senior guard/ forward Manny Camper had 17 points and 11 rebounds. His 3-pointer from the left side gave the Saints a 64-60 lead with 3:05 to play after Canisius had closed to within one for the final time.
“That’s the sense of urgency I’ve talked
about all year,” Camper said. “We came out with a great sense of urgency ... I think we got complacent a little bit and they were being more aggressive and more physical and forcing turnovers. But I think as the game got tight, we realized
what was at stake and I think we locked in, were cutting harder and were able to pull it out.”
Jackson Stormo had 18 points, and Jalen Pickett (five 3-pointers) and Jordan
King scored 15 points each.
The Saints repeated as regularseason champs during a grueling pandemic year with four pauses because of COVID -19.
“It took a really connected group, a really resilient group,” Pickett said. “We knew coming in that it was going to be highs and lows and the schedule was going to change and people were going to get COVID. We knew it was going to be a next-man-up mentality and that if we had to go into a game with six players or seven players ... we had to have the right energy and have the next guys up. We’re competing for something big, so the more guys who can play, the better.”
The Saints won despite committing 16 turnovers against a Canisius team that pressed often. They again had only seven scholarship players available because of injury and illness. Graduate guard Nick Hopkins, whom Siena announced will return next season, was out again with a lowerleg injury and freshman Aidan Carpenter (ankle) was also sidelined.
Siena coach Carmen Maciariello said Hopkins is out of his brace but didn’t know the timetable for his return. Maciariello said he hopes Carpenter will be ready for Wednesday in Atlantic City.
Siena turned to walk-on senior forward Denzel Tchougang, honored with Camper and graduate forward Harrison Curry in the pregame ceremony. Tchougang made his first appearance of the season and had a three-point play.
Freshman Colin Golson punctuated the championship with a thunderous breakaway dunk in the final seconds that fired up the bench, but the Saints did not celebrate on the court after the game.
They’ll close the regular season against Canisius on Friday.
“We’ve got work to do,” Maciariello said. “We’ve got to play tomorrow. These kids have school tomorrow. I got some water dumped on my head so my (hair) gel’s not looking as smooth as it usually does. But when it’s all said and done, we’ve got some work to do tomorrow and we’ve got to get better. We haven’t played a clean game. These guys know they haven’t played a clean game and we’ve got to hold each other accountable. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t.”
But Maciariello, a Clifton Park native and Siena graduate, did take time to appreciate two regular-season titles in his two years as head coach.
“That was the goal — to make us relevant again and realize what this jersey means and how special this place is,” Maciariello said. “The fact that we’ve been able to grow through all this adversity made it all the more special.”
Stormo, who transferred from Pepperdine before the season, helped Siena win back-to-back regular-season titles for the first time since the Fran Mccaffery era from 2008 to 2010.
“It means everything,” Stormo said. “We battled for this all year long through everything we had to go through. But of course, it’s not done yet. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”