Bonnies pull away from the Saints
After strong first half, Siena can’t stay with No. 23-ranked squad
Siena men’s basketball coach Carmen Maciariello watched his new-look team trade baskets with the 23rd-ranked team in the country throughout an exciting first half in Tuesday’s season opener.
He saw enough in the first 20 minutes to be encouraged. What he saw in the second half made it obvious this team still has a long way to go.
After grabbing an early 10point lead, short-handed Siena managed only 15 points in the second half of a 75-47 loss to defending Atlantic 10 champion St. Bonaventure before an emotional crowd of 4,617 at Reilly Center.
“If you watched the first 18 minutes, I think you’re really encouraged,” Maciariello said. “We need to be able to do it for 40 minutes. I never question these guys’ heart, their motive, their work ethic, the desire to win. They all came to Siena to do something special and we still believe in that. Obviously, I wanted to play this team on the road to start our season and to show how hard we have to play and what we have to do to get to where we want to get to.”
Sophomore guard Aidan Carpenter and senior guard Jayce Johnson led Siena with 10 points each in the team’s first official game since all-league players Manny Camper, who’s playing in the G League, Jalen Pickett (Penn State) and Jordan King (East Tennessee) all departed the program after winning their second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season title last season.
Siena added nine scholarship players, including six transfers, in the offseason.
None of Siena’s players were made available to the media after Tuesday’s loss. Maciariello told a team spokesman no one played well enough to talk.
Siena led 18-8 in the opening eight minutes and trailed only 36-32 at halftime. But St. Bonaventure turned up the defensive pressure in the second half as Siena shot 6-for-25 from the field. The Bonnies outscored the Saints 39-15 after halftime.
Siena committed 15 turnovers that St. Bonaventure converted into 22 points.
“Obviously, tough game,” Maciariello said. “We know what we’re dealing with coming into the Reilly Center against a nationally ranked opponent.
Think it’s great for these guys to understand it’s not just a 20-minute game. I thought we did some good things. At the end of the day, you’ve got to be able to have guys come in and finish the job. It’s a great opportunity for us to look at this film and get better.”
The Saints were missing four scholarship players: junior forward Jordan Kellier and freshman guard Jared Billups, who made the trip, and freshman guards Javian Mccollum and Taihland Owens, who didn’t.
Maciariello said Kellier and Billups were both injured during Saturday ’s practice with Billups hurting his lower body and Kellier injuring his upper body. Maciariello said he hoped Billups will be able to play in Saturday ’s home opener against Delaware at Times Union Center. Kellier will see a doctor.
Maciariello said Mccollum went to the doctor with a lower-body injury. Owens is supposed to have an MRI on his knee later this month.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Maciariello said. “We don’t ever talk about who didn’t play, right? We talk about who did play. I thought Jayce Johnson’s getting back into shape and that was great for him to get out there and show flashes of what he’s capable of. ... We need those other guys to get healthy and get back on the court and I think that’ll add to our depth and hopefully we can play a full 40 minutes.”
The Bonnies went on a 16-0 run to seize a 65-42 lead. Senior guards Kyle Lofton and Jaren Holmes each finished with 17 points for the Bonnies, ranked for the first time in 50 years. Senior center Osun Osunniyi had nine points and seven blocks.
“The maturity of our team, we don’t let stuff like that take us down,” Lofton said of the early deficit. “We know basketball is a game of runs. They happened to get off to a hot start. We started off slow and then we eventually picked it up.”
The Bonnies had a pregame ring ceremony and NCAA Tournament banner raising.
“That’s emotional,” St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said. “We needed to come back and refocus and I didn’t think we did a great job at the beginning of the game. But I thought once we got down, I didn’t think we rushed things. I thought we were composed and took it one possession at a time.”