THE SAINTS ARE BACK
Siena finds way to defeat Monmouth in season opener, 78-77
LOUDONVILLE, NY » The long wait is finally over and the Siena Saints made the most of their first opportunity back on the court. After three pauses, they started off the new year with their season opener against Monmouth University.
“I’m super proud of this group. We talk about coming together during adverse times and I think we did that, we found a way to win against a very good Monmouth team,” said head coach Carmen Maciariello. “This is what Siena basketball is all about, finding a way to win, and now we have to do it again in less than 24 hours.”
Siena defeated Monmouth 78-77. After trailing by six points at the half they improved in nearly every category leading to a back-andforth second half where the Saints came out on top.
The Saints trailed 37-31 at the end of the first half, with Monmouth outshooting them 52 to 33 percent. Those numbers were nearly flipped in the second half.
“We shot the basketball bet
better in the second half. We were struggling from three, but we got some good looks. We can’t make this an up- anddown game. I don’t know how many practices we’ve had this season where with a full team where we can actually compete and been able to play five- onfive,” Maciariello said.
Jalen Pickett led the way for the Saints, scoring 20 points, with 6 rebounds and 6 assists in 39 minutes. Kyle Young contributed a double- double, scoring 15 points with 10 rebounds. Nick Hopkins added 14 points, Manny Camper scored 12 and Jackson Stormo had 11.
The two teams face a short turnaround, a new reality of the MAAC schedule this season and will play each other again on Monday night at 5 p.m.
“I’m going to drink a lot of water, go in and get some treatment and get stretched,” Pickett said. “I keep trying to tell Carm too, I’m 21 years old, I’m young, I want to play, I want to play the whole game and I think I’ve done a great job with my conditioning over the summer and that time that we had off in quarantine of staying in shape. I want to play as much as I can to help the team win. Winning is more important.
For the coaching staff, they are trying to take advantage of their timeouts
and substitutions in the more effective ways.
“These guys have to get some rest, they’re not thoroughbreds. I think the biggest thing was using a timeout before that 16-minute media, to get a possession in there. I think I even had one timeout left when we closed out the game, so I can use that too. I was trying to get guys in early in the first half, I think it’s good for guys to share those minutes,” Maciariello said.
For their first game, the Saints were able to stay fresh the whole way through, playing much better as the game progressed. With just under four minutes left, Hopkins hit a three to give Siena a 67- 66 lead. Monmouth found their way back up 73-72 with 1:10 to go, but Pickett found Young with a cross-court pass. Young’s dunk after Pickett’s assist gave the Saints a 7473 lead. Two free throws from Camper on the following play put them up 76-73.
After going up 78-74, Monmouth’s George Papas drilled a nearly 27foot three pointer to bring his team back within one point with less than 2 seconds on the clock. The Saints were able to hold on for the win in their opener.
“At the end of the day, we have to do a better job of closing out possessions and rebounding the ball,” Maciariello said. “We had a couple ill-timed passes and turnovers, but we were able to overcome that.”