Crusaders rally past Saints
Hosts’ 17-2 second-half run erases 10-point Siena lead
Siena men’s basketball coach Jamion Christian was pleased his team played Holy Cross tougher and closer than it did five weeks ago.
But both games ended the same way, with Holy Cross prevailing after a powerful second-half surge.
Sophomore guard Austin Butler put the Crusaders ahead for good on a layup with 1:15 remaining and Holy Cross completed a two-game sweep of the Saints with a 60-57 victory before 1,346 fans at the Hart Center on Saturday afternoon.
“Just impressed with our group, their ability to improve from playing them (five) weeks ago,” Christian said. “I think we made a big stride. You can see that on the floor and we’ll keep getting better at the other things.”
Holy Cross (8-4) used a 17-2 run to rally from a 10-point deficit with 11:48 remaining.
The Crusaders also defeated Siena 5745 on Nov. 18 in the Air Force Reserve Tip-off Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena. In that game, Holy Cross went on a decisive 14-0 run in the second half.
In Saturday’s rematch, senior forward Evan Fisher had 17 points and nine rebounds and freshman guard Jalen Pickett added 14 points and eight assists for the Saints (4-8), who are off until their Dec. 29 home game against Cal Poly.
Those “other things” Christian referred to must include the defensive lapses that continue to cost the Saints. Holy Cross shot 60.9 percent from the field in the second half and got a pair of layups after Siena took its final lead on Kevin Degnan’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:17 to play.
First, Butler cut along the baseline to get away from Siena redshirt freshman Jimmy Ratliff and collected a pass for a layup that gave Holy Cross a 5857 lead.
After Ratliff was long with a 3-point attempt, Holy Cross scored again when sophomore guard Caleb Green got a layup on a give-and-go with forward Jehhvye Floyd for a 60-57 advantage with 23.5 seconds left. Green zipped past Degnan for the easy basket.
“Our breakdowns are just our inexperience right now,” Christian said. “It’s just about our ability to do those things for longer. I’m telling you ... these guys are getting so much better every single game. They guarded (Holy Cross’) stuff very well. And they got us at the end on a couple things, but they’re a good team.”
Holy Cross didn’t want Siena to get off a tying 3-point attempt and committed three straight fouls on purpose to put Pickett on the line for a 1-and-1 attempt with 6.7 seconds to play.
He missed the front end, but the rebound caromed out to freshman guard Georges Darwiche. Pickett got the ball back, but misfired with an off-balance 3-pointer from the left side with the 6-foot-8 Floyd guarding him closely.
The shot was long off the glass.
“It wasn’t the best look, but we were out of timeouts, so I just had to get up a shot,” Pickett said. “I should have made the first (free throw). We wanted to miss the second one and see what we can
do there because we were down three late. I was hoping (Floyd) would jump and get him to foul, but it didn’t happen.”
Sloan Seymour gave Siena a 47-37 lead with his 3-pointer with 11:48 to play, but then Butler hit consecutive 3-pointers to spark the 17-2 run that gave Holy Cross a 54-49 lead with 6:39 left.
“We were excited,” Pickett said. “We were juiced. I felt like we might have took off the gas a little bit and should have kept going. As freshmen, we’ve got to get better at that.”
Darwiche got his first college start because Christian wanted to get another ball-handler on the floor. He had six points in 29 minutes playing in front of his parents, who are visiting from Romania.
“It was amazing,” Darwiche said. “It was a great feeling. Every time I step on the court I’m trying to do my best. I thought we had a great effort today. We just came up short.”
Siena was without sophomore forward Manny Camper, whose left foot was in a protective boot from an injury Christian said occurred in practice. Christian said Camper will be back after the Christmas break.