Saints bounce back after loss
Bounceback win moves Siena into five-way tie in MAAC standings
Siena forward Evan Fisher scored a gamehigh 21 points in a 7262 win over the Saint Peter’s Peacocks Tuesday at the Times Union Center.
The 55 points that Quinnipiac’s Cameron Young dropped on the Siena men’s basketball team on Sunday didn’t sit very well with sophomore guard Manny Camper.
“Especially with me being one of the top defenders,” Camper said. “I couldn’t sleep that night.”
Camper took his frustration out on Saint Peter’s top scorer Davauhnte Turner on Tuesday and the Saints bounced back nicely from that tripleovertime loss to Quinnipiac.
Siena freshman guard Jalen Pickett had 18 points and nine assists and senior forward Evan Fisher scored a game-high 21 points in a 72-62 win over the Peacocks that put the Saints in a five-way tie for second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Before a crowd of 6,398 at Times Union Center, Fisher found his groove after shooting 2 for 14 from the field in the defeat just two nights earlier.
“Our staff and our team just does a really good job of keeping me on to the next thing,” Fisher said. “I think we’re really fortunate we had a quick turnaround after a game like that. I know our bodies weren’t 100 percent, but (it was good) just to turn around emotionally and get that last one behind us and really attack tonight.”
Siena scored the game’s first six points against Saint Peter’s and never trailed.
The Saints snapped a twogame losing streak and improved to 14-14 overall, 9-6 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with just three regular-season games remaining.
They’re tied with Monmouth, Quinnipiac, Rider and Iona for second place, just a half-game behind MAAC leader Canisius.
“Just us being ranked last (in the preseason poll), that played a huge part in us coming in and wanting to be the best now,” Camper said. “We’re just continuing to work every day to improve and going at that No. 1 spot.”
Pickett was named the CBS Sports Freshman Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon, honored for his 46-point, 13-assist effort in that memorable scoring duel against Quinnipiac’s Young.
Against Saint Peter’s, Pickett shook off any tiredness to shine again on his way to a certain MAAC Rookie of the Year award. He also moved within 10 points of tying Nico Clareth for the program’s freshman scoring record. Pickett has 437 points this season.
“I love coming out here and playing every day,” Pickett said. “I was a little fatigued, but you’ve got to fight through it every day and just come ready to work. When the crowd gets there and the team’s ready to play, everybody gets a little adrenaline going through them.”
Siena freshman forward Sloan Seymour, a Shaker High grad, added 12 points. He made four 3-pointers to reach 80 for the season, breaking the Saints’ freshman record previously held by Scott Knapp.
Siena head coach Jamion Christian said he wasn’t worried about how his team would handle the short layoff.
“We spend a lot of time talking about our emotions and our selfawareness,” he said. “I knew we’d have a great response. We’ve got a great strength and conditioning staff and a great athletic trainer, so I knew the guys, as healthy as they’d be, they would be there. They all know what we’re playing for. They know what’s at stake here.”
Camper took the lead on guarding Turner, Saint Peter’s leading scorer at 16.6 points per game entering the night. He didn’t score until 11:21 remained in the game with Siena leading by 14 points.
Turner finished with 16 points, but nine came in the final 4:14 with the game largely decided.
“Just coming out here doing my best, me and Kadeem (Smithen) being the defensive stoppers, to stop their best scorer,” Camper said. “We put that as a major point of emphasis.”
Siena turned the ball over only four times for the second game in a row and held a 19-4 advantage in points off turnovers. Christian gave credit to assistant coach Graham Bousley, the team’s offensive coordinator.
“We actually don’t talk about taking care of the ball,” Christian said. “We just talk about trying to get a great shot every time down the floor.”
Last-place Saint Peter’s lost its eighth straight to fall to 6-20, 3-11.
Siena plays Marist next on Senior Day Sunday afternoon at Times Union Center.