SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Oftentimes, when a team has the lead for much of the game and loses it without much time left, it’s a big psychological blow. For a team like Siena, where wins have been hard to come by and especially of late, that is the case even more so. That makes Siena’s 70-64 win over Marist in the first round of the MAAC Tournament a positive development, and one they’ll need heading into Saturday’s quarterfinal matchup with regular season champion Niagara.
In a back-and-forth first half, Siena held the lead throughout largely from inside play as O.D. Anosike was determined not to end his career on Friday night and Davis Martens gave them a nice boost off the bench. That opened up the outside game for Rob Poole, and the Saints were shooting 52 percent in the first half to overcome nine turnovers.
It was just the way it’s supposed to go in theory when you have a good big man, as the Saints do.
“I feel like when teams double-team me, they pretty much have to pick their poison,” said Anosike. “If they’re going to play me single coverage, I’m going to attack and make plays. If they’re going to double-team me, we have great shooters on the perimeter that I have a tremendous amount of confidence in to knock down shots.”
The shooters haven’t done that often this season, as the Saints shoot below 33 percent on the season from long range. But on Friday night, they were 6-10, including 3-4 in the second half.
Martens was a non-factor in the second and Poole vanished as well, and as Marist’s complementary players came alive they closed in. Anosike was still determined to carry this team, but he needed help. Marist finally gained its first lead of the night with 9:27 left, and at that point one had to wonder if Siena could respond. They led for over 30 minutes but couldn’t hang on, and less than four minutes later the Red Foxes led by four. This is a young team – Anosike is the only senior, and four sophomores start – and not a team that had won a lot.
But respond they did. Poole came back to life with a three-pointer, then hit another to tie it less than two minutes later. He later gave them a three-point lead with a tough shot in traffic that he just threw up before he landing while in no-man’s land. Then Trenity Burdine was the star down the stretch as the Saints scored the last six points to get the win.
Anosike had 24 points and 12 rebounds, which for him was basically just another day at the office. He added five assists, with Poole often the beneficiary as he had 19 points on 7-11 shooting, including 5-7 from long range. Martens scored all ten of his points in the first half, and Burdine had eight and six rebounds, getting the first three points in the game-closing run that broke the 12th and final tie of the night.
“This was definitely the epitome of a team effort,” said Anosike.
It was also the epitome of toughing out a win. The Saints could have easily folded once they lost the lead and then later saw it turn into a two-possession game. This could have turned into more of the same of what has happened often this season. The Saints came into the game 3-7 on the season when leading at the half, as they did on Friday night, so they’ve lost a few leads in the second half.
Maintaining a level of play has been difficult for Siena, evidenced in part by the fact that only twice all season have they had a winning streak, and both were just two games long. They will need to change that trend if their season is to go on. Friday night may be just what they needed to start reversing that trend at just the right time.
