Men’s Basketball Opens MAAC Play with Controlling Win Over Siena

Postgame Press Conference
 
JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Peacocks men's basketball team never trailed in a 65-60 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opening home win over Siena on Thursday afternoon, giving the Peacocks their first set of back to back wins this season.
 
Game Notes

• Saint Peter's (4-9, 1-0) and Siena (5-9, 0-1) exchanged early points, tying three times at 2-2, 5-5, and 7-7 before the Peacocks took the final lead of the afternoon with 13 minutes on the clock.
• Quinn Taylor would complete a three-point play following a made layup and foul to give the Peacocks a six-point lead.
• Siena managed to cut the Peacock lead to one possession, with Saint Peter's ahead 15-13.
• Then the Peacocks put together a 10-2 run with two triples from Davauhnte Turner and a pair of baskets from Samuel Idowu and Manny Dixon to give Saint Peter's its first double digit lead of the game with a little under four minutes to play in the half (25-15).
• The Peacocks would keep their lead around nine points before Siena closed out the opening half scoring 5 out of the 7 final points to give the home squad a 31-25 halftime lead.
• Saint Peter's came out on fire to begin the second half, outscoring the Saints 20-7, including a 12-0 run, through the first seven minutes to extend its lead to 19 points, the largest it would be in the game.
• The run was sparked during a quick 6-0 spurt that witnessed back to back buckets in the paint by Turner and Taylor, followed by a steal from Dixon and a fast break one-handed slam dunk by KC Ndefo to put the Peacocks back up by 10 points.
• After Siena connected on a 3-pointer to cut it to seven points, the Peacocks put on a dominating 12-0 run where the team scored on every offensive possession and forced Siena into two turnovers to extend the lead to 51-32.
• During the 12-0 run, the Peacocks assisted on 4-5 made field goals.
• Following the 20-7 run, Siena responded with 12 straight points to bring the game back to within seven points.
• Once the Peacocks stopped the bleeding, they pushed the lead to double figures five more times to hold a 65-55 lead with less than a minute to play.
• Siena scored the final five of the game to give the Peacocks a 65-60 win.

 
Inside the Numbers

• The Peacocks improve to 4-2 in the Yanitelli Center this season.
• Saint Peter's led for over 34 minutes in the game and never trailed.
• Turner again led the Peacocks in points, scoring 21 on the afternoon with 3-5 made 3-pointers.
• It was Turner's third consecutive game with over 20 points and sixth time total this season.
• Idowu followed Turner with 15 points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block.
• Taylor was the final Peacock in double figures, scoring 10 points.
• This was the fifth straight game in double figures for Taylor.
• All seven Peacocks to see action in the game made at least one field goal.  
• Dallas Watson made his third career start, leading the Peacocks in assists for the fifth time after handing out a team-best five assists in the win.
• The Peacocks had the best shooting performance of the season thus far, shooting 52% (26-50) from the field, and the third best 3-point shooting outcome of the season, going 6-14 for 42.9% on the afternoon.
• Saint Peter's won the rebounding battle (27-25), forced turnovers battle (8-7), and had advantages in points off of turnovers, second chance points, fast break points, and bench points.
• Siena was led by its season scoring leader Evan Fisher, who scored a game-high 23 points.
• This was the first time since the 2015-16 season that the Peacocks won the MAAC opener.

 
Up Next

• The Peacocks close out the week on the road at hOURglass Rival Monmouth on Saturday, December 5 at 2 p.m.