Men’s Basketball Improves to 2-0 in the MAAC After Dominating Win over Marist on Sunday

Post Game Press Conference

JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Saint Peter's men's basketball team improved its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) record to a perfect 2-0 on Sunday afternoon following a 66-40 blowout win over Marist College. The Peacocks used a balanced attack with 12 different players scoring at least two points, led by Aaron Estrada's game-high 15 points.  
 
How it Played Out

• Marist's only lead in the afternoon came from the game-opening basket less than a minute into the contest. 
• It wouldn't take long for the Peacocks to take the lead and jump out to a large advantage, scoring 21 of the game's next 24 points, to go ahead 21-6 (9:22).
• A bevy of Saint Peter's players contributed to the run, led by Estrada's seven points, with Daryl Banks III and Fousseyni Drame both scoring three a piece and Matthew Lee, Nazeer Bostick, KC Ndefo, and Hassan Drame each contributing two points to the run.
• Marist cut the Peacock lead to 21-11, but a key three-pointer by Banks and a Bostick fastbreak layup off a steal would put the team ahead 26-11 by the eight-minute media break. 
• By the half, Saint Peter's had a commanding 30-19 lead.
• The Peacocks jumped all over Marist to start the second half. After Banks hit a pair of free throws, Ndefo beat a defender with a spin move and put home a two-handed slam dunk to extend the advantage.
• Three free throws from Doug Edert and a triple from Estrada would extend the lead to 42-24 by the second media timeout of the second half. 
• Out of the break, Marist made two free throws (42-26) and then Saint Peter's completely took over the game with a 12-0 run over the game's next 3:28. 
• It started with back-to-back layups by senior Derrick Woods. 
• Then a corner triple from Woods classmate Quinn Taylor, pushed the lead to 49-26. 
• Estrada would connect on a three-pointer and Woods made another layup to put Saint Peter's in a commanding 54-26 lead.
• During the run, the Peacocks only missed one field goal attempt in six tries and made both three-pointers attempted, while forcing four Marist turnovers and limiting the Red Foxes to just one attempted field goal over the three-minute stretch.
• Saint Peter's lead would never fall below 20 points for the remainder of the day.
• Down the final stretch, Cameron Jones scored eight of the next 10 Peacock points with a pair of triples and a mid range jumper improving the lead to 64-37. 
• Bostick closed out the game making two at the charity stripe, giving Saint Peter's its largest lead of the game (29), going up 66-37 with under 30 seconds remaining.

Inside the Numbers

• Saint Peter's dominated Marist in every statistical category in the win --- time with the lead (37:52), rebounds (36-26), forced turnovers (21-16), points off of turnovers (27-10), points in the paint (26-4), second chance points (9-3), and bench points (46-16).
• The Peacock bench outscored the entire Red Foxes team with 46 points --- it was the second straight game and fourth time overall this season that the Saint Peter's bench scored 40 or more points.
• The Peacocks made 46 percent (24-of-52) of their field goals and 52.9 percent (9-of-17) of their three-point attempts, the third and second best shooting performances by the squad this season, respectively.
• Estrada finished the day with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
• Six different Peacocks scored between five and eight points. Banks and Jones finished with eight points. Bostick, Ndefo, and Woods each scored six points. F. Drame scored five points.
• Taylor grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds to go along with three points and an assist.
• Saint Peter's start the MAAC season 2-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 season. 
• With the completion of the opening week of conference play, the Peacocks sit atop of the MAAC standings along with Manhattan and Rider who are also 2-0.

 

Up Next          

• The Peacocks will look to remain perfect in MAAC play when the team travels to Albany's Times Union Center for a date with Siena on Thursday, Jan 9.  
• Opening tip for the game will be at 7 p.m.