Men’s Basketball Falls Short at Siena

ALBANY, NY – Saint Peter's men's basketball dropped its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) contest of the season to Siena College on Thursday night in Albany. The Peacocks lost the trade-off 61-58, falling to 2-1 in league play.
 
The Dual

• Nazeer Bostick opened the game with a mid-range jumper on the opening possession, putting the Peacocks up 2-0.
• The lead was short lived as Siena ran off seven straight points, and then a 6-2 run, putting Saint Peter's behind 13-4 (14:05). 
• The Peacocks chipped away at the nine-point disadvantage slowly. It started with an Aaron Estrada layup to a KC Ndefo dunk. 
• After the 12-minute media timeout, baskets by Estrada, Fousseyni Drame, and Daryl Banks III, would cut the game to one possession (18-15).
• It would remain a one possession contest until a step back jumper by Bostick and a free throw by Ndefo tied the game at 22-22. 
• The first half would knot twice more (24-24, and 26-26), but a pair of free throws by Hassan Drame with 6 seconds left, gave Saint Peter's a 28-26 cushion at intermission, its first lead since 2-0 following the opening basket.
• The teams picked right back up in the second half where they left off in the first, exchanging blows.
• Derrick Woods got into the action connecting on a layup to put Saint Peter's ahead 30-26, but Siena would come back and tie the game at 30 all. 
• Following a Bostick layup to retake the lead, the Saints scored five straight to go ahead 35-32 by the first break of the half. 
• Saint Peter's would trail briefly, and go up again after a jumper from Cameron Jones and Doug Edert's converted layup (36-35). 
• Again, the game would go into seesaw mode over the next seven minutes, having eight separate lead changes and four ties right up to the under eight media break. 
• Saint Peter's last lead on the night would come following a three-pointer by Edert, giving the Peacocks the 49-48 lead. 
• In less than a two-minute span, the Peacocks squandered the lead, giving up a 7-0 run that put the team behind 55-49.
• Trailing by five with 2:31 to play, Quinn Taylor hit a quick triple, cutting the game to two points (60-58). 
• Despite being within one basket, over those final two and a half minutes, Saint Peter's went 0-for-3 from the field, 0-of-1 from three, and 0-for-1 from the line, while also turning the ball over on the final play of the game.

 
Inside the Numbers

• 10 of the 11 Peacocks that saw action in the game scored at least two points. This was the seventh time this season that at least 10 players have scored at least a pair of points in a game. 
• Estrada was the team leader in scoring for the second straight game, scoring 13 points as the lone Peacock in double-figures, followed by Bostick and Edert who contributed eight points each.
• Ndefo and Woods scored seven and six points, respectively, while both Banks and Taylor scored five points each.
• The Peacock bench once again dominated the offense, scoring 37 of the team's 58 points.
• Like the overall game, the rest of the stat lines were pretty close and evenly won by both teams. 
• Saint Peter's had the edge in second chance points (9-8), points in the paint (36-32), and fastbreak points (9-2). Siena had the upper hand in forced turnovers (15-13), points off of turnovers (17-12), and rebounds (37-32).
• The final count on the back and forth stats were 10 ties and 11 lead changes. 
• The road defeat for the Peacocks marked the ninth consecutive contest between the two programs in which the home team was victorious, dating back to the 2015-16 season.

 
Up Next          

• The Peacocks are back home briefly, playing on Sunday, Jan. 12 against Canisius at 1p.m. 
• Following the home contest, the team hits the road for the longest road stretch of the conference slate.