LOUDONVILLE, NY – At long last, the Saint Peter's University men's basketball team ended its longest league road drought, defeating Siena College 68-62 on Friday night at the Alumni Recreation Center in Loudonville, NY. The Peacocks handed the lone unbeaten MAAC team its first loss of the season and improved Saint Peter's conference record to 4-3 and overall mark to 7-5.
For just the second time this season, five Peacocks surpassed double-figure scoring.
KC Ndefo led the offensive charge with 16 points, followed by season-high marks from
Hassan Drame (13) and
Marty Silvera (12), while
Daryl Banks III and
Matthew Lee chipped in with 11 points each.
The Basics
Score: Saint Peter's 68, Siena 62
Records: Saint Peter's (7-5, 4-3 MAAC) | Siena (6-1, 6-1 MAAC)
Location: Alumni Recreation Center | Loudonville, NY
How It Happened
- Saint Peter's only lead of the first half came on the game's first bucket, a made three-pointer by Banks that would put the team up 3-0.
- Siena would ride a 12-2 run that put the Peacocks in a 12-5 hole early on in the meeting, SPU's largest deficit in the half.
- The Peacocks remained within a handful of points and late down the stretch with under a minute to play in the half, Ndefo banked in a turnaround jumper in the paint to knot the contest at 29-29.
- At the halfway point, Saint Peter's trailed Siena 31-29.
- After scoring 29 total points in the first 20 minutes of play, Saint Peter's came out of the locker room on a mission, out-scoring Siena 26-8 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
- Consecutive layups by Babacar Diallo --- his first career field goal --- and Ndefo, gave the Peacocks their first lead since 3-0 (35-34).
- Following ties at 35 and 37, Lee accounted for four straight Peacock points to make the lead 41-37.
- Holding a 43-39 advantage, Silvera completely took the game over.
- The freshman guard snagged his own miss and scored a putback layup to begin a Peacock rally.
- Succeeding a pair of free-throws which Silvera also made, he then drained a long trifecta from the far wing, to extend the solo run to seven and the lead to 50-39.
- He followed that up with a steal and fast break layup to give Saint Peter's a 52-39 lead, single handedly administering a 9-0 run by himself.
- Lee would add a long ball of his own to propel the Peacocks' advantage to 55-39 --- the largest lead of the night --- with 10:13 to play.
- During the less than 10 minute span, Saint Peter's had five different players score, with Lee and Silvera leading the pack with nine points each.
- As a unit, the Peacocks connected on 10-of-15 field goals (perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc) while holding the Saints to 2-for-9 shooting from the floor and forcing them into four turnovers.
- Despite the hot run to begin the half, SPU eventually cooled off, running into a 7:45 minute scoreless drought, allowing Siena to pull within four points.
- The scoring slump would falter when Banks hit a triple from the corner while also getting fouled, ending in a four-point play and 59-51 lead with 2:27 remaining.
- Banks put the Peacocks back ahead by 10 on a made layup with a minute and a half to go (61-51).
- Siena would cut into the lead again, getting within as much as three-points (63-60) with 29 ticks left, but clutch free throw shooting down the stretch helped Saint Peter's hold on for the 68-62 road win.
Notes
- Ndefo, the nation's leader in blocked shots, picked right back up where he left off, swatting six shots to match his career-high.
- It was the fifth time in his stellar career that he has rejected six shots.
- The forward also pulled in a team-leading seven rebounds on the night.
- In addition to his season-high night in scoring, H. Drame also stuffed the stat sheet with five boards, an assists, block and steal.
- Silvera also matched his season and career best marks with four rebounds to go along with his career night in points.
- Banks went above double-figures for the ninth time this campaign and added a team-leading two steals, while Lee surpassed the 10-point threshold for the sixth time.
- Saint Peter's had its best three-point shooting performance of the season, going .583 (7-of-12) from beyond the arc and the squad shot over 42 percent from the floor (22-of-52).
- The Peacocks controlled the glass, out rebounding the Saints 39-30, including 11 offensive boards that were converted into 14 second chance points.
- The win by Saint Peter's snapped a six-year, five-game losing streak at Siena, having last defeated Siena on the road back in 2015.
- This also ended Siena's program record 16-game winning streak, with the Peacocks being the last team to beat the Saints prior to the streak on Feb. 2, 2020 in Jersey City.
Up Next
Saint Peter's and Siena will meet again tomorrow night at 7pm in the final game of the set.
