LOUDONVILLE, NY – The Saint Peter's University men's basketball team dropped the back end of its weekend's set at Siena College, 47-40 on Saturday night at the Alumni Recreation Center in Loudonville, NY. The Peacocks and Saints split the series, and Saint Peter's fell to 4-4 in the MAAC while Siean improved to 7-1.
The Basics
Score: Saint Peter's 40, Siena 47
Records: Saint Peter's (7-6, 4-4 MAAC) | Siena (7-1, 7-1 MAAC)
Location: Alumni Recreation Center | Loudonville, NY
How It Happened
- Saint Peter's only lead in the opening half came early on when the Peacocks went up 4-2 following a made layup by KC Ndefo.
- The Peacocks relinquished the lead and eventually trailed the Saints 12-9 after a layup by Marty Silvera (9:08).
- SPU would go over six minutes without a point, but the team's defense kept the game within striking distance, holding Siena to 1-for-9 shooting from the floor during the timeframe.
- Behind 18-10 with three minutes left in the half, the Peacocks reeled off eight straight points, which was capped off by back-to-back triples from Fousseyni Drame and Ndefo at the buzzer, to send the game into the locker room knotted up at 18-18.
- Both teams struggled from the field in the opening half, combining for more turnovers (20) than made field goals made (13).
- At the start of the second half, the offense picked up slightly for both sides.
- Each went basket for basket and found the meeting still tied at the 32-32 all, with just under 12 minutes left.
- Silvera and Daryl Banks III brought about the Peacocks' first leads since 4-2, knocking down consecutive trifectas to go ahead 38-36 (10:18).
- Saint Peter's again sank into a slump, falling behind 40-38 and failing to score any points for over eight minutes.
- Fortunately, Siena also played poorly offensively, matching the Peacocks without a point for almost seven minutes to keep the game within a possession.
- With 1:31 left, Hassan Drame made a pair of game-tying free throws to bring the bout to an even 40-40.
- Siena's Jordan King would hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:01 on the clock and free-throws down the stretch would close the door on Saint Peter's bid for the series sweep.
- In addition to the eight-minute scoreless drought, the Peacocks also didn't make a field goal in the game over the final 10:18 following Banks' triple.
Notes
- Banks paced the Peacocks in scoring with a team-leading nine points.
- Ndefo and Silvera added seven points to follow Banks, with Ndefo leading the squad with eight rebounds and three assists while Silvera recorded a team-high three steals.
- Ndefo, the nation's leader in blocked shots, also set a new career standard and tied the program's single-game record with seven rejections in the game, matching Todd Sowell '07 (Dec. 9, 2005 vs. Canisius).
- Offensively, Saint Peter's failed to score 50 points for the first time this campaign and the team's 40 points were the least amount of points scored in a game since Nov. 11, 2017 against La Salle.
- It was the first contest this season that not one single Peacock scored in double-figures, after the team produced five double-digit scorers the previous night.
- Just one night after Saint Peter's had its best three-point shooting performance of the season, the team struggled from the floor on Saturday, shooting season-lows 15-for-56 (.268) from the field, while also only going 4-for-8 at the charity stripe --- season-low marks in attempts and makes.
- Despite Siena leading for over 70 percent of the game, the two sides were pretty much even on every other front.
- The teams were deadlocked on the glass (39-39), SPU won the forced turnover battle (16-14) and second chance points (10-8), while Siena had the edge in points off of turnovers (15-13) and points in the paint (22-18).
- With the Peacocks' loss on Saturday, the teams have now split the season series for six consecutive years.
Up Next
The Peacocks will return to Jersey City next weekend for the first time since Dec. 12, when the team plays host to Manhattan College on Friday (Jan. 29) and Saturday (Jan. 30) nights.
