Saint Peter’s Falls To Siena After Slow Start

ALBANY, N.Y. –  The Saint Peter's men's basketball team struggled from deep in the first half as it fell behind to Siena in a 63-77 game at MVP Arena on Thursday night.

The Peacocks (7-12, 2-9 MAAC) found themselves trailing the Saints (11-12, 6-6 MAAC) by 16 points at halftime which proved to be too large of a deficit to come back from. Despite the loss, Saint Peter's saw solid production from its bench with 24 bench points, 15 of which came from Bryce Eaton.

Marcus Randolph was the leading scorer for the Peacocks, but it took him a while to get going. All 19 of his points came in the second half, helping Saint Peter's to outscore Siena in the final 20 minutes 39-to-37. 

As a team, Saint Peter's recorded just three assists on the night which made it hard to produce scores offensively. Both teams pulled in the same amount of rebounds with 32 and the same amount of steals with 10.

The Peacocks will look to turn the page when they play Manhattan on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.

HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF: The Peacocks opened the game with a 4-0 lead made up of a bucket from Armoni Zeigler and free throws from Mouhamed Sow. Siena responded with a 3-pointer before Justice Shoats scored the next six points for the Saints. Saint Peter's trailed by just one, 8-9, following a layup from Tyreck Morris, but then Siena went on a 12-4 run to take a 21-12 advantage. 

The Saints went into the bonus almost 10 minutes into the game following Saint Peter's seventh team foul of the half. Eaton recorded his first points of the game with a layup and then Zeigler and
Morris hit jump shots to make it 18-26. Siena scored six unanswered points to take a 14-point lead, its largest of the game.

In the final minutes of the first half, Siena made three of its last four field goals while the Peacocks missed five of their last six. Saint Peter's trailed 24-40 at the break as Siena had two players with 16 points each.   

SECOND HALF: Saint Peter's kept up with the Saints in the opening minutes of the second half, but Siena always had an answer when the Peacocks scored. That was the story for the entirety of the second half as the Saints would knock down a 3 or get a pair of steals to prevent Saint Peter's from making a run. 

UP NEXT
The Peacocks will take another bus ride on Saturday, Feb. 8 when they take on Manhattan on the road. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

NOTES
Saint Peter's moves to 54-48 vs. Siena all-time and 17-28 against the Saints on the road. Read Full Article