http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Siena-men-have-off-shooting-night-lose-to-Marist-12463116.php
Siena men have off shooting night, lose to Marist
Siena drops opener in MAAC play by hitting 32.4 percent from field
Published 11:36 pm, Friday, December 29, 2017
Poughkeepsie
They're called the holiday blues.
In the case of the Siena men's basketball team, the Saints were victims of a post-Christmas funk, in more ways than one.
A one-man run by Marist junior forward Ryan Funk put the Red Foxes ahead for good. Then the Saints unleashed a bricklaying exhibition in a 63-58 loss in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Friday.
Siena shot 22-for-68 (32.4 percent) from the field and only 4-for-23 from 3-point range. Junior guard Nico Clareth, the Saints' leading scorer at 16.8 points per game coming in, shot 2-for-16 and finished with seven points.
"I see some numbers here that aren't good," Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos said as he perused the box score. "Some shot selections that weren't good. We had some shots go in and out. At the end of the game, you've got to get it to the basket and you've got to score."
Siena lost its MAAC opener for the first time in Patsos' five seasons. The Saints (4-10 overall, 0-1 MAAC) return to face Quinnipiac at Times Union Center on New Year's Day.
Clareth wasn't on the court when Siena freshman guard Roman Penn missed a difficult right-to-left drive with the Saints trailing 61-58 with 19 seconds to play. Marist's Brian Parker (18 points) added two free throws for the final margin.
"(Clareth) is our best player," Patsos said. "He's our premier player. When your premier player goes 2-for-16, how many players are really going to win? I'm not saying he did anything his fault, but I wanted the ball to go inside a little more. I wanted some shots to the rim. I've got to watch the tape before I make any analysis, but if your top player goes 2-for-16, you're probably very rarely going to win."
Marist head coach Mike Maker gave credit to junior forward Isaiah Lamb and junior guard David Knudsen, coming off a hip flexor injury, for their defense on Clareth.
"I was ready to play," Knudsen said. "That's something I've been doing a lot, since I was younger ... just being a stopper."
Despite their shooting woes, the Saints fought back from a 14-point deficit in the second half to climb within two at 60-58 on a pair of Penn foul shots with 44.7 seconds to play.
That's when Siena opted to foul Marist's Tobias Sjoberg with 29 seconds left — and 15 seconds remaining on the shot clock — rather than trying to stop the Red Foxes and get the ball back trailing by two points.
Sjoberg, who entered the game at 10-for-14 from the foul line, had missed a pair with 1:22 to play. But given another chance, he made the second after missing the first to give Marist a 61-58 lead.
"He had just missed two," Patsos said. "You saw he missed the two. It was only going to be a 10-second differentiation (between the shot clock and game clock) which wasn't much. Maybe I watched too much of the NBA on Christmas. Shorten the game. But he went 1-for-2. We're still down 3."
Marist (3-10, 1-0) shot 25-for-40 from the foul line, while Siena was only 10-for-17.
Patsos declined to blame officials Brandon Cruz, Phil Sallustio Jr. and Anthony Burris.
"I thought (Marist was) a little tougher than we were today," Patsos said.
But Funk did his damage from the 3-point line. He scored 12 unanswered points, including three 3-pointers, during a 14-0 run that gave the Red Foxes their biggest lead at 47-33 with 14:14 to play.
"Really, just confidence," Funk said. "I haven't been shooting as well as I'd like to this year, and I just got open looks so I knocked them down."
Siena sophomore guard Ahsante Shivers had his first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Penn scored 11 points and freshman center Prince Oduro had seven points and eight rebounds.
msingelais@timesunion.com • 518-454-5509 • @MarkSingelais
