MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Siena becoming comeback kids?

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. — When the Siena Saints men’s college basketball team had trailed this season, with seven minutes remaining, its record had been 0-17 in those games. Whether trailing by just one or two possessions, or down near 30, the Saints had never quite been able to complete a comeback this season, until something changed this past weekend.

Trailing Manhattan by 10, early in the first half, Siena would first have to climb out of that hole in order to take a six-point lead at halftime. With 7:09 remaining at Draddy Gymnasium, again trailing by 10 points, Siena would then go on a 17-1 run and overall outscore the Jaspers 21-6 from that moment on. With a 68-63 win in Riverdale, NY, Siena would get its first come-from-behind victory and improve that record when trailing, to now 1-17.

“I just felt that we had that sense of connectivity, togetherness, a toughness and a massive sense of resilience as well, to be able to be down and then be able to come back and still win the game,” said Siena redshirt-sophomore forward Giovanni Emejuru, at a media conference Tuesday, before the start of practice.

Even when the Saints have led or have been tied with opponents at that seven-minute mark, the record in such games was only 3-3. Down the stretch of close games, Siena has had its fair share of struggles to either score or stop opponents from scoring, which only helps feed that 4-20 overall record. One such loss came at home versus Saint Peter’s, on Jan. 28, when both were tied at 51-51, before Siena would score just one point in the remaining eight minutes of play.

This coming weekend, now that Siena has snapped a previous, seven-game losing streak, the team will travel to Jersey City, N.J., for a rematch with the Peacocks (11-11; 7-6), Friday at 7 p.m., also looking for its first back-to-back wins of the season, with seven games remaining on the schedule.

“(Saturday’s win) was good for us. Definitely good for our confidence, but we can’t be satisfied by just that one win,” said Siena guard Michael Eley. “We got to keep on stacking days, elevating, and just see if we can get as many wins as we can to finish off the season.”

The first time Siena took on Saint Peter’s, the group was without its top-two scorers in Sean Durugordon, due to injuries. Eley is coming off arguably his best all-around performance of the season on Saturday versus the Jaspers, in his third game back from a four-game absence due to a hamstring injury, scoring 24 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Durugordon would have a tougher go of things, shooting just 2-10 from the field, with 13 points and three turnovers.

Durugordon, after scoring 20 points or more and making seven or more field goals in each of his first six games with the Saints this season, has now just made 10 field goals combined across his last three games, across 42 attempts, and hasn’t reached the 20-point total in each of his past four games.

“I know when he gets it lower in the post they like to double (team) on him. He definitely is starting to get scouted a little bit better, or a little bit more,” Eley said of his redshirt junior teammate. “(Defenses) are kind of going in on him a little.”

Also this past weekend, Siena posted its best free-throw shooting performance, as well as the best opponent field goal percentage in the win over the Jaspers. On the season, Siena ranks 354 out of 362 Division-I teams in the Nation in terms of free-throw percentage (63.9%) while ranking 264 in opponent field goal percentage (45.6%). On Saturday, Manhattan would shoot just 32.4% (23-71) from the field while Siena would go 85.7% (18-21) from the charity stripe.

“That’s just us knowing our personnel, knowing who’s on the floor, knowing what to do, who to help off on, who to not help off on, and just sticking to our business,” Emejuru said on the defense.

“They were doing what they needed to,” Siena freshman forward Michael Ojo said, on the free-throw shooting. “Everyone was in the gym, getting free throws up, so I knew, going into the game, they were going to start falling.”

Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello didn’t believe that was all, also noting the group’s 52% first-half shooting line, including going 5-10 from beyond the arc as a key contributor to the win. On the season, Siena had ranked 339th in shooting percentage, at just 39.9%.

“That always helps when you’re on the road,” Maciariello said.

“But yeah, when we can convert at the foul line and we can get stops, (it’s) a good recipe for success.”

The win Saturday came following another drubbing at home, as Siena fell to Marist, 67-51, last Thursday night at MVP Arena. The friendly confines that night didn’t feel too friendly towards the end of the contest, as with Siena en route to falling to 2-9 at home the ‘boo-birds’ could be heard loud and clear, breaking what was an uncomfortable silence through the arena.

Postgame, while not specifically naming individual players, Maciariello had also made comments in regards to his quick substitutions during Thursday’s game, stating, “We’re just going to play five guys that give it up every second on the court, that can follow the game plan offensively and defensively, and that care about winning.”

Siena would respond on Saturday.

“It’s a testament to this team; we didn’t let those things affect us. We don’t let the outside noise affect too much, we keep on working, and that showed with the Manhattan win,” said Emejuru.

At the time, the Jaspers were tied with the Saints for last place in the Metro Atlantic Conference Standings, but now, Siena sits in second to last at 3-10, with the Jaspers below at 2-11. As the team tries to continue its crawl out of the MAAC basement, it will do so versus a pair of other limping, conference foes this weekend: first at Saint Peter’s, followed by a home contest versus Canisius  (9-14; 4-9) on Sunday.

The Peacocks are now losers of four in a row, with the last win coming in that late-January game at MVP. Part of the Peacocks’ issue, along with ranking towards the bottom of the conference with Siena in field-goal percentage and points-per-game, has been the absence of leading-scorer, sophomore forward Corey Washington (14 ppg).

Washington has been sidelined since playing just 11 minutes in a loss on Jan. 25, versus Rider, with a shoulder injury.

“I think he’s a ‘hard-hat,’ ‘glue guy’ for them,” Maciariello said on Washington. “They kind of play through him at times and they’ve probably had to play a little differently. But, he’s a good player; he’s an All-Conference caliber player.”

Siena still has one, lingering injury of its own, as freshman guard Michael Evbaghuru, who is averaging 24 minutes per game and just under five points per as well, has been out for the last five games with a back injury.

His status for Friday, while trending upward, appears to still be in question, according to Maciariello.

“He’s been on the treadmill, so he’s getting closer,” Maciariello said, “he’s having an MRI tomorrow (Wednesday).”

Sunday versus Canisius, Siena will get another chance to avenge a narrow defeat from earlier in the season, when the group lost 67-63 in Buffalo, on January 12. After trailing by seven at halftime and as much as 11 in the second half of that loss to the Griffs, Siena would eventually cut its deficit to just two points, with under four minutes remaining.

That would however finish as another example of Siena failing to get over those late-game humps, earlier in the season, but perhaps now the team may have found the formula.

Siena would also hold star, junior forward for the Griffs, Frank Mitchell to 14 points and five rebounds (averaging over 11 per game) as he played only 25 minutes due to battling four fouls.

While Mitchell may have missed the Griffs’ last game, a win over Iona for just their second win in the past nine games, he has posted a double-double in his last four games played. If Mitchell can go Sunday, which could be likely after reportedly missing the game versus the Gales to illness, Siena feels they have what it takes to handle him again.

“I think we have good matchups for other teams’ five-men, with just the physicality of Gio (Emejuru) and Killian’s (Gribben, soph. forward) basketball acumen. But, they’re a good team. Obviously, a couple of their guys are out for the year now and they just beat Iona without Mitchell. So who knows in this league,” Maciariello said. “But, obviously they’ll be ready to play; Reggie (Witherspoon, HC) does a great job. But, I’m concerned with just making sure we handle today.”