Feb. 24, 2007
Final Stats |
Press Conference (Courtesy: MCTV)
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.-The Marist men's basketball team used 71 points from its three senior starters on Senior Day to outlast visiting Siena 98-88 in overtime Saturday afternoon at a raucous James J. McCann Center. With the win, Marist clinched the outright MAAC regular season championship for the first time in the school's history with a 14-4 league mark. The Red Foxes also set a new men's school record for wins in a season with 23, against just seven defeats. The Saints dipped to 18-11 overall and 12-6 in the MAAC.
Marist edged Siena 84-75 in overtime last season
Marist senior guard Jared Jordan (Hartford, Conn.) had 24 points and 15 assists to lead the way, while senior center James Smith (Nyack, N.Y.) had 24 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Senior guard Will Whittington (Kingwood, Tx.) had 23 points on seven 3-pointers after the second half. Redshirt junior Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio) also had 15 points and made seven of eight free throws.
Siena was led by 19 points from Michael Haddix, who also shared team rebounding honors (seven) with David Ryan. Kenny Hasbrouck chipped in 16, while Ronald Moore also had 15 points, a team-high five assists and three steals. Alex Franklin scored 15 as well and Edwin Ubiles had 11 to round out the double-digit scoring.
Siena grabbed an early nine-point advantage (16-7) at the 13:52 mark of the first half on a jumper in the paint by Haddix. Marist then powered back to even (16-16) with a 9-0 run over the next 2:24, the last of which came on a 3-pointer by Jordan at the 11:28 mark.
Marist nearly won the game in regulation when Whittington canned a 3-pointer from the wing with 1:07 to go to put the Red Foxes up 79-77, but Haddix answered with a basket of his own with 36 seconds to play to bring the game back to even. Marist had a chance in the closing seconds to win, but Jordan's shot missed at the buzzer.
The Red Foxes took over in overtime and raced out on a 9-1 run to begin the extra session, which was capped off by a Smith dunk with 2:06 to go to make the score 88-81 Marist. The Red Foxes clinched the game by hitting seven of their final eight free throws down the stretch.
Marist shot 45.7 percent (32-70) from the field for the game, while Siena made 45.5 percent (30-66). Siena shot 26.1 percent (6-23) from 3-point range, while Marist made a school-record 17 in 42 attempts (40.5 percent). Both teams did well from the free throw line, with Marist making 81 percent (17-21) and Siena knocking down 81.5 percent (22-27).
The Red Foxes will now play Saturday at 4 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the MAAC Tournament against the winner of eighth-seeded Canisius (11-17 overall, 6-11 MAAC) and ninth-seeded Saint Peter's, which is played at 7:30 p.m. Friday evening.
