Saints down Cornell with the Wright stuff
Albany, NY — The Siena College Men’s Basketball team downed the Cornell Big Red 89-78, Sunday in front of a crowd of 6,196 at the Times Union Center, with the help of an explosive performance from senior guard Marquis Wright.
The Waldorf, Maryland, native contributed 31 points, leading the Saints in every scoring category through his 38 minutes on the floor.
Summed up simply by Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos, “Thank you for getting us the win Marquis.”
Wright also contributed five assists and five rebounds, with an impressive 12 of his 31 points came from three-point land.
With about 10 minutes remaining in the first half , Wright used one of those threes to make history. He became the 42nd Saint/Indian to score 1,000 career points while sporting the green and gold.
Please join us in congratulating the 42nd and newest member of the @SienaMBB 1,000 Point Club Marquis Wright!!! pic.twitter.com/yzWLNJHdd4
— Siena Saints (@SienaSaints) November 13, 2016
The Senior’s milestone lead off Patsos’s post-game press conference. “Marquis, Congratulations on your 1,000 points. well deserved,” said Patsos, in his third year with the team.
After securing a 14 point(48-34) halftime lead, the Saints had a lackluster second 20 minutes of play, as did Cornell. At times things were neck and neck, and the two schools took turns putting points on the big board.
“We were lucky to get the win,” Patsos went on to say. “This is a game of runs. When they made their runs, we made ours.”
Marquis wouldn’t let the Saints lose, coming up big after Troy native and Siena big man Javion Ogunyemi fouled out of the game with minutes remaining.”Knowing that they won last year and the year before that the mindset was high
“Knowing that they won last year and the year before that the mindset was there,” Wright said. “It’s my last first home game. just not wanting to lose was my mindset.”
Over the 35 years the two teams have played each other, each had taken the W three times going into today’s matchup. With no plans of the two playing each other anytime soon, Patsos described the game’s atmosphere as game 7 of the NBA finals.
As tantalizing as the NBA finals sound, the Saints only have one final potentially far off in the distance, and that’s hopefully the Metro Atlantic Athletics Conference Championship game in March. The
The Saints, picked to finish second in the MAAC this year will now take on George Washington , in the District of Columbia on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. The game is part of the CBE Hall Of Fame Classic and will be broadcasted locally on Talk 1300AM(WGDJ).
-Dylan Rossiter(@ByDylanRossiter)