Saints set to battle Pine Bluff in last game before Albany Cup

Before the much anticipated Albany Cup, the Siena College Men’s Basketball team has another game to worry about. The Saints (1-3) host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at the Times Union Center tonight at 7:00 p.m. in their final game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.

Pine Bluff, a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, picked up their first win of the season last Monday in an 83-47 trouncing of Ecclesia College. For Siena, it will be their first time home since beating Cornell 89-78, ten days ago.

The Saints will again be without the services of Nico Clareth, who will be wrapping up a three-game suspension for what head coach Jimmy Patsos described to Talk 1300 (WGDJ/AM) as “a thing that happened socially on campus.”  The sophomore guard is expected to be back for the Albany Cup on Sunday.

Surprisingly, there was no media accessibility before tonight’s game, but in a text conversation with Mark Singleais of the Times Union, Patsos briefly touched on the match. “Gotta play better defense. It’s a mindset that we haven’t bought into yet. But we play these games to find out what we need to work on. It’s a lot of little things … but we will practice harder and try to see the little things that make a big difference!”

Although the spotlight may be on Sunday’s game, a quality showing before then could be all the Saints need to balance their defense.

The game is set to start at 7:00 p.m. and can be heard on Talk 1300 (WGDJ/AM) and seen across throughout New York on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel.

 

-Dylan Rossiter(@ByDylanRossiter)