Saints come up short at Rider

Lawrenceville, NJ — The Siena men’s basketball team dropped their sixth road game of the season Monday, in a hard fought 71-69 loss at Rider due to trouble late in the game.

The Saints (3-6, 1-1 MAAC) missed 15 of their final 16 shots which coupled with only shooting 28.9% from the field in the second half, ultimately did them in.

All it takes is a quick look at the stat sheet to put in perspective how easily this one could have swayed in favor of the Saints. The game featured 14 ties and 17 lead changes, while either team’s biggest lead reached no more than a whopping seven points. That’s just three to four possessions depending on how you look at it, before factoring the potential for fouls.

Although Rider’s Xavier Lundy only scored four of his game-high 20 points in the second half, the senior forward came up clutch when the Broncs needed him most – scoring the go-ahead jumper with 2:22 remaining. The shot put the Broncs back in front for good at 69-68.

Siena’s Nico Clareth would get one buzzer-beating opportunity, but to no avail – sounding the horn one final time.

An obviously disappointed Siena coach Jimmy Patsos reportedly said “we’re a veteran team that needs to grow up” four times in a row outside the locker room. [Per Mark Singelais of the Albany Times Union]

Grown up or not, the team will travel to take on one-time NCAA tournament Cinderella story Florida Gulf Coast University on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast locally on Talk 1300 (WGDJ/AM).

Mike Demos (Siena athletics) contributed to this post. 

-Dylan Rossiter(@ByDylanRossiter)