Monday, January 28, 2008

Siena Backs By Iona

Siena sophomore Alex Franklin came off the bench in Sunday's matchup against Iona, but that didn't stop him from making a huge impact.

29 minutes, a game-high 17 points and tying for team-highs with steals (4) and rebounds (5), while dishing out a team-high four assists.

Siena coach Fran McCaffery said he might not start Franklin the rest of the year.

"I didn’t start him and I may not start him the rest of the year," McCaffery said. "Simply because he’s sort of day-to-day with his back. He feels good today, he has a great game. The other night, he couldn’t move."

Franklin said it was a mutual decision between he and McCaffery to have him come off of the bench because of the sore back that caused him to miss five games earlier this season.

"I told Coach that it probably would be better to come off the bench because it would relieve some of the pressure," Franklin said.

Siena had a great crowd at the Hynes Center today and by the end of the game, the Saints fans were making more noise then Iona fans.
"It seems like everywhere we go, we have a really good following," junior Josh Duell said. "I can’t say enough about the community we play in. I’ve been fortunate to grow up in it and see how loyal they can be. We had almost more (fans) than they did today and that really helped us out."

Duell said he's making the adjustment to playing with the mouth guard he must wear after breaking the bone in his mouth, a few weeks ago.

"It really dried out my mouth," Duell said. "I just have to get more used to that."

Here are some of the postgame quotes that you won't see in Monday's print edition.

Siena coach Fran McCaffery on how his team did better rebounding compared to the first time these teams met
"(Gary) Springer and (Devon) Clarke had their way last time and today wasn’t like that. That’s important. You give this team second-chance opportunities and then start fouling them when they put it to the deck, you’re going to have problems."

Siena sophomore Edwin Ubiles on how the start of the game was similar to the Loyola game
"That’s what caught our minds when we got down 14-2. We knew we couldn’t have another game like last one."
Sophomore Alex Franklin on how the start of the Loyola game was similar to this one
"It was like deja-vu all over again. It was scary at first because we started pretty slow and nothing was going for us, but we remained focused and we overcame that start."

Franklin on how a two-game losing streak would have been bad for the team
"It would have been a bad loss, if we would have lost this game. Coming off that Loyola loss, we needed something to get us back going."

Junior Josh Duell on Siena keeping their composure
"That was one thing that Coach (McCaffery) harped on all week. We kind of lost our composure at Loyola. We knew this was going to be a tough environment, they’re a great team at home and we knew we just had to come out and play."

Duell on the upcoming matchup against Rider (Saturday, Feb. 2)
"Now, we have a week to prepare for a really great team. Rider’s really hot right now. They have an NBA-caliber player in Jason Thompson. We have to come up with a gameplan for him and I’m sure we will."

Iona's Gary Springer on the Gales' rough second halves
"That’s been our biggest problem," Springer said. "We play good in the first half and them come out in the second half flat."

Springer on how Iona fouled too much, allowing Siena to go the free throw line 33 times
"We fouled them a lot. We need to stop all of the tic-tac fouls and just play straight up."

Here are the up to date MAAC standings
Rider 8-2, 15-6
Marist 8-2, 14-7
Siena 8-2, 13-7
Niagara 7-3, 13-6
Loyola 7-3, 11-10
Fairfield 5-5, 7-13
Iona 3-7, 7-15
Manhattan 2-8, 8-12
Saint Peter's 1-9, 4-16
Canisius 1-9, 3-17

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