Kenny Hasbrouck just had the best game I've ever witnessed him have and was one point shy of tying his career-high.

Hasbrouck's 35 points, all clutch, on 14-of-21 shooting, helped the Saints win their second straight game over Marist in five days and first in Poughkeepsie since the 2002-03 season.

Here I sit at some rest stop on the New York State Thurway because someone dropped the ball at Marist and no, I'm not talking about the game. The internet connections were spotty at best and so I was forced to drive 30 miles or what felt like 600 to the closest thurway for wireless internet.

For my first trip to the McCann Center, it will probably be the best. Sold-out, 3,200 fans going nuts on national television and Siena sent three buses of their own down for the game.

It was one of those games that gave me knots in my stomach for probably the final seven minutes of regulation, not to mention the overtime.....and I didn't even care who won, so I can imagine what fans were going through.

Everybody played a role in tonight's win, which will atone for the way they played on national television against Rider. Franklin scores 10, Duell d's up on Benjamin and Stilphen. Hasbrouck, haven't we talked about him enough, Moore made a couple huge shots and so did Fisher. Then there's Cory Magee who played so big minutes in overtime once Duell and Franklin had fouled out.

Oh and how about Ubiles, who scored 21 and made some big jumpers in a return to his Poughkeepsie stomping grounds.

The only other thing you could have asked for was maybe one of the teams to get a shot off in the final 16 seconds. Other than that, wow.

Marist lost both games by a combined 13 points and didn't have one of their best players, Louie McCroskey, who's out for most likely the remainder of the season with a fractured foot.

As it may pain Saints fans to hear me say, I would have liked to see Louie play, but just because I did and still do follow Syracuse basketball.

I give it up to the Marist fans. For almost all of the game, a few cheers aside, I thought they did an excellent job cheering on their team and proving that their gym is the toughest place to play in the MAAC.

How about Jay Gavin too. The kid scores 19 points and hung in there like an upperclassman, minus the turnover on the Red Foxes' final possession in overtime.

What a game!!

I'm going to finish my drive home now. I think my ears are still ringing.


Here are the up to date MAAC Standings (which are actually wrong right now on the MAAC site because they gave tonight's win to Marist)
Rider 11-2, 18-6
Siena 10-3, 15-8
Loyola 9-4, 14-11
Niagara 8-5, 14-8
Marist 8-5, 14-10
Fairfield 7-6, 9-14
Iona 5-7, 9-15
Canisius 2-10, 4-18
Manhattan 2-11, 8-15
Saint Peter's 2-11, 5-18