ALBANY - Siena pulled away in the second half.

Ryan Rossiter scored 15 points in the second half and didn't scored until 14 minutes remained.

The Saints are now looking ahead to the MAAC Tournament.

ALBANY - This game has been a lot closer than expected so far.

Marist actually had a lead three minutes to go in the first half, before Siena went on a 8-0 run to end the half.

Edwin Ubiles has 12 to lead the Saints, while Dejuan Goodwin has nine to lead the Red Foxes.

ALBANY - As the Senior Day ceremonies are going on in front of us, all the other MAAC games are over, so we can look ahead to the seeds for the MAAC Tournament.

1. Siena
2. Fairfield
3. Iona
4. Saint Peter's
5. Rider
6. Niagara
7. Canisius
8. Loyola (Md.)
9. Manhattan
10. Marist

From Trentonian intern Libor Jany

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - Siena’s frenetic pace on offense, coupled with a suffocating, trapping defense that forced 15 turnovers, overwhelmed the Broncs and held star Ryan Thompson mostly in check.

Rider’s Novar Gadson had a career-high 25 points, on 10-of-17 shooting, but it was not nearly enough as the Saints ran away with a 80-54 win Friday at Alumni Gym. Thompson finished with 10 points.

At times, it seemed like the MAAC-leading Saints were playing with the same reckless abandon and intensity one would expect from a team fighting for a higher seed in the postseason tournament: a team like Rider, who is struggling to gain ground in the MAAC race.

Edwin Ubiles led the way for Siena with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

“They’re a tough team. I don’t care what their record says,” said Siena junior forward Ryan Rossiter. “They’re real physical inside.” Rossiter recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Yet, whether it was diving for lose balls or coming up with timely offensive rebounds, Siena came out determined to put the game away early. The quick hands of senior point guard Ronald Moore disrupted Rider’s timing on offense as Moore and his backcourt mate Clarence Jackson each had three steals.

Siena raced out to a 47-28 halftime lead, by shooting 61.3 percent in the first half.

According to forward O.D. Anosike, Siena’s gameplan was to take a “business-like approach” in limiting Thompson’s scoring opportunities, and they were effective for the most part.

The crafty Moore summed it up best when he said his teammates were simply “defensively getting after it, and limiting them (Rider) to one-shot opportunities.”

Despite the one-sided affair Moore, who finished eight points and a game-high eight assists, was dissatisfied the team’s performance down the stretch.

“We let up a bit at the end,” he said.

LOUDONVILLE - Siena sophomore guard Kyle Downey seems posied to test out his right foot in this weekend's final two games.

Downey was dressed for practice Wednesday and said if he can't go Friday night against Rider, he will definitely go Sunday on Senior Day against Marist.

Siena got dropped on Saturday, 70-53 to No. 18 Butler at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in their ESPNU BracketBusters matchup.

Photos from AP.

ALBANY - Muhammad El-Amin hit a jump shot with a hand in his face with one second remaining to give first place Stony Brook a two-point victory.

El-Amin scored a game-high 19 points for the Seawolves.

UAlbany got 17 points from senior Will Harris, 16 from senior Scotty McRae and 12 from junior Tim Ambrose.

The Great Danes had a three-point lead twice in the final eight minutes, but couldn't get the lead any larger.

ALBANY - The University at Albany celebrated Senior Night for four seniors, Will Harris, Brett Gifford, Scotty McRae and Louis Barraza.

Things didn't get off to a great start though as the Great Danes made just one of their first 11 shots from the field and found themselves down double-digits.

Couple UAlbany's shooting woes with Stony Brook shooting the lights out from 3-point land and the Seawolves led by as many as 16.

Stony Brook made five of their first six 3-pointers.

Muhammaed El-Amin has eight points to lead the Seawolves, while McRae, who had an incredible put-back dunk, has 10 to lead the Great Danes.

LOUDONVILLE - Siena sophomore guard Kyle Downey is out of the boot that has been on his right foot since breaking it during practice on Jan. 19.

Downey is still hoping to make a return to the court by MAAC Tournament time.

The Saints surely could use him to add to their depth.

On Wednesday, Downey was on the court by himself before practice shooting at the hoop, but no jumping and very little movement or cutting.

"Nothing really to report, other than he's making good progress," Siena coach Fran McCaffery said on Tuesday.

The University at Albany has ended their long eight-game losing streak and pulled back into eighth place with a 75-62 victory over UMBC on Saturday night.

Scotty McRae tied for game-high honors with 19 points, while Tim Ambrose added 17 and Mike Black finished with 15 for the Great Danes, who won just their third conference regular season game in their last 21 contests.

Siena transfer Chris De La Rosa led the Retreievers with 19 points and Chauncey Gilliam added 15.

Siena went to the Taps Gallagher Center and for the second straight season got hit with a loss, 87-74 to Niagara.

The defeat ends the Saints winning streak of 15 games, which was the nation's longest and their MAAC winning streak of 18 consecutive games.

Siena was definitely outplayed in the second half, where they were outscored 48-37.

While this hurts the Saints' NCAA Tournament resume, it's not something that a victory over Butler or getting back on a winning role, couldn't change.

LOUDONVILLE - Despite the fact that Niagara has fallen back in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings, Siena will be ready for a raucous, championship game-like atmosphere Friday night at the Gallagher Center.

“Every game we’ve played in that building, since every one of our guys has been here has been absolute mayhem,” Siena coach Fran McCaffery said. “That’s what it’s going to be like.”

Even though the Saints posted a pretty easy victory over the Purple Eagles earlier this season, this game could be different.

“We know that they’re one of the superior teams in the league,” said senior point guard Ronald Moore. “They have the talent and they have experienced guys.”

“We’re expecting their best,” added junior Clarence Jackson. “They’re out to prove a point that they’re not what their record shows.”

The game can be seen on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.

ALBANY - It certainly wasn't a game to write home about for either squad.

UAlbany made one 3-pointers, finishing 1-for-12 from beyond the arc and Tim Ambrose only scored four points, all of which came in the final 67 seconds.

New Hampshire shot nearly 50 percent, but somehow were still in a dogfight to pull this one out.

If there was a bright spot for the Great Danes it was the play of Fran Urli, who scored a career-high 14 points.

Alvin Abreu led all scorers with 22 points for the Wildcats.

ALBANY - Good seats are still available for this game between UAlbany and New Hampshire.

If a shot misses in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did it actually happen.

At the start of the game, the Great Danes were certainly missing shots as they missed nine of their first 11 field goals.

The Wildcats haven't been much better and therefore we have a close game at intermission.

Alvin Abreu has seven points to lead New Hampshire, while Fran Urli's nine points is tops for UAlbany.

ALBANY - It was close the entire way in the second half, but Siena pulls out the game.

The Saints' biggest lead in the second half was just nine points.

The lead was cut to one twice, but the Saints scored both times.

After a switch that put Edwin Ubiles on Derek Needham, he had a much less productive half, only scoring just six.

The Saints were not good from the free throw line, finishing 10-for-16 for the game, but Clarence Jackson hit two big ones with six seconds to go.

ALBANY - If Siena is going to win their 15th game in a row and clinch the regular season title, the No. 1 seed in the MAAC Tournament and an NIT berth should they need it, they're going to have their work cut out for them.

The Saints jumped out to a huge lead, 14-4, and it looked like this would be an runaway, but Fairfield came back by scoring 11 of the game's next 13 points

Derek Needham scored nine of those 11 points and finished the half with a 17, to lead all scorers.

Siena struggled after Alex Franklin went to the bench with 12:29 to go, after picking up his second foul on a Needham 3-point attempt.

The Saints finished the half on a 15-5 run to take the lead into the half.

Ryan Rossiter leads Siena with 10 points.

ALBANY - On Monday, UAlbany coach Will Brown described an recent interesting interaction with senior Scotty McRae.

"Coach, we're really good," McRae said to his coach.

Brown responded that the team is 6-20 and has lost seven games in a row.

"We keep finding ways to lose," McRae responded. "We're not a 6-20 team."

Brown said he did have to chuckle about it because McRae has come a long way this season (remember last year he was kicked off the team).

Brown likes the way his team is playing (not the results), but he knows if his young group keeps playing hard, the results will turn around.

"I think that's what these young guys are starting to figure out now," Brown said. "I think they love to play and I think the losing bothers them, but they're trying to stop the bleeding and that's all we can do."

UAlbany plays New Hampshire on Tuesday at SEFCU Arena.

UAlbany freshman Mike Black was named America East Rookie of the Week on Monday.

Black is the third Great Danes player to win the award the season, joining Blake Metcalf and Logan Aronhalt.

Black averaged 14.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds in a pair of conference games this past week.

Siena senior Alex Franklin was named MAAC Player of the Week for the third time this season and sixth time in his career on Monday.

Franklin has posted five 20-point performances in his last six games.

Franklin and the Saints can clinch the MAAC regular season title tonight and the No. 1 seed in next month's MAAC Tournament.

ALBANY - UAlbany drops another one tonight.

There were two of the more bizarre plays that I've seen in a long time in the second half, both resulting in an injury.

For UAlbany, Will Harris threw a pass away, trying to get it to Tim Ambrose.

Ambrose fell down and looked like he hurt his back, Harris fell down backpedaling and Strong to it in for the easy slam.

Ambrose, then went to the locker room.

For Boston University, Tyler Morris pushed the ball up the floor and tossed a perfect alley-oop pass.

The only problem was both Jake O'Brien and John Holland jumped for the dunk and collided with the ball going off the rim.

Holland was shaken up, but stayed in the game.

ALBANY - The crowd has filled in quite nicely in the 13th annual Big Purple Growl.

UAlbany came out strong and led 5-2, no doubt playing with emotion in front of this good crowd.

Boston University did do damage from 3-point land early, knocking down three in the first seven minutes, in addition to two 3-point plays to jump out in front.

John Holland made the highlight reels for the Terriers with a huge slam after Mike Black was blocked on one end.

The Terriers wasn't very good from long distance, especially considering they 10 in the first half against UAlbany in their meeting earlier this season.

The Great Danes offense came to a stand still late in the half as they scored just one point in the final 3:30.

ALBANY - Siena senior Alex Franklin scored a game-high 23 points against Iona on Friday night and the forward leads the team averaging 16.4 points per game.

“This is a team loaded with very good basketball players,” Iona coach Kevin Willard said. “But I think he’s the best in the conference by far.”

Willard said he stopped Franklin in the postgame hand shake line and told him he has to graduate because Williard doesn't like playing against Franklin.

“He’s everything that I want my young four’s (power forwards) to be,” Willard said.

While Siena has a number of options for the conference player of the year, Willard said he thought it was pretty cut and dry.

“I don’t know how you could vote for anybody else for player of the year,” he said.

ALBANY - Siena cruised to victory in the second half.

Ronald Moore became the 35th player in school history to score 1,000 points and makes it a second straight year with three players on the same team who have scored more than 1,000 points.

Alex Franklin led the Saints with 23 points, Clarence Jackson chipped in 20 and Ryan Rossiter finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

The Gaels got a game-high 24 points from Scott Machado and 16 points and 15 rebounds from Alejo Rodriguez.

ALBANY - A great crowd here tonight and a lot of gold in the house.

The Saints played well in the first half and have a 10-point lead at halftime to show for it.

I'm really impressed with Iona sophomore Scott Machado, who was the rookie of the year last year and has 12 points in the first half.

Machado has great control over his body and does a great job of getting into the lane.

The Saints had five 3-pointers in the first half, two from Edwin Ubiles and two from Clarence Jackson.

Ubiles had nine to lead the Saints, while Ryan Rossiter and Alex Franklin finished the half with eight.

ALBANY - In UAlbany's last game against Binghamton, junior guard Tim Ambrose went over the 1,000-point mark for his career.

On Friday, I asked him what that meant.

"It meant a lot to me," Ambrose said. "It would have felt a little bit better if we got the 'W' to go along with it."

It's been a difficult season for the Great Danes and Ambrose, who has lost his starting position, but coach Will Brown still thinks Ambrose can improve.

"I want Timmy to become the best player he can be," Brown said. "I want him to read defenses, I want him to be rock-solid on defense, I want him to attack the rim, I want him to become just as good of a player as possible."

Brown said he wants Ambrose to continue to get better and to continue to develop his game.

As of 1:45 this afternoon, the Siena/Iona matchup has been declared a sellout.

It's Gold Rush night for Siena and it should be a great atmosphere as the top two teams in the MAAC battle it out.

LOUDONVILLE - Siena is calling on its fans to wear gold shirts for the Gold Rush game against Iona on Friday.

It will be a matchup of the two hottest teams in the league as the Saints (12-0, 19-4) have won 13 games in a row, while the Gaels (9-3, 17-6) have won eight straight.

According to the school, only 160 tickets remain for the game.

“It’ll be a good atmosphere,” said junior forward Ryan Rossiter. “Hopefully we’ll get a bunch of people in gold and we’ll get out there and put on a good show for them.”

While the players are supposed to block out everything off of the court, the Siena players said t

“We thrive off that,” senior point guard Ronald Moore said. “Hopefully it is a great crowd for tomorrow night, everyone is in gold. It makes it a lot easier for a player to play in an atmosphere like that, you got your adrenaline going and I think we play better the higher the stakes.”

*****

In case you didn't see it, a story on Tay Fisher who returns to Albany on Sunday with the Harlem Globetrotters.

'Firefly' lighting it up for Globetrotters

There's a story about Niagara senior guard Tyrone Lewis on the front page of ESPN's college basketball section.

It's something I didn't know about Tyrone and turned out to be a great read.

The link to the story is below.

Story

LOUDONVILLE - Siena coach Fran McCaffery indicated on Monday that Butler will be coming to Albany next season for a ESPNU BracketBusters return date.

"I think we're going to play it next year, here," McCaffery said at his weekly media luncheon.

The option was given to give schools two years to return this year's BracketBusters game because it makes for either two home or two road games in one season.

For instance, Siena had to travel to Northern Iowa this year to return last year's BracketBuster game and then has to travel to Butler for this year's event.

McCaffery said that there was no solid date set yet for the game.

LOUDONVILLE - According to a athletic spokesman, approximately 700 tickets remain for Friday night's Siena game against Iona.

The game pits possibly the hottest team in the nation, Siena, which has a 13-game winning streak, against Iona, which is riding an 8-game winning streak.

The night is also Gold Rush night, where the school is encouraging fans to wear gold t-shirts.

Siena has won 13 straight games, the nation's longest winning streak and will take on Butler (18-4) in the ESPNU BracketBusters event on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.