The Siena men's basketball program will soon be hanging another number from the rafters.

The school announced today that Fred Shear (Class of 1973) will have his No. 50 retired, on Dec. 29, at halftime of the Saints game vs. La Salle.

Shear will join Marc Brown (#4), Billy Harrell (#10) and Kenny Hasbourck (#41) as the four players to have their jersey retired by Siena.

"Clearly this is a great individual honor and one that I most graciously accept," Shear said. "It is also a tremendous team honor. It speaks volumes about the type of teammates and coaches I had from 1969-73."

Shear is a graduate of Waterford-Halfmoon High School and holds the second highest career scoring average (20.3 ppg) in program history and the fifth career rebounding average (9.5 rpg). Shear was the first two-time All-American in Siena history, earning Associated Press Honorable Mention recognition in both 1972 and 1973.

Shear played only three varsity season (due to the NCAA freshman rule), but still ranks 12th all-time, with 1,400 career points and 15th all-time with 658 rebounds. He held the career scoring record for 14 years, prior to the introduction of the 3-point line.

Shear was the captain of Coach Bill Kirsch's first team at Siena. In addition to the Siena Hall of Fame, Shear is a member of the Waterford-Halfmoon High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Capital District Basketball Hall of Fame.

ALBANY - The Saints are playing pretty well.

Ryan Rossiter has a game-high 13 points and Clarence Jackson chipped in 11 in the first 20 minutes.

Greg Gantt led the Owls with seven points.

Marc Brown's No. 4 was retired at halftime and is hanging in the rafters, even with center court, in between Billy Harrell's No. 10 and Kenny Hasbrouck's No. 41.

LOUDONVILLE - While senior point guard Ronald Moore is still No. 2 in career assists at Siena College, behind Marc Brown, he is No. 1 on one list.

The nation's assist leader, Moore is averaging 8.3 assists per game through the first nine games.

Moore is more than a full assist ahead of Kentucky freshman phenom John Wall, who is averaging 7.0 assists per game.

"It's crazy to think about it," said Moore, before Thursday's practice. "I really just go into every game trying to find guys and at the end of the day, it's working out for me."

As far as the 6-foot Conshohocken native leading the nation for the whole season, Siena coach Fran McCaffery thinks it is possible.

"I think it's conceivable that he could lead the nation in assists, yeah, because we push it and we're going to score a high number," said McCaffery, earlier this week.

Moore currently has 637 career assists, 159 behind Brown's standard of 796, but at this rate, it would only take 19 or so games for him to get in that neighborhood. Siena has 21 regular season games remaining.

"Coming in here, as a freshman, you set goals for yourself," Moore said. "Me being able to find guys, dishing out assists is something I take pride in. If you ask anybody on the team, I really take pride in assists and not turning the ball over. That's something, as a point guard, that I take pride in and to be number one in the country right now is a great honor and hopefully I can carry it out the rest of the season."

The amazing thing about Brown is that he not only is the Siena all-time leader in assists, he is also the all-time leading scorer with 2,284 points.

Moore will likely surpass 1,000 points for his career, but he said to do what Brown did is more than incredible.

"It even suprises me not to see his number in the rafters," said Moore.

The only two numbers that Siena has retired are Troy native Billy Harrell's No. 10 and Kenny Hasbrouck's No. 41.

There's a good look at Kenny Hasbrouck's No. 41 jersey. Take a good look at it because no other Siena player will ever wear it after the school announced last night that it would retire their senior captain's number. 

Hasbrouck led the Saints to back-to-back NCAA Tournament and the two most prosperous years in the program's history.

The only other number that is retired by Siena is No. 10 of Billy Harrell, who graduated in 1952.