Imoh Silas had his greatest game as a Siena player on Friday evening.

Silas' monster night helped the Saints post their second straight near buzzer-beating victory, in a 71-70 victory over Cornell.

Mike McMahon/The Record

 Below are highlights and an interview with coach Jimmy Patsos, from the postgame radio. Both are courtesy the Siena athletic department.

ITHACA - The Siena Saints clearly have a flare for the dramatic, as they posted their second straight victory on Friday evening, getting a game-winning basket, in the late stages from junior Imoh Silas. 

The Saints have now won back-to-back games, something they only did twice last season.

What it means: The Saints are showing that even with a handful of freshmen, they can deal with some adversity. Siena has won two straight games in which they played well.

Give me some I(moh): Silas was dominant, posting a career-highs 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Silas also scored the game-winning basket and was all over the place for the Saints. 

Player of the Game (not Silas): Junior Rob Poole scored a game-high 19 points, coming off the bench. He helped the Saints out to an 11-point lead in the first half, hitting four 3-pointers and also grabbing six rebounds.

Play of the Game: Marquis Wright drove the lane, like he did against St. Bonaventure, but this time he missed the shot. Silas was in the right spot, grabbing the rebound, in traffic, and putting it back home for the game-winner.

Coming Up: The Saints head back to Albany and have to catch an early flight on Saturday morning, to head out to Chicago. Siena takes on Purdue on Sunday, in a game that will be televised on the Big Ten network. This will be a rematch of the 2010 NCAA tournament game, won by the Boilermakers in the final game for the big three of Alex Franklin, Edwin Ubiles and Ronald Moore. 

ITHACA - Siena got another game-winning basket late, to post their second straight victory on Friday evening.

Like he did on Tuesday, Marquis Wright drove, but this time he missed. The ball was caught by Imoh Silas and put back in, with 6.5 seconds remaining, to give the Saints a 71-70 victory over Cornell at Newman Arena.

Silas had a monster game, with a career-high 17 points and 14 rebounds. Rob Poole came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points for the Saints.

Nolan Cressler scored a game-high 25 points for the Big Red.

ITHACA - Rob Poole didn't start for the first time in some time. The junior came off the bench determined to prove he belongs back in the starting lineup.

Poole hit four 3-pointers and scored 15 points, as Siena leads Cornell 43-37, following 20 minutes of action.

Imoh Silas also played exceptions for the Saints, as he scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds. Silas started in place of Javion Ogunyemi, who is out with an ankle injury.

Siena shot 56 percent (13-23) from the field, while Cornell was equally as hot, going 14-for-25 (56%) from the field.

The Big Red were led by Nolan Cressler, who scored 12 points.

J.S. Carras/The Record

This should be an interesting game, as both the University at Albany and Cornell have been off for a few weeks, due to final exams. 

The Great Danes want to keep the momentum rolling. 

 

So far, UAlbany has played pretty well this year, with the one exception coming in the rivalry game, against Siena. 

“I’m very proud of this team and the way we’ve come together,” said junior forward Blake Metcalf.

There are five games remaining for UAlbany before conference season begins and each one of them is important. 

“I’m anxious for us to compete against a good team,” said UAlbany coach Will Brown.

 

UALBANY AT CORNELL

When: Today, 2 p.m.
Where: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca
Radio: WOFX 980-AM (Rodger Wyland, Zach Bye)
2009-10 Records: UAlbany 5-4. Cornell 3-4.
Last Meeting: Cornell 65, UAlbany 61, at SEFCU Arena, on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 — UAlbany leads the all-time series 3-1

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
UALBANY

No., Name, Pos., Yr., Ht., Ppg.
10, Mike Black, G, Jr., 6-0, 11.2
2, Lgoan Aronhalt, G, Jr., 6-3, 14.9 
20, Gerardo Suero, G, Jr., 6-4, 20.9
11, Luke Devlin, F, So., 6-8, 3.7 
21, Blake Metcalf, C, Jr., 6-9, 4.1

CORNELL

No., Name, Pos., Yr., Ht., Ppg.
3, Chris Wroblewski, G, Sr., 6-0, 9.4
15, Drew Ferry, G, Sr., 6-2, 13.0
22, Miles Asafo-Adjei, G, Jr., 6-2, 3.4
32, Shonn Miller, F, Fr., 6-7, 9.4
55, Eitan Chemerinski, Jr., F, 6-8, 8.9

University at Albany junior forward Blake Metcalf talks about the upcoming game against Cornell.

J.S. Carras - The Record

The above picture sums up what happened on Friday night. Sophomore point guard Mike Black went down late in the first half with a sprained ankle. All indications are that he will miss Monday's game against American.

This also won't make UAlbany fans too happy.

This paragraph below was on the ESPN web recap of Friday's game.

Albany, of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which led by 12 in the first half, scored the next five points and had a chance to tie, but Tim Ambrose's driving shot in the lane in the final seconds missed.

Here are videos from head coach Will Brown and Katie Abrahamson-Henderson after their season-opening games on Friday.

ALBANY - A great game, but not the end result the Great Danes wanted.

Cornell broke a 52-52 tie late and went on to win in a very crazy game, down the stretch.

Tim Ambrose lead all scorers with 20 points, but made a couple of mistakes down the stretch, with the ball in his hands.

Max Groebe led the Big Red with 15 points.

ALBANY - The Great Danes played the first 20 minutes of the 2010-11 season like last year never took place.

They came out of the gate flying and held a 19-10 lead.

With six minutes to go in the half, UAlbany led 26-17.

Then Mike Black went down. (Black is currently questionable with a left ankle sprain)

Cornell went on an 8-0 run and things have been back and forth ever since.

Tim Ambrose has 11 points for the Great Danes and Black has 10.

Max Groebe came on in the middle of the half and he leads the Big Red with 10.

We should be in for a good second half.

ALBANY - It's opening night for the University at Albany Great Danes.

Hopefully a decent crowd turns out tonight for the men's and women's doubleheader.

ESPN Simulation gives this game to Cornell, 74-61, and gives UAlbany just a 16.6 percent chance of winning tonight.

Of course, they have Chris Wroblewski scoring 23 points and he may not play because of a sprained ankle.

UAlbany there's hope, too. To show how much this prediction knows, it says the Great Danes will be led in scoring by transfer Theo Hatcher, who will score 11.

Here are some stories to read (if you're not already traveling to or at the game).

Troy Record advance

Ithaca Journal story on Cornell

EDIT: In my UAlbany season preview that ran Thursday, I said senior Tim Ambrose needed 28 points to reach 1,000 for his career. Not sure where I was looking when I was adding up the stats because Ambrose already has 1,051 points and sits 27th on the school's all-time scoring list.

ALBANY - University at Albany coach Will Brown said he was talking with his friend, Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon, recently, about the start of the season.

Dixon's Panthers are already 2-0 and started the season this past Monday.

Dixon's was wondering if his No. 4 Panthers were ready or not and saying they would have to rely on their seniors.

"We play a week from now and we don't have any seniors to rely on," Brown responded.

Brown said Thursday he'd like more time to spend with his team before the 2010-11 season begins, but that's likely how any coach feels.

As it is, Brown will start two freshmen, two sophomore and one junior Friday night, when the Great Danes open the season against Cornell at 7:30 p.m.

"We have a tremendous amount of youth that is going to take the floor," Brown said. "We have three guys that are going to start that have never worn the uniform before at this level."

Brown said he expects some youthful mistakes from this bunch, but he's hoping they learn and get better each day.

One player who has consistently improved and that's why he should be starting tomorrow is redshirt freshman John Puk.

Puk has established himself as one of the harder workers on the team and as a "team" player.

"He's been pretty good," Brown said. "he's got good skills and knows how to play."

Brown went on to say, "I expect him to have a tremendous career."

Another rookie who will start in the frontcourt is Luke Devlin.

You can read more about Luke and his travel from Australia in tomorrow's game advance.

"Those two guys have really separated themselves as team players throughout the course of the preseason," Brown said about Puk and Devlin.

Brown said the team will play a little different defensively, packing it in more and he said two keys to beating Cornell were defending the 3-pointer and making sure they get a shot up every time down the floor.

I've done some trading Brian Delaney of the Ithaca Journal about the Cornell/UAlbany season-opening basketball game that takes place on Friday.

I posed some questions to Brian and here were his answers about the Big Red.

1. What is the philosophy of new coach Bill Courtney (i.e. will he change the team's style of play)?

Early indications are Courtney wants to push the pace offensively, similar to Steve Donahue's style, and play a more high-energy, pressure defense that takes a lot of charges and harasses teams. Courtney's got a deep bench at his disposal, and a pretty athletic team by Ivy League standards, to try and successfully pull that style off. Playing to the strengths of his returning personnel, I think Courtney will encourage his team to aggressively shoot the 3 once again.

2. Cornell went to the Sweet 16 last year. What are realistic expectations for the Big Red this season?

Realistically, I think Cornell remains a competitive Ivy League team that defends its home court and uses the non-conference schedule as a means of preparing for the league schedule. There are no thoughts of being a top 25 team with this group, but they believe they can still challenge for an Ivy championship and an NCAA tournament berth. Getting into the tournament this year would be a significant accomplishment.

3. How good is Chris Wroblewski? Will he be ready to play on Friday (ankle)?

Wroblewski is likely to be a game-time decision for Friday night. He sprained an ankle in a scrimmage two Saturdays ago. He's deceptively good - not overly quick, but smart with angles when he's driving to the basket; great court vision; tough; poised; He's a 45-percent 3-point shooter. Last year, he was the fourth or fifth scoring option and burned teams when they paid less than full attention to him - he had 22 against Seton Hall and 22 against Syracuse. The question this year is, can he be consistently productive as teams focus on him? Cornell doesn't need him to be a 20-points per game guy. But if he can get 10-15 a night while organizing offensive sets and getting a lot of assists/hockey assists - he'll be a player of the year candidate in the Ivy.

4. Which players have been surprising, good or bad?

I've been impressed with Josh Figini, a 6-9 sophomore. He's added weight and strength and benefited from getting his tail kicked in by Jeff Foote all last year. He's a good pick-and-pop guy, and Cornell will be able to stretch teams out with him on the floor. He's someone that probably helps more down the road as opposed to right away. Another sophomore, Miles Asafo-Adjei, has improved quite a bit as Chris Wroblewski's back-up. His enthusiasm and positive attitude are infectious - an easy-to-predict captain-in-the-making down the line.

Ask Bill Courtney this question, and he'll point to two seniors having had strong camps: 6-5 Adam Wire and 6-9 Aaron Osgood. Wire was a staple of the past two championship teams. He's built like an NFL tight end, is a great defender and rebounder and does a ton of little things. Fans don't always notice his contributions; opposing coaches do. Osgood didn't crack the rotation is first three years, but he'll be needed this year.

I don't think there are any bad surprises to be named - just unknowns because so many guys on this team haven't logged enough game minutes. For instance, where does Anthony Gatlin, a 6-8 transfer from Centenary, fit in? How about Andrew Ferry, a 6-2 junior college transfer?

5. What is this team's biggest strength/weakness?

Strengths: 3-point shooting; passing; offensive chemistry; team intelligence; team unselfishness; players have been reared in a winning culture.

Weaknesses: Depth at point guard; size in the frontcourt; a proven offensive post presence; lack of a shot-blocker.

ALBANY - One player I got a chance to speak to at UAlbany basketball media day on Monday was sophomore Mike Black.

Black became the starting point guard last season, after the departure of Mike Johnson.

Black averaged 7.2 points and 2.4 assists per game as a freshman and the expectations are only getting bigger.

"He's a guy that I'd be shocked if he wasn't a consistent double figure scorer for us," UAlbany coach Will Brown said. "If he's not than I just think he's not taking enough shots."

Black missed five days of practice recently with back spasms, something that he said isn't a problem anymore.

"It's good," said Black, who starting having back issues over the summer. "I'll be ready for Friday."

Black and the rest of the Great Danes take on Cornell (I'll have more on the Big Red this week) on Friday in the 2010-11 season opener.

Brown said Black played well in Saturday's scrimmage, so hopefully it won't continue to be an issue.

Starting his second season, Black says he feels much more comfortable with the offense and his role.

He said his high school team didn't run too many plays, so that was a definite change last season.

"My mind was going everywhere," he said. "I'm a lot more comfortable now."

More on media day after I finish the story for the paper.

The college basketball season starts tomorrow (check, if you don't believe me).

It's that time of year.

This season, we're calling on Siena and UAlbany fans to pose questions for Coach Mitch Buonaguro and Coach Will Brown and for that matter questions about the teams.

This season I'll take questions you have and pose them directly to our coaches.

This is your chance to get involved and find out what you are wondering about. Why did a coach do that? Why wasn't a certain player effective?

Anything. Of course, there will be some editing on my part and the coaches can't comment on recruits, per NCAA rules, until they sign Letters of Intent.

I will take some of the best questions, so fire away.

Here is our Siena preview story that ran in today's paper. You always want to get your hands on a copy of the paper to see the overview, complete with schedule, stats from last year and MAAC players to keep an eye on.

Also, a teaser for UAlbany fans. I'll be doing some sort of information trading with the Ithaca Journal's Brian Delaney, who covers Cornell, in preparation for the season opener on Friday.

Any questions you have for him about the Big Red, send my way.

One more message. The way this blog is set up is, if you comment I have to approve it, per our paper's rules, so you may not see it pop up right away. Don't be discouraged. I check this constantly, especially during hoops season.

Happy Hooping!

In a sign of the times, University at Albany men's basketball coach Will Brown has taken to using his twitter account to reach Great Danes basketball fans.

Brown is tweeting one game of the upcoming 2010-11 season every day for his followers on twitter.

So far, this is what it looked like.

Nov. 12 Cornell (Season Opener/Home Opener)
Nov. 15 American
Nov. 17 at GTech

The Great Danes will be opening the season with two home games. Then, UAlbany will travel to Atlanta to take on former Siena coach Paul Hewitt and the Yellow Jackets.

You can follow Brown at www.twitter.com/UAHOOPSWB

ESPN.com has a story from Dana O'Neil about the changing times for college basketball in the New York Metropolitan area.

Once Hofstra hires a replacement for Tim Welsh, who resigned Monday because of a DWI, the New York City area will have had 12 new coaches this offseason.

Here's a link to the story.

The story mentions both Manhatthan coach Barry Rohrssen and Saint Peter's coach John Dunne, a former Siena assistant.

Here's a quote from the story, referring to Siena.

"When you start claiming Cornell and Siena as your New York City teams, it's bad," said Dick "Hoops" Weiss, the longtime basketball writer for the New York Daily News. "For a while we even adopted Connecticut. I think people finally realized that fans aren't going to be satisfied with mediocrity. Whether it's 65 or 68 teams, it becomes a pass/fail deal. New York was failing."

Siena freshman Kyle Downey has done everything so far to please his teammates and coaches.

On Saturday, he was key in starting Siena's 15-1 run that put the game out of reach.

Downey knocked down a Kenny Hasbrouck-like floater then called for and knocked down a big 3-pointer to increase the lead to 12.

"Kyle's in the gym two times more than I am," Hasbrouck said. "He's in the gym day and night and we expect him to play like that."

The freshman finished with seven points and two assists in 19 minutes.

"I would have been surprised if he didn't do that, the way he's played," Siena coach Fran McCaffery said.

To his credit, Downey has down-played everything so far this season, the media attention, the shots made, just about everything.

"We were in the flow and I just had hit the shot before and I was open and he got it to me," said Downey of his big 3-pointers.

Downey said it was "cool" hitting a big three in front of the home crowd.

"They were getting a little louder because we hit a few baskets," Downey said. "It was cool."

____________

Give Cornell coach Steve Donohue credit.

Asked about playing without preseason Player of the Year Louis Dale, this is what Donohue had to say.

"I hate when I watch other coaches, to be honest with you, talk about injuries," Donohue said. "Everybody has injuries, everybody has injuries. Siena beat us. They are a much better basketball team than us."

Donohue also gave a shot to MAAC rival Loyola, albeit a small and unintended one, when talking about the easy shots that his team missed.

"We did it the last game and got away with it, against Loyola, not nearly the basketball team Siena is," Donohue said. "It cost us tonight."

__________

Sophomore Ryan Rossiter posted his first career double-double by scoring 10 points and 15 rebounds.

He looked impressive going up against 7-foot center Jeff Foote.

"You look at what he's doing and he's an all-league player the way he's playing right now," McCaffery said. "I thought that this summer, but you don't want to get too excited with what a guy does in Italy."

Overview: Cornell and Siena both went to the NCAA Tournament last season and they are both pretty heavily favored to do so again in 2008-09.

The Big Red posted an 83-77 victory last season, while putting five players in double figures.

Louis Dale led the way with 20 points and both Ryan Wittman and Collin Robinson scored 14.

Alex Franklin led the way for Siena with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Edwin Ubiles added 17 and Kenny Hasbrouck scored 16.

The Big Red has beat South Dakota (79-69) and Loyola (Md.) (82-72) and loss to St. John's (86-75).

Records: Siena 1-0. Cornell 2-1

The Series: Series is tied 1-1. Cornell won last season 83-77. Siena won in 1985, 70-55 in the Siena Invitational Tournament.

Player to Watch: Ryan Wittman, junior Cornell. Wittman, who is the son of former NBA player and current Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Randy Wittman, is averaging 24.7 points through three games. ESPN's Fran Fraschilla placed Wittman as No. 10 on his list of Top 10 shooters in the country along with Davidson's Stephen Curry, Notre Dame's Kyle McAlarney, Miami's Jack McClinton (former Siena player) and Rhode Island's Jimmy Barron amongst others.

X-Factor: Jeff Foote, senior Cornell. Foote has never played against the Saints because he transferred from St. Bonaventure. Currently, he is averaging 15.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per game. If Foote can stay with Siena's fast-paced tempo than he could make a difference. If the Saints can run him off of the floor, it will be to their advantage.

Injury Note: Siena senior Josh Duell has practiced all but one day this week and plans on playing. He's been swimming to get his endurance back and also is wearing a heel lift to keep the Achilles straight.

"Hopefully I don’t foul like I did last game, so I can stay in longer," Duell joked about playing only three minutes against Boise State and picking up three fouls.

For Cornell, Louis Dale (hamstring) is doubtful, while fellow All-Ivy guard Adam Gore (knee) is out until January.

Prediction: Siena 81, Cornell 68 (I don't think the Big Red will come out on top this time around)