ALBANY - Siena's young players keep maturing right before our eyes.

The Saints have been in a number of close games and yet they haven't really played like inexperienced players.

Siena used a balanced effort to get past Hofstra, 67-59, on Friday evening. The Saints are now 3-3, in games decided by eight points or less (two of the losses came to Purdue).

What it means:  The Saints have proved they are a better team at home, with a 2-1 record, and having won their past two games. That should bode well for this team, which plays four of its next five on the road, including three MAAC games.

Siena got a lot of balance in this game, having four players in double figures and Marquis Wright adding eight. If they can get that kind of balance, they will be a tough team to defend, come the return of conference play.

Player of the game: Rob Poole didn't have a terrific game offensively, but he finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. In addition, he guarded Hofstra's top player Zeke Upshaw, who had a miserable game, going 2-for-17 from the field and finishing with just seven points.

Play of the game: After Dion Nesmith drained a 3-pointer to cut Siena's lead to 53-51, Wright got an open look at calmly drained a 3-pointer to put the Saints back five. Wright was just 2-for-10 from beyond the arc coming into the game, but didn't hesitate to let it fly.

On that play, Patsos moved Evan Hymes to the point guard position and that allowed Wright to find himself open.

Injury Update: Freshman Javion Ogunyemi played for the first time in a month, after suffering an ankle injury in the St. Bonaventure game. While he finished with zero points (0-3 shooting), he played 12 minutes and had two rebounds.

“I just have to work on my conditioning and my game will get back to where it needs to be," he said.

Up next: The Saints are off for a week before they host Fordham, in the final non-conference game of the year.

ALBANY - The Siena men's basketball team closed out another game on Friday evening.

The Saints held the lead throughout the second half, despite Hofstra constantly coming closer and closer, to post a 67-59 victory.

Maurice White, Lavon Long and Rob Poole all scored 14 points for the Saints (4-8).

The Pride (3-7) were led by Jamall Robinson, who scored a career-high 16.

ALBANY - The Siena men's basketball team played well for about 15 minutes, but finished very sloppy.

The Saints led by as many as 13, but lead Hofstra by just five, 28-23, at intermission.

Siena was led by freshmen Lavon Long and Maurice White. Long had 10 points, while White scored eight and grabbed eight rebounds, already a career-high.

The Pride started the half shooting very poorly from the field, but were led by Chris Jenkins, who scored eight points off the bench in the first half.

Troy High grad Javion Ogunyemi played his first action since the last home game, Nov. 19 against St. Bonaventure. Ogunyemi played seven minutes and missed all three shots he took.

Siena lost its BracketBusters game, 81-69 at Hofstra on Saturday. Below are highlights and reaction from Coach Mitch Buonaguro, courtesy of the Siena Athetic Department.

J.S. Carras/The Record

Siena travels south today to take on Hofstra in a BracketBusters game.

This game doesn't mean too much in terms of how the Saints or Pride will finish up the year, but both teams are looking for some momentum as the regular season draws to a close.

Here is a link to the BracketBusters advance that was in Saturday's edition of the paper.

SIENA AT HOFSTRA

Where: Mack Sports Complex (5,054), Hempstead
When: Today, 4 p.m.
Radio: TALK 1300 (Robert Lee)
Last Meeting: Hofstra 84, Siena 80, at Times Union Center, Albany, on Nov. 29, 2006 — Hofstra leads the all-time series 3-0 
Records: Siena (12-14) Hofstra (8-20)

Probable Starters
SIENA

No     Player    Pos.    Yr.    Ht.    Ppg
5    Evan Hymes    G    Fr.    5-8    14.3
3     Kyle Downey    G    Sr.    6-2    12.8
31    Owen Wignot     F    Sr.    6-6    6.1
1    OD Anosike    F    Jr.    6-8    14.8
0    Brandon Walters     C    Sr.    6-8    6.4

HOFSTRA

No    Player    Pos.    Yr.    Ht.     Ppg
11    Dwan McMillan    G     Sr.    6-0     5.6
23    Mike Moore     G    Sr.     6-5    19.1
1    Nathaniel Lester    F    Sr.     6-5     14.4
5    David Imes    F     Jr.     6-7    7.0
24    Stephen Nwaukoni    F     So.    6-8    4.3

Today’s Games

Stony Brook at Northeastern    1 p.m.
Niagara at Vermont     2 p.m.
Marist at Maine     2 p.m.
UMBC at Canisius    2 p.m.
UNC-Wilmington at Manhattan    2 p.m.
Hartford at Saint Peter’s    2 p.m.
Towson at New Hampshire    3 p.m.
Binghamton at Radford    4 p.m.
Fairfield at Milwaukee    4 p.m.
Nevada at Iona (ESPN2)    4 p.m.
Siena at Hofstra    4 p.m.
Rider at UAlbany    7 p.m.

Sunday’s Games

Boston U. at Loyola (Md.)    12 p.m.

I had a chance to stop by UAlbany football practice today and the team is certainly happy that they are 1-1 and not 0-2 after their dramatic overtime victory over Hofstra.

Of course they have changing big Raphael Nguti (he's 6-foot-7 and 330-pounds) to the special teams unit to thank for that.

Nguti (who is as big as advertised, believe me I talked to him Wednesday) blocked two kicks - including one in overtime as the Danes defeated Hofstra 22-16.

Nguti was named Northeast Conference Special Teams Player of the Week (duh).

David McCarty broke the program record by rushing for 178 yards and eclipsing 100 yards for the eighth consecutive game passing Gary Jones' (2002) total of seven.

McCarty, who scored the game-winning touchdown, didn't know about this until I told him today and he also didn't know that he has eclipsed 2,000 all-purpose yards for his career.

The accolades piled up for McCarty this week as he received a College Sporting News All-Star selection and Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

Here's what McCarty had to say about that...

“I’m just out there to win,” McCarty said. “I hadn’t done anything all game. I was just happy to be involved in the winning play.”

Here's a picture of the winning touchdown....

(Brian DePasquale - UAlbany Athletics)

Another key player and someone I had a chance to catch up with was junior safety Dave Casale, who blocked the third kick of the night for UAlbany when he deflected the Pride's possible game-winning kick with under 10 seconds to go, which forced overtime.

Casale said the team is much more positive heading into the big matchup against 10th-ranked New Hampshire (2-0), the first time these teams have ever met, on Saturday with last week's thrilling win under their belt.

Coach Bob Ford said that the win was one of his best (and remember he's got 226 of them), but he also said that the big win provides a large challenge as his squad gets ready for a tougher task come Saturday.

“The two toughest challenges in coaching are picking a team up after a devastating loss and after a great win, bringing them back down to earth,” Ford said.

I'll have something in the print edition on UAlbany's matchup and last week's big win, probably on Saturday or possibly on Friday.

New Hampshire Results
Sept. 6 @ Army W 28-10
Sept. 13 @ Rhode Island W 51-43