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.

The NCAA did not change their stance regarding Siena freshmen Lionel Gomis and Imoh Silas.

Both Silas and Gomis will sit out this year and will be eligible for the 2012-13 season.

This is difficult news for the Saints and coach Mitch Buonguro who are thin up front, already with the loss of Davis Martens for the season.

It's the second MAAC-related NCAA decision in the past two days.

On Thrusday, the NCAA granted Lamont "MoMo" Jones a hardship wavier, allowing the Arizona transfer to play this season for Iona.

If you remember, University at Albany forward Will Harris received this type of wavier, when he transferred in from Virginia.

The Sneak Preview, hosted annually by Siena College, is a good way to get people thinking about the upcoming college basketball season.

Below freshman Marcus Hopper meets with Jack and Mary Ryan of Waterford.

This is my fourth time at the event and this year was quite frankly a lot different than the past few seasons.

This will be my fifth season covering Siena and in years past there were high expectations.

While those are the same expectations the players have year in and year out, this is certainly a different season for the Saints.
In the past three years Siena has seen Kenny Hasbrouck, Alex Franklin, Ronald Moore, Edwin Ubiles, Clarence Jackson and Ryan Rossiter come and go.

Those six players all scored 1,000 points in their careers and represent six of the top 34 scorers all-time in Siena history.

Here's how they stack up.
3rd - Ubiles, 1,939
4th - Hasbrouck, 1,917
5th - Franklin, 1,730
10th - Rossiter, 1,457
26th - Jackson, 1,164
34th - Moore, 1,070

This year, the leading returning scorer is senior Kyle Downey, who has 379 career points.

Obviously, this is a new-look team, especially with six freshmen.

Two of those players (Imoh Silas and Lionel Gomis) have been declared ineligible for this upcoming season by the NCAA.

Siena did win a small battle on Tuesday though, when it was ruled that both Gomis and Silas will have three years of elgibility, when they begin their careers in 2012-13.

"I’m really excited that Lionel Gomis will be able to get two years back," said Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro. "A lot of credit goes to our administrators at Siena. They did a lot of work."

The original decision where Gomis and Silas and an injury to Davis Martens means that the other four freshmen (Rob Poole, Marcus Hopper, Evan Hymes and DeVonte Beard) will have to step up.

"With the unfortunate circumstances that we have, we’re going to need the freshmen to grow up quick," said junior forward O.D. Anosike. "Frankly put, we need them to step in and play right away."

Buoaguro indicated that he hopes Hopper will step up, given the lack of big bodies up front.

MARTENS UPDATE: Buonaguro indicated that he knew the decision was coming to hold out Martens for the entire upcoming season.

Martens struggled with pain this summer and needed a specialized surgery, which should be totally solved if rehabbed properly.

This is a big loss for Siena because Martens had showed positive steps in flashes and needed more big bodies up front.

"I thought he made a jump last year," Buonaguro said. "That hurts. He has experience, too."

Martens will have to rehab for three months.

I also bumped into Just-in'love Smith at the event, who said that Martens is the godfather to his little girl.

Siena is reporting that junior forward Davis Martens will miss the 2011-12 season following hip surgery to repair a labrum tear on Aug. 30.

Martens averaged 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds last season and likely would have had a bigger impact this season with the graduation of Ryan Rossiter.

“I’m going to do what I can to be there for the team, and support my teammates,” Martens said. “It’s disappointing, but I’m going to hit my rehab hard and hopefully return better than before.”

According to Siena, the labrum tear resulted from a congenital condition called Femoral Acetabular Impingement Syndrome.

“We want Davis to have a full recovery, and rejoin the team at 100 percent,” head coach Mitch Buonaguro said. “The surgery was successful, which is obviously great news. He has such a promising future with our program, and we can’t wait to have him back on the floor next year.”

Siena has already received word that newcomers Imoh Silas and Lionel Gomis will be unable to play this year, due to an NCAA decision.

Siena is appealing that decision.

Siena hosts their annual Sneak Preview, tonight at 5 p.m., in downtown Albany.

Multiple reports are surfacing on Saturday evening that 6-foot-2 guard DaVonte Beard has verbally committed to Siena College.

Rivals.com is reporting that Beard has verbally committed to play for the Saints and coach Mitch Buonaguro.

A tweet from Rodger Bohn, a Senior Writer for SLAM Magazine, later said he hasn't yet committed to Siena and cited a family source.

Beard is from Akron, Ohio and played for the same school as LeBron James, St. Vincent-St. Mary's.

Beard did visit Siena this weekend and FOX23 caught up with him, while playing with some of the Siena players.

This would be a big get for Buonaguro and the Saints, especially with the recent news that both Jonathan Breeden and Kyle Griffin won't return to the team.

Buonaguro can't comment on a recruit until a signed Letter of Intent has been sent to the school.

Beard would join a freshman class of Lionel Gomis, Imoh Silas and Robert Poole.

If Beard does commit, Siena would have two scholarships remaining.