Big Siena basketball fans have something scheduled for their summer vacation already.

The Saints will be playing their first Legends game, scheduled for July 19, at the Alumni Recreation Center, on campus.

AP

There are plenty of players who have confirmed that they will play in the game, including recent stars from the past three MAAC titles like Edwin Ubiles, Kenny Hasbrouck, Ronald Moore, Ryan Rossiter, Clarence Jackson, Alex Franklin and current Harlem Globetrotter Tay Fisher.

Siena Athletics

Other players like Michael Haddix, Dwayne Archbold, Marc Brown, Marcus Faison, Tom Huerter, Antoine Jordan and Prosper Karangwa will also participate.

Tickets can be purcahsed for $12/7 in advance or at the door $15/10.

Check out Siena's release for more information.

J.S. Carras/The Record

LOUDONVILLE — The Siena men’s basketball team has another former player playing professional basketball.

Clarence Jackson has decided to bring his talented overseas, signing a contract to play in Ukraine.

Jackson made his decision public on Facebook, writing, “Ukraine it is. Making my professional start and excited about the opportunity.”

Jackson joins plenty of former Saints teammates, also playing pros overseas.

Ryan Rossiter (France), Ronald Moore (Poland), Kenny Hasbourck (Spain) and Alex Franklin (France) have all turned their basketball talent into a profession.

Another former Siena player is currently in the National Basketball Developmental League. Edwin Ubiles, another former teammate of Jackson’s was chosen in the most recent draft and currently is with the Dakota Wizards.

Jackson is the 27th all-time leading scorer at Siena, scoring 1,164 points in his career, while helping the Saints win three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles and two games in the NCAA tournament.

Jackson will be playing for the SK Dnipro Azot, of the Ukrainian Superleague.

More former Siena College players are signing on with professional teams overseas.

After Ronald Moore (Poland) and Alex Franklin (France) inked their deals last week, Ryan Rossiter has now signed on to play in France.

According to a school release, Rossiter (right) has reached an agreement to play pro basketball with ASC Voltaire in Denain, France. Rossiter will be playing in the French Ligue Nationale de Basketball (LNB), the same league as Franklin.

"I'm really looking forward to starting my career and helping my new team out in any way possible," Rossiter said via e-mail. "I hope I can contribute to an already successful team."

Also signing a pro contract is Kenny Hasbrouck, who played with Rossiter, Franklin and Moore.

Hasbrouck will be playing in Germany, for EWE Baskets Oldenburg of the Bundesliga.

Former Siena stars Ronald Moore (right) and Alex Franklin (below) will continue their pro careers on different teams.

Moore is headed to play for Turow, a club in Poland, while Franklin made the decision to join JA Vichy of the French Ligue Nationale de Baketball (LNB).

Here is a link to the Siena release.

Moore and Franklin helped Siena win three consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships and two NCAA tournament games.

LOUDONVILLE - It took Jonathan Breeden just one week to go from reserve to key player.

Breeden scored a combined 44 points over the weekend, in losses to Iona (Friday) and Manhattan (Sunday).

The sophomore led the Saints in scoring, in both games, playing for the injured Rakeem Brookins, who was out with a rib injury.

“I was happy for Jon,” said Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro. “He’s been through a lot his first two years. Last year, he didn’t get a chance to play with Ronald (Moore). This year, I’ve played him and have confidence in him. I had a good meeting with him before we left for the trip and he responded with two great outings. It’s a real positive we took out of the weekend, with him playing that way.”

Buonaguro called Breeden a "key player" on Tuesday, at his weekly luncheon.

He said that Breeden should start Wednesday against Saint Peter's and Brookins will likely come off of the bench.

Breeden's play didn't surprise any of his teammates.

“I don’t think that was any surprise to me,” said senior Clarence Jackson. “Jon has shown flashes. When he gets an opportunity, he makes the most of it.”

With Siena dealing with so many injuries this season, the younger players have received a chance to step up and play big minutes, something that could really help the team down the stretch.

“I think that was a great step for Jon in building his confidence,” Jackson said.

LOUDONVILLE - Minnesota coach Tubby Smith made it a point, following Monday's game to ask Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro where he got Rakeem Brookins from.

Brookins scored 12 points, all coming in the final minutes of the game.

"He has had two late stretch runs in games, where he's been almost the best player on the floor," said Buonaguro at his weekly luncheon on Wednesday.

Buonaguro was asked Wednesday if he still wants Brookins coming off the bench and Buonaguro said he needs to get him in there, but the bench is where he will start games still.

"I think for now," he said. "That's a tough question."

Brookins is averaging 10.0 points per game, behind just seniors Ryan Rossiter and Clarence Jackson on Siena's scoring leaders list.

While Brookins is scoring, he also has commited 10 turnovers in two games.

Buonaguro said he spoke with former coach Fran McCaffery recently and they spoke about how Ronald Moore struggled for the first few games of his career (Moore made his first start in the sixth game of his freshman season - against UAlbany on Dec. 2, 2006).

"This kid is a little different than Ronald," Buonaguro said. "This kid can score."

Just days after his former teammate Ronald Moore was charged with a DWI, former Siena star and current member of the NBA's Miami Heat Kenny Hasbrouck has also been cited for drinking and driving.

WTEN is reporting that Hasbrouck was cited for Aggravated DWI and Stopping on the Highway back on Feb. 5.

An officer apparently reported that Hasbrouck smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words and a breathalyzer revealed his blood alcohol was 0.19%, more than twice the legal limit.

Hasbrouck is currently with the Miami Heat as they play the Boston Celtics in the NBA playoffs.

Moore went before a Town of Colonie judge on Monday, after he was pulled over early Sunday morning for apparently rolling through a red light.

Moore said he had one beer and his BAC was 0.12%.

Former Siena point guard Ronald Moore has been charged with DWI early Sunday morning.

From the AP

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- Siena senior guard Ronald Moore, who helped lead the Saints to the NCAA tournament the past three seasons, has been charged with drunken driving after being pulled over near campus.

Police in Colonie, N.Y., say the 21-year-old from Conshohocken, Pa., was stopped around 3 a.m. Sunday after running a red light. The officer said he smelled alcohol and that Moore had blood shot eyes and slurred speech.

Moore was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated.

A Siena spokesman says the school won't comment and doesn't know if Moore has a lawyer.

Moore led the nation in assists this past season. He hit the game-winning shot in Siena's double overtime win over Ohio State in the 2009 NCAA tournament.

LOUDONVILLE - Siena becomes the first team since 1993-94 to put three players on the All-MAAC First Team.

Canisius put Craig Wise, Binky Johnson and Michael Meeks on the first team.

It looks like they are the first team in MAAC history to put their entire starting five on the three All-MAAC teams.

Men's All-MAAC Teams

1st Team
Anthony Johnson, Fairfield
Ryan Thompson, Rider
Ronald Moore, Siena
Ryan Rossiter, Siena
Alex Franklin, Siena

2nd Team
Scott Machado, Iona
Derek Needham, Fairfield
Bilal Benn, Niagara
Tyrone Lewis, Niagara
Edwin Ubiles, Siena

3rd Team
Frank Turner, Canisius
Rico Pickett, Manhattan
Wesley Jenkins, Saint Peter's
Nick Leon, Saint Peter's
Clarence Jackson, Siena

All-Rookie
Derek Needham, Fairfield
Kyle Smyth, Iona
Robert Olson, Loyola (Md.)
Candon Rusin, Marist
Daruis Conley, Saint Peter's

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 - 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.

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

Siena senior point guard Ronald Moore will conduct an internet chat on ESPN.com Friday at 3:30 p.m. The chat will take place as Moore's teammates tour ESPN Studios in Bristol Friday afternoon.

Fans interested in posing a question can do so now by following this link.

ALBANY - I think this quote pretty much sums up how most of the Siena players and fans feel after watching Saturday night's game against Mount St. Mary's.

“There was times when I thought we were on an 8-0 run and maybe it was a four-point lead and then I looked at the clock and we were down 11,” said junior forward Ryan Rossiter.

It wasn't pretty and it was almost the end of the the program's longest home winning streak, but the Saints did prevail in the end.

“It wasn’t so much frustration, it was just kind of they made shots,” said sophomore guard Kyle Downey.

“There’s a lot of lessons learned in this game,” added senior point guard Ronald Moore. “It’s always good to learn from mistakes and get a win.”

Rossiter said the team remarked the game being very similar to the game at Marist game from last year.

"It was a very similar game, where we were down, kept fighting, kept fighting and were able to get it to overtime," said Rossiter.

In that game, Siena rallied from a 14-point deficit with 3:26 to play, scoring on its final 13 possessions of regulation to post a 91-85 overtime victory at the McCann Center.

"That propelled us last season a lot too and this year, we said can't get down on ourselves, don't point any fingers because we didn't do that at Marist and it ended up working out for us."

One strange side note is that Siena went without a 3-pointer for the first time in 536 games. The last time the Saints failed to make a trey was Jan. 15, 1992, when they defeated Fairfield 65-63.

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.

NEW ROCHELLE - If there's one big positive to Monday's 73-60 victory over Iona, it was senior Edwin Ubiles returning to form in the second half.

Here's what Ubiles said after the game.

“I think it’s coming back slowly,” said of Ubiles of his injured right knee. “It’s still a little bit tender. I can definitely feel it getting a lot better every day. It’s not bothering me much after the game at all, so I can tell it’s getting better.”

Franklin told him he was back after the game and Siena coach Fran McCaffery said Ubiles' big second half was more a product of Iona's smaller lineup.

“They went with a downshifted lineup and he had some size advantage, so we just started going to him,” said McCaffery.

Ubiles said he was cramping throughout the game, but he did a good job shaking that off to score 14 points in the second half and be a big reason why the Saints pulled away.

While the Gaels did a good job of taking the game to a helter-skelter pace in the first half, McCaffery was impressed with how his team shook it off and finished the game.

“I thought the way we responded in the second half, in particular, was very impressive,” said McCaffery.

Something else to look at is Ronald Moore's minutes.

While I didn't mention him in the game story, but for missing a shot that Rossiter finished to start the game-changing run, the nation's assist leader played all 40 minutes, something that might draw the notice of some.

McCaffery said Moore, like almost every player doesn't want to come out and that he could have gone another 40 minutes after the game was over.

Siena trailed by five with 14:34 to go in the first half, but they got a 17-0 run and lead by 12 at halftime.

Ronald Moore has 11 points and at least six assists (we haven't received the stats yet).

Moore set up Alex Franklin for a terrific slam, where Franklin took of from the right paint line and thundered it home, while being fouled.

Franklin has 12 points to lead all scorers.

Andrew McCarthy and Matt Mullery have 10 points apiece to lead Brown.

*****

Siena got big games from Franklin, Moore and Clarence Jackson, who finished with a team-high 23 points in the big victory.

Jackson scored 18 points in the second half.

The Saints came one point away from cracking the 100-point mark for the first time since they defeated Saint Peter’s 100-69 on March 1, 2003.

PHILADELPHIA - Siena just finished their warm-ups as we're about 35 minutes before the start of today's Siena vs. Brown game at The Palestra.

Senior point guard Ronald Moore went through all of the drills and looked fine on that right ankle that he rolled late in Friday's game against St. John's

PHILADELPHIA - Siena coach Fran McCaffery voiced his displeasure with the officiating at the end of the game Friday against St. John's by not saying anything at all.

When asked about his team's shooting percentage in the second half, McCaffery responded.

“There’s a lot of reasons for that. None of which I can repeat right now.”

McCaffery went on to sit silent for three of the next four questions asked, none totally focused on the officiating.

In my opinion, it did seem late in the game as though St. John's got more of the calls and even though the fouls were even 17-17, it did look like one of the officials that will go nameless was trying to goad McCaffery into a technical foul (which was never called).

The Red Storm turned a 5-point halftime deficit into an 9-point victory, thanks in large part to their transition game.

“Our defensive intensity let down,” said senior Alex Franklin. “We weren’t getting back in transition defense. They were getting quick shots and getting lay-ups.”

St. John's shot 63 percent (17-27) in the second half.

“They definitely outhustled us,” said junior forward Ryan Rossiter. “They ran on us all night. We like to run, but we have to know that we have to get back defensively.”

Rossiter scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

“He’s terrific,” said St. John's coach Norm Roberts. “He’s exactly what he told our guys he was. He doesn’t make mistakes, he makes lay-ups, he always around the ball, he’s got terrific hands. He’s a big time player.”

While Rossiter was good, nobody else for Siena really had a good game.

“Everyone else has to be able to follow (Rossiter) and get on the scoreboard as well,” said point guard Ronald Moore.

Moore rolled his ankle with 2:2o to go, when he stepped on the foot of a Red Storm defender.

He told me it didn't feel too good after the game, but McCaffery said he was okay.

Roberts gave Siena a ton of credit saying this is the type of game his team will face night in and night out in the Big East.

“These are the types of battles we’re going to have every single night in the Big East and that’s one of the reasons why we tried to up our non-conference schedule,” he said.

Roberts called it a "terrific" win.

“Give Siena a lot of credit, they’re a terrific team,” Roberts said. “They get it up so fast, they get it up and down the court so quick. They have a lot of guys that can make plays.”

The Saints have to come out playing better tomorrow as they take on Brown.

“Hopefully we can make a quick turnaround and make the corrections by tomorrow at 4 o’clock,” said Moore.