Siena men's basketball advances to MAAC Tournament semifinals

Siena men's basketball advances to MAAC Tournament semifinals

Ogunyemi, the Troy High graduate, responded with a spinning layup and then banked in a 3-pointer to give the Saints an eight-point lead they wouldn't relinquish in an 89-76 victory over the Jaspers in a MAAC quarterfinal before a crowd of 6,978.

Freshman guard Nico Clareth, whom Patsos said missed practice the past two days with cramping issues, helped hold Manhattan senior all-conference forward Shane Richards to 5-for-16 shooting in his final college game.

Siena built a 46-34 halftime lead after a whistle-plagued first half in which Manhattan was called for a whopping 17 fouls.

Siena held Richards, averaging 17.3 points, scoreless until 17 minutes remained and built a 66-50 lead with 11:05 to play.

After Siena pushed its advantage back to 73-62 on a Bisping layup, Manhattan roared back with an 8-0 run.

Richards scored after a Bisping turnover and then made a technical free throw after the Siena bench was whistled for repeatedly standing, Patsos said.

Afterward, he deflected the attention from those field goals and instead spoke about the encouragement he delivered during timeouts.