Photo Courtesy of Mike Dickie
Posted: Feb 09, 2021
This Week for SHU Men's Basketball
Wednesday, February 10th | 7:30 PM *
Siena Heights Saints AT Aquinas Saints
Saturday, February 13th | 2:00 PM *
Siena Heights Saints VS Rochester Warriors
Sunday, February 14th | 3:00 PM *
Siena Heights Saints AT Lourdes Gray Wolves
Upcoming for Saints Men's Basketball: After a 1-1 record last week earning their first win against UNOH and facing a tough loss against Lawrence Tech, the Saints look ahead to this week's matchups. They will have two road games and one home game, which are all WHAC conference games. They play at Aquinas on Wednesday, are home against Rochester on Saturday, and finish the week on the road at Lourdes on Sunday.
Head Coach: Joe Pechota enters his ninth year as the Siena Heights men's basketball coach. The Saints saw their most successful season under Pechota during the 2018-19 season when the team finished 17-13 overall and 12-8 in conference play to earn fourth in the WHAC standings, the highest finish since 2010.
Series History: Aquinas - The AQ Saints lead the series 16-12, losing the last three games against Siena. Two of which were on the road and one at home. In 2020, Siena came away with a big win with a final score of 77-57 on home court.
Rochester - The Saints are 4-3 against the Warriors. Their first meeting was in 2017 where Rochester had the largest margin of victory with an 83-73 win. The Warriors won the last matchup at Siena in 2020 73-69 that broke SHUs four-game winning streak.
Lourdes - The Gray Wolves lead the series 12-8, winning the last three games against the Saints. Two of which were at home and one on the road. In 2018, the Saints came away with a big win with a final score of 93-78 at home that was the last time they won against Lourdes.
Wrapping up Last Time Out: The Siena Heights men's basketball team dropped a home WHAC game 72-66 against Lawrence Tech on Saturday afternoon. Kevin Rice (Sr. | Detroit, Mich.) led the Saints as he had a team-high of 19 points, a team-high of three assists, six rebounds, one steal, and one block.
The half started off with each team exchanging possessions as the score was back and forth. The Saints had a 5-0 run with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer from Curtis Bell III (Jr. | St. Paul, Minn.) that earned them a 16-11 lead at the 12:51 mark. The Blue Devils answered back as they had a 7-0 run off a pair of layups made by Gunnar Gustafson and a three-pointer from Alek Ivanovic that put them back in the lead 18-16 with 11:08 left in the half. Lawrence Tech kept the momentum going as they earned an 11-2 run updating the deficit to 36-29. Siena tried to rally as they had a 10-7 run as Jace Norton (So. | Portland, Oregon), Rice, and Bell all scored points but it wasn't enough as the game went into intermission with the Blue Devils in the lead 43-39.
Lawrence Tech jumped out to a 6-2 run with a three-pointer from Sanna Sisawo and Ivanovic and never looked back as they earned an eight-point lead (49-41). The Blue Devils continued to rally as they earned a 10-2 run to update the score 59-45 with 12:23 left of play. Lawrence Tech maintained momentum as they went on a 9-2 run that was sparked by a three-pointer from Ivanovic and Carter Frantz making three free-throws with 7:44 left in the game. The Saints rallied as they went on a 12-2 run sparked by Elijah Kimmons (Fr. | Madison, Wis.) draining a three-pointer and ended with Joshua Moody (So. | Detroit, Mich.) making a three-pointer. Despite the push, it wasn't even as time ran out giving the Blue Devils the 72-66 wins.
Player of the Week: Kevin Rice (Sr. | Detroit, Mich.) earned WHAC men's basketball player of the week. Rice started last week leading the Saints to their first win of the 2020-21 season in a 56-54 win against UNOH on Friday night. He had a team-high of 25 points and five steals while tallying nine rebounds, one assist, and one block. He shot 11-19 from the floor and 3-5 from beyond the arc. He followed up that performance contributing a team-high of 19 points and three assists while earning six rebounds, one steal, and one block in the 72-66 loss against Lawrence Tech Sunday afternoon. He went 8-12 from the floor, 2-4 on three-point attempts, and 1-1 from the charity stripe. He averaged 22 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.0 BPG, and 3.0 SPG. His field goal percentage was 61.3 and his three-point percentage was 55.6.
