Marist men’s basketball lost its third consecutive game on Sunday afternoon, a 67-63 loss to Siena in which they nearly erased a 19-point deficit in the final ten minutes.
The Red Foxes shot below 40% from the field for the third straight game and shot 21.7% from deep. Graduate student guard Rhyjon Blackwell had just two points on 1-for-11 shooting, while a big second half saw sophomore guard Justin Menard finish with a team-high 17 points. Siena graduate student forward Antonio Chandler and senior guard Justice Shoats had 19 and 17 points, respectively.
“I have zero issue with my group as far as caring and playing hard,” Marist head coach John Dunne said post-game. “The issue is when the ball is not going through the net on offense, that can affect [our] spirit and [our] energy on the defensive end.”
The loss dropped Marist to 1-6 against the four teams ahead of them in the MAAC Conference; they have struggled against some of their toughest competition all season. With three games left in the regular season, the Red Foxes sit fifth in the MAAC with a game-and-a-half lead over Fairfield and Mount St. Mary’s for a first-round bye in the MAAC Tournament.
“Naturally, [the players] just know; we don’t talk about it,” Dunne said of the playoff picture. “We’re just focused on our next opponent, next game.”
Menard placed his mark all over the earlygoing; the Red Foxes’ first basket came on a lay-in from redshirt sophomore center Jason Schofield that Menard assisted with a behind-the-back pass. Menard then converted twice from the free-throw line and assisted senior forward Jaden Daughtry for a driving score.
The Saints’ offense also managed to find some success throughout the opening minutes. Their dynamic duo of Shoats and sophomore guard Gavin Doty scored 12 of Siena’s first 15 points en route to a 15-9 lead and a Dunne timeout with 12:27 to go in the first.
Meanwhile, Blackwell started uncharacteristically slow for the Red Foxes. He missed each of his first five shots, but Marist remained within striking distance largely behind the strength of Schofield; he had nine first-half points, six of which came on lay-ups assisted by Menard.
A large contingent of Saints fans made the trip down I-87 to Poughkeepsie and congregated in the section directly behind Siena’s bench. They spent the game battling the rest of the crowd to make the most noise and roared when Chandler converted a 3-point play that extended the Saints’ lead to seven, then their largest of the game.
Shoats continued to create problems for the Red Foxes from the mid-range; he made his fourth jumper of the game to extend Siena’s lead to eight with 3:15 remaining in the first.
Menard responded immediately with a straightaway triple for his first made field goal before junior guard Jadin Collins-Robers and freshman forward Myles Parker shaved the lead to three from the free throw line. But just as he did throughout the entirety of the first half, Shoats again converted from the mid-range. This time, he drew a foul and converted a 3-point play to extend the lead back to seven.
“We just fell apart on ball-screen coverage today,” Dunne said of defending Shoats. “It’s been a pretty good strength of ours throughout the year, and [Shoats] is a really good player.”
In the second half, the Saints extended their lead to 19 following a 3-pointer from Brendan Coyle with 9:56 remaining and appeared to be on their way to an easy win before Marist began to claw back.
Menard began a run that gave the Red Foxes hope with a made triple — Marist’s second of the day — to cut the deficit to 12 with 4:14 remaining. Following a timeout, he converted a tough driving lay-in to cut it to 10. But, following a make by Doty, Menard and Parker miscommunicated and handed the ball right back to Siena on the inbound.
Despite the turnover, Marist continued to work its way back. Senior guard Martin Kawa and Parker combined to make three triples to create an interesting ending; Parker twice cut the lead to six in the closing minutes while Schofield cleaned up his own miss with 20 seconds to go to bring Marist as close as they had been since they trailed by one with 6:47 remaining in the first. Their run stopped there after Blackwell and Parker both missed in the closing seconds.
Marist is still looking to find its footing following senior guard Elijah Lewis’ season-ending injury on Feb. 7. In his absence, the team has struggled at times on both ends of the floor.
“Everybody has to do just a little bit more,” Dunne said. “When you lose a leader, a positive leader who is getting you 12, 13 a game and every now and then exploding for more than that, everybody has to do just a little bit more.”
Marist will be back on the floor for a road matchup with Manhattan on Friday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Eugene Barbieri
Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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