Saints miss point (guard)

PHOTOGRAPHER: Mike MacAdam

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Kenny Hasbrouck was conspicuous in a courtside seat at the Times Union Center on Saturday.

Ronald Moore was even more conspicuous, by his absence.

Siena scored the last 12 points and cobbled together a 67-59 victory over Division II Adelphi on Saturday afternoon in an exhibiton at the Times Union Center, and it took the will of seniors Ryan Rossiter and Clarence Jackson to get that accomplished.

The Saints committed 20 turnovers with just seven assists and looked like a team that misses its graduated point guard, Moore, dearly.

New head coach Mitch Buonaguro said Siena would have to staff the point by committee, and on Saturday, he started Kyle Griffin and gave freshman Rakeem Brookins 15 minutes, during which he made just one of 10 shots.

The other candidate, sophomore Jon Breeden, played just five minutes and was used more as a shooting guard than at the point.

The Saints have known all along that it will be a long, evolving process to find a comfortable solution to the loss of Moore, and if any steps were made in that direction on Saturday, they were baby ones.

“It’s not fair to compare these three guys to Ron right now,” Rossiter said. “Everyone’s opinion is based on what Ron did as a senior, who turned out to be one of the best point guards in MAAC history. And we have a freshman, a sophomore who hasn’t played many minutes and a junior that’s coming off knee surgery. I thought they all held their own tonight, and they’re just getting better every day.”

Also, to be fair, those three were a combined 4-to-6 in assists-to-turnovers, while the rest of the team was 3-to-14 against ther smaller, quicker Panthers, who play in the Northeast-10 against the likes of The College of saint Rose.

“We really didn’t get consistent point guard play until Kyle Griffin in the last five minutes,” Buonaguro said.

The game was close throughout, so Buonaguro put his entire starting five back in with 8:22 left, and there they remained until the end.

Jackson scored the last eight points, on a fast-break layup and free throw off a lob from Griffin, a three-pointer and a finger roll at the buzzer.

ADELPHI

Ranglin 4-10 0-0 10, Akinyooye 6-20 2-4 15, Johnson 1-5 0-0 2, Byrd 7-26 5-6 22, Harkins 0-4 0-0 0, Fitzgerald 1-3 0-0 2, Calarco 1-3 0-0 2, Sartor 1-1 0-0 3, Allen 1-4 1-2 3, Simpson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-76 8-12 59.

SIENA

Anosike 5-7 0-4 10, Wignot 1-6 0-0 2, Rossiter 3-7 5-7 11, Griffin 2-4 3-3 9, Jackson 4-11 5-5 15, Walters 0-3 0-0 0, Burdine 0-3 0-0 0, Downey 1-6 6-7 9, Brookins 1-10 2-2 4, Martens 0-1 2-4 2, Breeden 1-1 3-4 5, Priestley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-59 26-36 67.

Halftime: Siena 27, Adelphi 27. Three-point goals: Adelphi 7-26 (Ranglin 2-3, Akinyooye 1-2, Johnson 0-1, Byrd 3-15 Harkins 0-2, Fitzgerald 0-1, Calarco 0-1, Sartor 1-1); Siena 5-23 (Wignot 0-4, Rossiter 0-1, Griffin 2-3, Jackson 2-7, Burdine 0-2, Downey 1-2, Brookins 0-4). Rebounds: Adelphi 42 (Akinyooye 17); Siena 57 (Anosike 14). Assists: Adelphi 9 (Byrd 4); Siena 7 (Griffin 4).

Total fouls: Adelphi 27; Siena 18. Attendance: 1,744.