Siena men's basketball delivers 'disgusting effort' in loss to Georgetown

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

FILE - Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello

LOUDONVILLE – Siena men’s basketball head coach Carmen Maciariello didn’t mince his words after the Saints came up short Wednesday in their attempt to collect a third high-major win this season.

“Disgusting effort. A game, I felt, we let slip away. Missed opportunity,” Maciariello said after Siena’s 75-68 loss to Georgetown at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. “Too many straight-line drives. Letting their best players get off. Lose a rebounding battle by 10 in the second half. So, for me, not really pleased. Up six, give up a 12-0 run. If a team that wants to win a championship is in that locker room, I got to see a lot more.”

Siena, which topped Florida State of the ACC and Seton Hall of the Big East less than two weeks ago, appeared in position to knock off another Big East team midway through Wednesday’s second half. An 8-0 run put the Saints up 56-50 with 10:45 to go, but Georgetown — in a span of approximately 90 seconds — scored the game’s next dozen points to take control, and Georgetown maintained control the rest of the way.

“Credit to Georgetown. They won the game; they made the knockout punch,” Maciariello said. “We didn’t match their physicality. We let them get second-chance opportunities. We let them get to the rim, and then they scored off our miscues.”

Georgetown only led 37-36 at halftime despite making 55.2% of its shots to Siena’s 32.4%. The Saints of the MAAC made up for that disparity by out-rebounding Georgetown 23-16 and making 6 of 17 shots from 3-point territory, while Georgetown made 1 of 8.

In the second half, things changed. Georgetown out-rebounded Siena 25-15 and the Saints only made 3 of 10 from downtown to Georgetown’s 4 of 8 as head coach Patrick Ewing’s club defeated the Saints for the second year in a row.

“This was a great win. That’s a very good team,” Ewing said of Siena. “They beat an ACC team, they beat a Big East team. They’re playing well.”

Jackson Stormo led Siena (5-4) with 21 points and seven rebounds. With back-to-back three-point plays, Stormo had the first six points of Siena’s 8-0 run to push ahead 56-50. Later, Stormo’s final basket of the night brought Siena within 67-64 of the Hoyas with 3:20 to go, but Georgetown quickly answered with a 3-pointer and maintained a multiple-possession lead the rest of the way.

Stormo echoed Maciariello’s sentiments regarding a missed chance for Siena (5-4) against a Georgetown (5-5) program that had lost a couple games to mid-major foes this season.

“We can’t let up,” Stormo said. “We can’t relax.”

All Siena

Andrew Platek, who scored a dozen points for Siena, said the Saints “still haven’t played a full two halves of basketball where we’re at our best” this season.

“I feel like I say this … every game we play, no matter wins or losses. I can’t really put my finger on one thing. It’s just the multiple little things during the course of the game that add up,” Platek said. “Like Coach always says, every possession matters. Every time on the court matters. So, if you played five minutes or 15 minutes, what you do is going to affect the outcome of the game because, ultimately . . . against a good Georgetown team, it’s going to come down to those few possessions.”

Platek scored all of his points in the first half on 3s. Teammate Javian McCollum, who entered Wednesday’s game averaging 18.3 points per game as the Saints’ leading scorer, also scored 12 points, but the sophomore guard made only 4 of 14 shots.

No other Siena player scored more than seven points on a night that saw the Saints make 22 of 63 shots. The 34.9% showing from the field was Siena’s worst of the season. Previously, Siena’s worst shooting effort came in a loss against Harvard when the Saints made 41.8% of their shots.

For Georgetown, four players recorded double-digit scoring. Brandon Murray had a team-high 20 points, while Qudus Wahab had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

STORMO VS. GEORGETOWN

In two trips to play Georgetown, Stormo has starred twice for the Saints.

While Stormo had 21 points on Wednesday to go along with seven rebounds, the center produced 25 points and 11 rebounds last year against the Hoyas.

In his matchups against Georgetown, Stormo has made 16 of 23 shots.

UP NEXT

Siena plays Sunday at Delaware, the defending CAA champion.

Like Siena, Delaware is 5-4 this season. The Blue Hens have won their last two games, including a 77-69 win Wednesday against Delaware State.

After playing Delaware, Siena takes a little more than a week off before playing Dec. 19 against St. Bonaventure in Albany.

Contact Michael Kelly at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMichaelKelly.

All Siena