On emotional day, Siena men’s basketball falls in MAAC matchup; forward Baer plays hours after father’s death

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ALBANY — An emotional day for the Siena men’s basketball program didn’t end with a victory, as the Saints — playing with heavy hearts — couldn’t hold off a Fairfield club that rebounded from a disastrous shooting start on its way to snapping a nine-game losing streak in the series between the MAAC schools.

Just a few hours before Sunday afternoon’s game, a 62-52 win for Fairfield, Siena forward Michael Baer informed his teammates at the Saints’ pre-game meal that his father John Baer had died overnight following a battle with cancer. Michael Baer — whose father made the trip earlier this month from Iowa to Albany to see the Saints play in person — started Sunday, played 31 minutes and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in a contest played after a moment of silence was held inside MVP Arena to honor his father.

Siena’s Andrew Platek, who led first-place Siena with 15 points, said it was a difficult day for all the Saints.

“I can’t say enough good things about Mike Baer. I think his resilience and his positive attitude through his personal tragedies in his life is extremely commendable and something I love to see as a friend,” Platek said. “I look up to him for that. … He’s younger than me, but he’s so much more emotionally mature. I can’t even imagine the pain he’s going through, but he puts a smile on his face and he goes out and he does it for us because he cares about us.”

During the moment of silence to honor John Baer, a picture of Michael Baer’s father with the Siena team from earlier this month was displayed on the arena’s jumbotron. Michael Baer wiped his eyes with his Siena shooting shirt during those seconds of silence, then was introduced last to strong applause during the announcement of pregame lineups. Shortly after that, right before the game’s tip-off, Fairfield head coach Jay Young headed onto the court to give Baer a hug and offer condolences.

“I feel terrible for him. I lost my dad at the same age, so I know what he’s going through,” said Young, who also had a lengthy exchange with Baer during the line for post-game handshakes. “I mean, it’s a terrible thing. I just told him that I think his dad — I don’t know his dad — would be pretty proud that he played today and how hard he plays. He really plays hard, and he did today in . . . an extremely, extremely difficult situation for him.”

Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello said the Saints said a pre-game prayer in honor of John Baer before trying to turn their attention toward earning a win in his memory.

“It’s about life lessons and understanding that you have to enjoy every precious moment,” Maciariello said after Sunday’s game. “Make sure you’re telling the loved ones you love them, and then keeping everybody close and you do what you can to help when you can — and that’s [what] we did for Michael.”

John Baer was a constant presence around the Saints last season, his son’s first playing for them as part of a college basketball journey that started as a manager at Iowa for former Siena head coach Fran McCaffery’s Big Ten Conference program. Michael Baer eventually became a walk-on player for McCaffery’s team, then transferred to Siena as a scholarship player as a graduate student. John Baer had moved to the Capital Region so he could more easily watch his son’s games during the 2021-22 season, then moved back to Iowa this past offseason where Michael Baer’s mother, Joy Kelly, served as his primary caregiver as his health deteriorated.

John Baer was able to travel earlier this month to attend Siena’s win against Saint Peter’s. It was the first time this season he was able to watch his son play in person, and all involved were aware it would be the final time, too, since treatment for John Baer’s Stage 4 cancer had ceased. 

As part of an emotional Jan. 6 night at MVP Arena, both Baers starred.

On the court that night, Michael Baer registered a plus-21 to lead Siena, set career-highs in rebounds with 13 and assists with six, and tossed in five points for good measure. Off the court, after the game in Siena’s locker room, John Baer paid the Saints a visit.

“I was at every game last year, and this is big, to be able to come,” John Baer told his son’s team in a moment the Saints shared on their social-media channel. “It’s not the same, watching on television. You’ve got to be here, you’ve just got to be here. I want to thank Joy, Michael’s mother. It wasn’t easy getting here, guys. It wasn’t easy. It was a lot. Thank you so much for being so gracious. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Maciariello said that Michael Baer — who wasn’t available for comment after Sunday’s game — was scheduled to fly home Sunday night to Iowa. It’s expected the player will return Wednesday night, two days before the Saints play against Iona with first place in the MAAC standings on the line.

Siena (7-2 MAAC, 13-7) appeared poised to head into that matchup with Iona (6-2, 13-16) off a win against Fairfield (5-4, 9-10) with the way things started Sunday. Fairfield missed 21 of its first 22 shots, but the Saints could not take much advantage of the Stags’ shooting woes. Siena led 16-4 at one point, but entered halftime only up 20-15. Then, Fairfield found an offensive groove after halftime that the Saints couldn’t match, as Fairfield made 17 of 26 shots after halftime. Overall, the Stags made 21 of 36 shots after their 1 of 22 start.

“We’ve got to be able to grow those leads,” Maciariello said. “It shouldn’t have been a five-point game at half. It should have been a 15-to-18-point game at the half.”

While Jayce Johnson (knee) returned to Siena’s lineup after missing the Saints’ last several games, Siena — again — lost point guard Javian McCollum from its lineup due to a back issue. McCollum, who played Siena’s previous three games after missing some time, didn’t play in any of Sunday’s second half after scoring four points in nine first-half minutes. McCollum wasn’t on Siena’s bench for the majority of Sunday’s second half, then watched the final minutes in street clothes.

“He didn’t look like he was good,” Maciariello said of McCollum during his final stint Sunday on the court. “So I said . . . let’s rest him, let’s see what doc says, and we’ll go from there.”

McCollum appeared to be moving gingerly when he’d join huddles during the final minutes of Sunday’s game. Immediately after the contest, Maciariello said he had “no idea” regarding the health outlook for Siena’s top scorer.

Fairfield led for the final nine minutes Sunday. Siena moved within a single possession of Fairfield at 53-50 with 1:25 to go on a basket from Johnson, but Fairfield answered with a 3-pointer from TJ Long with a minute to go. 

Siena nearly answered with a three-point play, but a bizarre moment left the Saints still down two possessions. On Siena’s ensuing possession following the Long 3, Johnson took a close-range shot, was fouled . . . and the ball, which appeared to be on its way to dropping through the hoop, instead came to a rest atop the back of the rim. Johnson made both free throws, but Fairfield answered with free throws of its own that started a game-ending 6-0 run from the foul line.

Supreme Cook scored a dozen points to lead Fairfield. Besides Platek, no other Siena player registered double-digit scoring. For the game, Siena made 20 of 56 shots in a winnable one that way away from the Saints.

“When you get a lead on a team, you’ve got to be able to continually grind them and score, because we made that a Fairfield game and not a Siena game,” Maciariello said.

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

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Categories: College Sports, Email Newsletter, Siena College, Sports