Siena breaks road skid with rout at Iona

Jalen Pickett was one of seven Siena players in double figures Friday as Saints overpowered Iona for first road win of season. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — After a loss at Manhattan nearly three weeks ago, Carmen Maciariello refused to buy into a perceived dichotomy in his Siena team based on its record on its home floor at Times Union Center — where the Saints remain undefeated this season — and away from Albany, where the first-year head coach had yet to earn a victory. Instead, he focused on the glaring need for consistency and the same amount of effort from each player, on and off the court.

Friday night saw Siena take said consistency, brewed with two home wins against Marist and Quinnipiac, and raise it to perhaps the highest level the program has seen since Fran McCaffery delivered the last of three consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships to the Capital Region.

With seven players scoring 10 or more points, Siena jumped on the accelerator Friday and never looked back, riding the offensive balance and an efficient shooting night to a commanding 87-64 defeat of Iona, the Saints’ most decisive road win in a decade and the Gaels’ largest home setback since 2007.

“I’m extremely proud of this group,” Maciariello gushed as Siena (10-9, 6-4 MAAC) ended a Jekyll-and-Hyde-like split of nine home wins in as many attempts versus an 0-for-9 split on the road. “I’m super proud of executing a great game plan, not settling for open shots, and being able to play deep into possessions to get what we want.”

“It feels great,” Manny Camper said of ending the much-ballyhooed road losing streak, a demise he contributed to by posting 12 points and 13 rebounds. “We’ve been putting in the work every day in practice. Like Coach said, it starts in our preparation. We’ve been taking it serious, and the results are showing. We’re just going to keep pushing and get better every day.”

Taking advantage of Tajuan Agee being hampered by foul trouble in the first half, the Saints saw an opening to attack both the glass and paint, and did exactly that en route to a plus-18 rebounding edge and a 40-28 margin in interior scoring against an Iona team that appeared overmatched on the boards despite E.J. Crawford doing everything in his power to keep the Gaels within earshot.

“We haven’t really been doing what we need to do on the offensive glass,” Maciariello noted, underscoring the value of Siena’s 16-6 edge in that department. “Obviously, we shot the ball well in our last two home games, but guys getting around the rim and executing, and not finishing their first shot, but able to kind of get that second one in or get to the foul line, they were doing some different lineups, so we thought we could really attack them out of that ball screen action.”

“It was embarrassing,” acting Iona head coach Tra Arnold surmised of the Gaels’ (5-11, 3-6 MAAC) effort. “We just got out-toughed. That’s about it.”

With the win, Siena now moves within a half-game of the first-place tie between Quinnipiac and Monmouth atop the MAAC standings, and now heads into a crucial road game at Saint Peter’s on Sunday, looking for its first Yanitelli Center win since the 2009-10 season, McCaffery’s last at the helm before leaving for the University of Iowa.

“We want to be the aggressors in all that we do,” said Maciariello. “It’s doable. Shaheen is doing a great job with those guys, they played Wednesday, they played Friday, now they play us Sunday at 4. When it’s all said and done, it doesn’t matter how much rest you have. You’ve got to show up and you’ve got to do the job, and it’s another game, another tough MAAC opponent, another great coach, another great team, and we look forward to that challenge. That’s what it’s about.”