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Hamden, Conn.
The thought of being trapped in a room with Jimmy Patsos, dissecting every mistake for hours on end, helped motivate the Siena men's basketball team to submit one of its best performances of the season on Monday night.
Senior guard/forward Lavon Long had 26 points and a career-high 16 rebounds and senior forward Javion Ogunyemi added a season-high 25 points in an 84-75 victory over Quinnipiac at TD Bank Sports Center.
It was a strong recovery from the home loss to Iona on Friday that had Patsos put his team through a film session the following day that Ogunyemi described as "three hours of torture."
"It was like we watched every play like six times and it took us like 25 minutes to get to the first media timeout," Ogunyemi said.
"We don't want to have another film session like that, so I doubt we're going to play like that the rest of the year," he added.
Siena won for the sixth time in eight games to improve to 10-13 overall, 7-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, just a game out of second place.
SIENA 84, QUINNIPIAC 75
SIENA (10-13, 7-5)
Player Min FG FT R A Pts
Ogunyemi 27 12-14 0-1 4 1 25
Bisping 37 6-14 5-6 14 1 17
Wright 39 3-14 0-0 6 9 6
Smithen 16 1-3 0-0 5 2 2
Long 40 10-20 4-5 16 6 26
Shivers 25 0-2 0-0 4 4 0
Fisher 7 0-2 1-2 0 1 1
Friday 9 3-4 1-2 1 0 7
TEAM 2
Totals 35-73 11-16 52 24 84
QUINNIPIAC (8-14, 5-7)
Player Min FG FT R A Pts
Daniels 34 8-17 2-4 9 2 18
Bundu 15 1-3 0-2 1 0 2
Dixon 33 7-12 4-4 2 2 19
Winston 15 2-4 0-1 2 3 5
Kiss 34 7-13 4-4 4 7 19
Smith 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Oliver 20 1-6 0-0 2 4 2
Chigha 16 1-2 0-0 4 1 2
Robinson 18 3-5 0-0 1 1 8
Harris 13 0-3 0-0 0 0 0
TEAM 2
Totals 30-66 10-15 27 20 75
Halftime—Siena, 39-37. 3-point goals—Siena 3-6 (Fisher, 0-1, Long, 2-2, Wright, 0-1, Bisping, 0-1, Ogunyemi, 1-1). Quinnipiac 5-16 (Harris, 0-3, Robinson, 2-4, Oliver, 0-3, Kiss, 1-2, Winston, 1-1, Dixon, 1-3). Fouls—Siena 16 (Friday 2, Fisher, Shivers 3, Long 3, Wright 2, Bisping, Ogunyemi 4). Quinnipiac 17 (Harris, Robinson, Chigha 4, Oliver 2, Kiss 2, Winston, Dixon, Bundu, Daniels 4). Blocked shots—Siena 5 (Fisher, Long 2, Wright, Ogunyemi). Quinnipiac 9 (Chigha, Dixon, Daniels 7). Turnovers—Quinnipiac 14 (Shivers 2, Smithen, Wright 6, Bisping 3, Ogunyemi 2). Quinnipiac 9 (Robinson, Chigha, Kiss, Dixon 3, Bundu 2, Daniels). Steals—Siena 5 (Long 2, Bisping 2, Ogunyemi). Quinnipiac 9 (Harris, Chigha 4, Oliver, Kiss 2, Winston). Technical fouls—Siena (Friday). A—1,085.
The Saints obliterated Quinnipiac inside with a 58-40 scoring edge in the paint and a resounding 52-27 edge in rebounding, including 22 offensive rebounds that produced 24 second-chance points.
Senior forward Brett Bisping had his eighth double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Siena took only six 3-pointers, making three of them, after going 3-for-19 from behind the arc vs. Iona.
"Honestly, we were just swinging the ball and then you see a lane, so you just attack," Long said. "We could have shot 3s, but hey, the inside is there, so why?"
The Saints won without freshman guard Khalil Richard, who missed the game with a sprained ankle suffered against Iona.
"Our season on the brink," Patsos said. "No, we have three games in March (in the MAAC Tournament), but Khalil was down. I asked the team, the last time we had a guy down, Marquis Wright, we didn't respond the way we should have. We have a brother in arms down."
Others stepped up with freshman guard Ahsante Shivers contributing four rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes and freshman forward Sammy Friday adding a season-high seven points in nine minutes.
Siena led 65-61 until Long scored a three-point play on an assist by Shivers to trigger an 8-0 run that put the game away. Ogunyemi punctuated it with his first 3-pointer since Nov. 20 for a 73-61 lead with 3:37 remaining.
"Javion had that look today like he was going to get it going," Patsos said. "And Lavon, I knew one bad game (against Iona) was all."
Long played with the urgency of a senior who has only eight regular-season games left in his career, but he said he doesn't approach it that way.
"Honestly, it hasn't hit me yet," he said. "I'm just thinking, 'Hey, it's fun. Let me come out there and play as hard as I can.' "
What wouldn't have been fun, Long said, is another losing film session with Patsos.
"It was rough," he said. "It was a long three hours. You think you're never going to get out. ... I mean, I guess it helps. It's definitely motivation to play good."
Senior point guard Marquis Wright added six rebounds and nine assists for Siena, which won for the third time in four road games after starting 0-10 in away games this season.
Siena plays host to Canisius on Saturday.
singelais@timesunion.com • 518-454-5509 • @MarkSingelais
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