Miami (Ohio) held off the Saints 70-58 in the Palms Division semifinals at the Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Florida.
Siena (3-3), which had lost three in a row, showed some energy by tying the game at 63-56 with 1:44 left, but the Redhawks (3-2) pulled away by making seven of the remaining eight free throws. method.
“For the first time, I was really disgusted with the way we played,” McNamara said. “We lost 22 points off turnovers. We didn’t make each other better. We decided to start with 3.
“Every time we got in position, we got a possession or two, but we made a mistake and (for Miami) we didn’t get an offensive rebound that led to a 3-pointer.”
Particularly irritating to McNamara was a sequence in which Siena went on a zone defense with less than 8 1/2 minutes left in the game.
The Redhawks’ Kam Kraft and Brant Byers missed back-to-back 3-pointers on possession, but the Saints were unable to get a rebound on either occasion, and Kam Kraft, Miami’s leading scorer and high-capacity shooter from behind, stepped up. The arc forced the Saints to a 3 for a 51-42 lead.
Craft finished the game with 18 points and actually went 5-for-13, dropping his season 3-point percentage to .452.
“The zone was good for a while, but two of the six or seven 3-pointers they took came on offensive rebounds, free possessions,” McNamara said. “So I’m really disgusted with the way we played.”
Marcus Freeman led Siena with 15 points but was 6-of-18 from the field, while Brendan Coyle and Justice Shoats each had 12 points and Reid Ducharme. Scored 10 points.
Peter Suder also had 18 points for the RedHawks and had the hot hand early before Craft picked up the slack later.
Miami went on a 12-0 run to take a 16-4 lead, with Suder scoring nine points.
The Saints caught up the rest of the way without success.
“We didn’t play well,” Coyle said. “It was a sloppy performance for us. We fought back until the end, but we couldn’t get over that critical point. “We have to wash this away and get ready for our next opponent.”
“We will be ready. We will be ready to compete,” McNamara said. “We will be watching all of this. We can cut it open and show how gross it is. “I will do my best to prepare in a short period of time.”
Siena is scheduled to play Jacksonville at 11 a.m. Tuesday to determine third place in the Tip-Off Palms Division. The Dolphins lost 90-89 to Mercer in overtime in Monday’s other semifinal.
The Saints’ struggle to score on fast breaks continued, and they only scored two points. Among 355 NCAA Division I men’s programs, Siena entered the Miami game ranked 355th (2.20 fast break points per game).
