Siena's win over Marist will pit them against top-seeded Niagara on Saturday.
Rakeem Brookins of Siena tries to keep the ball out of the hands of Isaiah Morton of Marist Friday at the MAAC Championship.
SPRINGFIELD – O.D. Anosike wasn’t ready to call it a career.
The senior forward turned in a double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds and the No. 9 Siena Saints lived to play another day with a 70-64 win over No. 8 Marist in the first round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament at the MassMutual Center.
Anosike, an NBA prospect who has already been invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, one of the top scouting events for the NBA, not only led his team in points and rebounds but had a team-high five assists.
“I’m a senior and I don’t want to go home,” Anosike said. “Siena is a place that gave me a lot and I want to give back the next couple of days.”
The 6-foot-8 forward will get a chance Saturday when the Saints take on top-seeded Niagara in the quarterfinals.
The battle with Marist was up for grabs from the tip, neither team able to pull away from the other. Siena’s largest lead was seven and for Marist it was four.
The teams split their two regular-season meetings, the games being decided by a total of six points, so it did not come as a surprise that the game was tight at the half with the Saints up 32-31.
It also came as no surprise that Anosike led the way for Siena with 12 points, but the contribution of 10 points off the bench by Davis Martens was a bonus for the Saints. The 6-foot-9 junior averaged 2.8 points a game during the season.
The half-court pressure applied by Marist certainly did its job, the Red Foxes scoring 14 points off the nine turnovers they forced.
But the inside game of Anosike and the perimeter shooting of Rob Poole (19 points) pulled it out for the Saints. Poole was 5 of 7 from behind the arc.
“I think with O.D. getting double-teamed down low it made it easier,” Poole said.
Marist had taken its largest lead at 56-52 on a 3-point play by Chavaughn Lewis (24 points) with 5:53 left, but Poole’s 3-pointer cut it to one.
The game was tied 64-64 after a Jay Bowie (16 points) 3-pointer, but the Saints did all the scoring after that. Trenity Burdine made one free throw to break the tie, then he scored on a baseline drive.
Then Anosike pulled down a big rebound and was fouled. He made one of two, but after the Red Foxes turned it over, Anosike ended the game with a big two-handed slam.