Saturday, March 7th, 5:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Times Union Center (17,500) -- Albany, New York. Television: MSG. Home Record: Canisius 5-8, Siena 14-0. Away Record: Canisius 5-11, Siena 9-4. Neutral Record: Canisius 1-0, Siena 0-3. Conference Record: Canisius 4-14, Siena 16-2. Series Record: Siena leads, 44-26.

GAME NOTES: As the top-seeded school in the 28th annual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament, the Siena Saints set their sights on the Canisius Golden Griffins in the quarterfinals of the event at the Times Union Center today. Siena, the defending tournament champion and owners of three titles overall in this event, closed out the regular season with five wins in the last six games, including a 78-74 triumph versus these same Golden Griffins in the finale on Sunday at the Koessler Center in Buffalo. As for the Griffs, the ninth seed in the tournament, they took down the Greyhounds of Loyola-Maryland in first-round action of the tourney yesterday with a 74-68 decision. The victory moved Canisius, which won its only MAAC Tournament crown in 1996, to 21-18 in the event all-time. By sweeping the regular-season series against Canisius, the Saints now lead the all-time series between the squads by a count of 44-26. The winner of this meeting will face off against the winner of the Fairfield/Manhattan contest in the semifinals on Sunday evening.

Although he turned the ball over six times without issuing a single assist, Greg Logins still made a huge difference in the outcome of the meeting with Loyola last night. Logins finished the contest with 19 points and 13 rebounds, hitting 8-of-11 shots at the free-throw line and 5-of-10 from the floor. Also scoring in double figures for the team was Frank Turner with 22 points, adding eight boards and four assists, while Julius Coles tacked on 18 points in the triumph as well. A starter in all 30 games for Canisius this season, Turner leads the squad in scoring with his 15.7 ppg and is also the top man in the passing department with his 120 assists, but has just one more dish than miscue to this point. Coles and Logins chip in with 12.1 and 11.5 ppg, respectively, yet the team is still being outscored by more than four points per game this season.

One of three players to have started all 30 games for the Saints this season, Kenny Hasbrouck was the leader of the group with his 14.8 ppg and team-best 58 steals at the defensive end of the floor. Although just a 41.9 percent shooter from the floor, Hasbrouck made himself a dangerous player by also handing out 83 assists to force defenders to stay close if their could. Edwin Ubiles was right behind Hasbrouck in the scoring department with his 14.7 ppg and he made it happen despite a mere 27.8 percent accuracy behind the three-point line. Alex Franklin completed the list of double-digit scorers for the group with his 13.8 ppg, adding 7.4 rpg which ranked among the best on the team. Not to be overlooked is Ryan Rossiter with his 9.6 ppg and 7.4 rpg as well, helping to give the Saints a scoring advantage of almost seven points per game this season.

Against another team the Golden Griffs might have a fighting chance today, but having to turn around and compete in a high-pressure game versus the best team in the MAAC is just asking too much of Canisius.

Predicted Outcome

Siena 77, Canisius 63