Sunday, March 8th, 6:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Times Union Center (17,500) -- Albany, New York. Television: MSG2, Local. Home Record: Fairfield 9-4, Siena 14-0. Away Record: Fairfield 6-8, Siena 9-4. Neutral Record: Fairfield 2-2, Siena 1-3. Conference Record: Fairfield 9-9, Siena 16-2. Series Record: Siena leads, 25-23.

GAME NOTES: Trying to make it back to the title game in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament for the third straight year, top-seeded Siena settles in against fifth-seeded Fairfield in the 28th annual event at the Times Union Center in Albany this evening. Siena, which defeated Rider for the crown last season (74-53) after losing out to Niagara a year earlier, is back in the hunt this time around after defeating Canisius in a convincing 77-52 final on Saturday afternoon. As for the Stags, they scored a minor upset, at least as far as the seedings are concerned, when they took out the fifth- seeded Manhattan Jaspers yesterday in a 68-61 final. In terms of the all-time series between these two teams, the Saints won both regular season meetings and that means the series stands at 25-23 in favor of Siena. The winner of this meeting will play for the tournament title on Monday night against the survivor of the Rider/Niagara bout.

Yorel Hawkins registered a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to help lead the Stags to the seven-point win over the Manhattan Jaspers yesterday. Mike Evanovich accounted for 18 points for the fifth-seeded Stags, followed by Herbie Allen and Greg Nero with 17 and 11 points, respectively. The team shot an even 50 percent from the field in order to make up for a lackluster 3-of-13 efforts behind the three-point line. Nero, who came off the bench on Saturday and has been fighting a back injury of late, still leads the team in scoring with his 12.8 ppg and is second on the unit with six and a half rebounds per outing as well. Fighting through countless injuries this season and the departure of Jonathan Han the Stags almost have to feel lucky to be where they are at the moment, especially as they generate just 65.4 ppg.

Edwin Ubiles tallied a game-high 18 points to lead the Saints to a resounding 25-point win over the Canisius Golden Griffins yesterday. Kenny Hasbrouck tallied 16 points for the top-seeded Saints, followed by Ryan Rossiter with a double-double consisting of 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Owen Wignot tacked on 10 points off the bench on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting performance. The Saints dialed up the defense against Canisius, forcing 22 turnovers and trading them in for 24 points on the evening. Having a different leading scorer in four of the last five games means the Saints have great flexibility and don't always need to be at their best in order to show up in the win column. Hasbrouck leads the team in scoring this season with his 14.9 ppg, but Ubiles has also been a crucial piece to the puzzle with his 14.8 ppg and 5.0 rpg, not to mention Franklin with 13.5 ppg and nearly seven and a half rebounds per game. Because of those collective efforts the Saints are outscoring the opposition by more than seven points per game.

With such a strong cast of starters and support staff it is hard to go against the Saints right not, that is, until they get to the title game against possibly Niagara.

Predicted Outcome

Siena 73, Fairfield 60