UAlbany Men's Basketball Edged By Crosstown-Rival Siena, 75-71, at Times Union Center

Albany, N.Y. – Forward Alex Franklin scored 24 points, including 13 in the first half, to lead Siena to a 75-71 win over UAlbany in non-conference men’s basketball action at the Times Union Center on Saturday, Dec. 1 to claim the 2007 Albany Cup in front of 13,262 fans, the highest-ever attendance for the rivalry game. UAlbany falls to 4-2 on the season, while crosstown-rival Siena evens its record at 3-3 on the season.

After Brian Lillis converted a conventional three-point play to open the second half, Siena went on a 15-2 run, including a 13-0 stretch, to take their largest lead of the game at 20, 58-38 with just under 13 minutes remaining in the game. Kenny Hasbrouck scored four points and Chris De La Rosa capped the streak with a jumpshot at the 12:35 mark.

UAlbany held the Saints scoreless over the next 8:17, and scored 16 straight points, to pull within 58-54 with just under five minutes remaining in the game. Tim Ambrose scored the first five points of the run for UAlbany with a three-pointer and two foul shots to close the gap to 15. Brian Connelly hit two shots around a three-pointer and layup by Brent Wilson bring UAlbany within six at the 5:25 mark. Freshman Josh Martin converted a driving layup at the 4:50 mark to cap the Great Danes’ run.

Ambrose converted a conventional three-point play following three points by Franklin to get the Great Danes back within four at the 4:05 mark. Siena scored seven of the game’s next nine points, including four by Franklin to take a nine point advantage with just under two and a half minutes remaining. After Josh Duell hit a foul shot to put Siena up 71-62, UAlbany scored nine of the contest’s final 13 points. Wilson hit a three with 39 seconds left and Connelly made a layup to bring the Great Danes within four with 32 seconds left. Jon Iati converted two foul shots with 21 seconds left and Brian Lillis made a layup with six seconds remaining to pull to within two at 73-71, but Franklin hit two foul shots to end the game’s scoring.

Siena used two three-pointers by Kenny Hasbrouck to jump out to an 8-0 lead just over one and a half minutes into the contest. UAlbany scored the next eight points to even the score at eight with 15:40 remaining in the opening half on a jump shot by Brian Connelly.

The Saints scored seven of the next 12 points to take a 15-13 lead with 12 and a half minutes remaining. Siena then scored 17 consecutive points over a four minute span to jump out to a 32-13 lead. Franklin scored 10 points in the stretch to give the Saints their biggest lead of the opening half.

UAlbany closed the half scoring 20 of the final 31 points to going into intermission down by 10, 43-33. Wilson hit two three-pointers, Lillis converted two baskets and Jon Iati hit a three-pointer in the stretch to lead the Great Danes.

“We got down early and I think we were a little shell-shocked,” said Iati, who finished with seven points in his fifth appearance in the crosstown-rivalry game. “We kept battling back, no matter what, I think that’s the good thing we can take from this game. No matter what the circumstances were, we still battled.”

Wilson and Lillis each recorded double-doubles for UAlbany. Wilson scored 20 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Lillis tallied 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out six assists. Franklin led the Saints with 10 rebounds to go along with his 24 points. Hasbrouck registered 18 points, Ronald Moore scored 14, and Edwin Ubiles scored 10 as Siena has four players in double-figures.

“We knew it was important to control the tempo,” said UAlbany head coach Will Brown. “We thought we had some tricks up our sleeves for them, but we missed some free throws and didn’t make the big plays when we needed to. We never got in sync offensively, although we did some good things defensively, especially in the end.”