The Aquinas men's basketball team drops its third straight game in heartbreaking fashion to Siena Heights on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 8) in Adrian, Michigan. Aquinas was able to outscore Siena Heights by 18 in the second half, but was one point short of overcoming the 19-point halftime deficit and eventually falling 81-80.
AQ now has a record of 10-8 on the season and a 4-5 WHAC, while SHU improves its record to 5-12 on the year and 2-7 in the conference.
After Aquinas scored the first bucket of the game, Siena Heights went on a 9-0 run to lead 11-2 at the 17:37 mark. AQ slowly cut into the SHU lead and got within a point with 11:36 left to play in the first half with SHU leading 16-15. Four of the next five baskets for Siena Heights came from beyond the arc and an SHU dunk made Aquinas take a timeout with 8:02 remaining and AQ down 32-21. The three-point shot was firing on all cylinders for both sides as the next six shots made came from downtown with both teams making three a piece. The last two trifectas for Siena Heights sparked a 16-0 run as SHU gained a 21-point lead with 2:36 until halftime. Aquinas broke the run with a couple of buckets, but were still down 54-35 heading into the locker room.
The talk at the break sparked a run for AQ as the first 11 points of the second half were scored by Aquinas with the scoreboard now reading 54-47 at the 15:59 mark. Siena Heights was able to build its lead back up to 12 three different times in the next four and a half minutes before Aquinas was able to go on its next run. This one was an 11-2 run that got the SHU lead down to three with 7:49 remaining in regulation. It was a battle down the final stretch of the game as AQ continued to keep within striking distance of SHU, thanks a lot to Sammie Ryans. Ryans scored nine straight points for Aquinas from the 6:15 mark to the 1:54 mark as the final three points were able to tie the game up at 78. Siena Heights answered with a three of its own with 1:20 remaining, but AQ was still able to cut the lead to one and had an opportunity to tie the game with an old fashioned three-point play with 20 seconds left. Aquinas missed the free throw, but was able to gain the offensive board and call a timeout to draw up a play. AQ could not score and had to foul SHU to try and extend the game. Siena Heights missed the front end of a one-and-one and Aquinas took another timeout to draw up the final play of the game. AQ was able to get to the basket for a layup opportunity, but SHU came up with a big time block to seal the one point thriller.
Aquinas shot the ball very well by finishing with a 52.7% shooting percentage after making 29-55 baskets, including 9-23 from downtown and 10-13 from the charity stripe. Siena Heights was just a bit better by going 29-50 from the floor for a 58.0% field goal percentage, including 14-26 from three-point land and 6-8 from the free throw line.
Ryans (25) and Jaylen Rutherford (20) combined to score over half of Aquinas' points throughout the game with 16 coming in the second half for Ryans. Rutherford also had five rebounds, two assists, and a steal, while Ryans finished with three boards, an assist, and steal.
Jesse Hillis and Menalito McGee tied for the most rebounds on the team at seven. Both also had double digit points with Hillis scoring 14 and McGee posting 12 points off the bench. Jared Dugener (4), Bennett Sinner (3), and Justin Lary (2) rounded out the scoring for AQ.
Aquinas was able to outrebound Siena Heights 29-20 and had more steals (8-7), while SHU collected more assists (15-8) and blocks (4-1). AQ forced 17 turnovers, while turning the ball over 15 times itself. Aquinas also held advantages in points off turnovers (23-18), second chance points (20-5), bench points (19-12), points in the paint (28-24), and fast break points (14-4).
AQ will return to Sturrus Center on Wednesday (Jan. 12) in a WHAC match-up against Lawrence Tech, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 PM.
