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GAME NOTES: With first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference already sewn up, the Siena Saints try to close out the regular season strong as they play their final road game of the campaign against the Rider Broncs tonight.

At 15-1 in the MAAC, the Saints have skated through the conference schedule, but the team has had a few bumps in the road of late with two losses in the last three outings. Last Saturday, the squad challenged nationally-ranked Butler and was taken down in a 70-53 final, the point total by Siena representing the team's lowest in the last 80 games. Nevertheless, at 22-6 the Saints are by far the top performing team in the league this season.

As for the Broncs, they are tied with Niagara for the fifth spot in the league standings entering play tonight with eight wins in 16 opportunities. Like Siena, the Broncs also took a break from MAAC play last weekend and suffered a 92-89 overtime defeat at the hands of the Hofstra Pride. The loss was the second in the last three games for Rider, and both came in overtime.

Siena crushed the Broncs in the first meeting of the season back on December 23rd with an 84-62 victory at home. As a result, the Saints now own a 21-10 advantage in the all-time series.

The Saints had an early wake-up call for they meeting with Butler last weekend and perhaps that had something to do with the fact that they scored a season- low 53 points in the effort. The squad shot a mere 33.9 percent from the floor and an awful 2-of-13 behind the three-point line. Those two conversions on the perimeter were posted by Clarence Jackson who finished with a team-best 24 points, while Ryan Rossiter accounted for 10 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. The 53 points by the Saints were more than 22 points under the squad's season average which now stands at 75.4 ppg. Alex Franklin (16.0 ppg), Edwin Ubiles (14.7 ppg), Rossiter (14.3 ppg) and Jackson (14.0 ppg) combine to make up more than the total output put forth by the team versus Butler. The foursome also make Siena the only team at the Division I level with four players averaging at least 14.0 ppg. But what makes those guys go is the fact that Ronald Moore (6.8 ppg) is there to supply a nation-leading 7.6 apg.

Ryan Thompson, the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, erupted for 38 points to go along with six rebounds and six assists, but his efforts were not nearly enough to lift the Broncs over Hofstra in overtime last weekend. Also scoring in double figures were Novar Gadson with 16 points off the bench, Justin Robinson with 12 points, to go along with six rebounds and five assists before fouling out, while Mike Ringgold tacked on 11 points and nine boards before picking up his fifth personal as well. For the third time in the last four weeks, Thompson was named the MAAC Player of the Week as he put up 29.5 ppg, 4.5 apg, 4.5 rpg and two steals per outing last week. The leading scorer in each of the last four games for Rider, Thompson is averaging 17.1 points and 5.1 caroms per contest on the season and has been a steady performer at the free-throw line where he has made good on 81.2 percent of his attempts, yet the team as a whole has converted just 68.4 percent at the strip thus far.

After being crushed last weekend, the Saints hope to show that it was nothing more than a fluke. Unfortunately for the Broncs, they are the ones likely to bear the brunt of that disgust.