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College Basketball: Shorthanded UAlbany Men Lose To NJIT; UAlbany, Siena Women Roll To Wins

NEWARK, N.J. — Down to just seven players in uniform for Saturday night's game against NJIT, UAlbany men's basketball let the game get just a bit too far out of reach, and a late comeback attempt wasn't enough as the Great Danes dropped a 74-67 verdict.

UAlbany (1-4 America East, 6-14 overall) was severely shorthanded for the second straight game. After suiting up just eight players in Wednesday's loss to Bryant, the Great Danes were down another man Saturday as Trey Hutcheson didn't travel with the team to New Jersey after the senior forward suffered what head coach Dwayne Killings called a "pinched nerve" in his back at practice on Friday.

Sophomore forward Aaron Reddish was held out of a second straight game for failing to live up to program standards.

"We'll figure out his status for next week once we get through the rest of the weekend," Killings said.

UAlbany and NJIT (2-2, 5-12) were tied 33-33 at the half, but an 18-5 run by the Highlanders left the Great Danes facing a 62-48 deficit with 6:24 to play. UAlbany rallied to get as close as five points thanks to a big night from Gerald Drumgoole Jr., who scored a career-high 29 points while playing all 40 minutes for the third straight game, but NJIT was able to seal the game down the stretch.

"Disappointing loss for us," Killings said. "We obviously only had seven guys, but no excuse. We had chances to win it."

Da'Kquan Davis added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Great Danes, and Jonathan Beagle finished with 11 points and eight boards. Kevin Osawe's 18-point, eight-rebound effort led NJIT.

UAlbany returns to action Thursday with a home game against Binghamton.

Women

UALBANY 73, NJIT 54

TROY — Helene Haegerstrand scored a career-high 28 points, and the Great Danes rode red-hot shooting to a 19-point win at Hudson Valley Community College.

Haegerstrand shot 10 of 11 from the field and connected on all four of her 3-point attempts for UAlbany (6-0 America East, 12-8 overall), while Morgan Haney scored 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Haney's scoring output matched her career-best, which she last achieved in the 2022 America East tournament championship game against Maine.

Ellen Hahne added 14 points and Kayla Cooper scored nine in a game where the Great Danes shot 51% from the field and were a scorching 9 of 11 from 3-point range.

Alexandra Zuniga led NJIT (3-2, 8-9) with 11 points in a game that UAlbany put away with a 26-14 advantage in the third quarter.

The Great Danes are back in action Wednesday on the road against Binghamton.

SIENA 94, SAINT PETER'S 45

LOUDONVILLE — The Saints bounced back from a 25-point loss to Manhattan by matching the program's most points in a game in 21 years and posting their most lopsided win in 29 years.

Teresa Seppala made 6 of 7 3-point attempts and scored a career-high 24 points for Siena (5-2 MAAC, 11-6 overall), which scored its most points in a game since a 94-85 win over Fairfield on Feb. 7, 2002. The 49-point margin of victory was Siena's largest since 1 107-67 win over Canisius on Feb. 2, 1994.

Anajah Brown added 13 points and six rebounds for Siena, Ahniysha Jackson scored 11 points and London Gamble scored 10 as the Saints got back on track after the loss to Manhattan ended a four-game win streak.

Saint Peter's dropped to 0-7 in MAAC play and 0-16 overall with the loss.

Siena returns to action Thursday at 7 p.M. With a road game against Fairfield.

Categories: -Sports-, College Sports, Siena College, UAlbany

UAlbany Men's Basketball Beats NJIT, Keeps Slim America East Playoff Hopes Alive

TROY — With its hopes of reaching the America East men's basketball playoffs hanging by a thread, UAlbany turned in a performance Saturday night that gives the Great Danes at least a glimmer of hope heading into their regular-season finale.

Sarju Patel led four players in double figures with 25 points, and UAlbany led by as many as 20 points in the second half on its way to an 82-68 win over NJIT at Hudson Valley Community College.

The win pulls UAlbany (3-12 America East, 8-22 overall) within a game of NJIT (4-11, 7-21) for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament.

To reach the playoffs, the Great Danes need to win on the road Tuesday at 7 p.M. Against conference leader Vermont and have NJIT lose at New Hampshire. That would leave the two teams tied at 4-12 in conference play. Though they split their two meetings this season, the America East's tiebreaker formula would favor the Great Danes and send them to the playoffs.

UAlbany broke open Saturday's game with a furious finish to the first half, a 16-2 run that turned a 30-28 deficit into a 44-32 halftime lead. The Great Danes continued pushing early in the second half, with a pair of Patel 3-pointers leaving them with a 59-39 lead with 15:10 to play.

NJIT made a run over the final 15 minutes, trimming UAlbany's lead to 10 with 2:14 to play, but Patel and Gerald Drumgoole Jr. — two of the four players honored Saturday on UAlbany's senior night — scored enough down the stretch to keep the Highlanders at bay.

Patel's career-high 25 points came on 7 of 10 shooting, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Drumgoole added 19 points and nine rebounds, Jonathan Beagle added 17 points and 13 boards for his third consecutive double-double, and Da'Kquan Davis chipped in 12 points.

Kjell de Graaf led four NJIT players in double figures with 16 points, but the Highlanders were dominated on the glass, with UAlbany holding a 41-28 rebounding advantage.

Categories: -Sports-, College Sports

Shaheen Holloway 'super-excited' About Seton Hall's New Practice Facility

Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway is "super-excited" about the school's new basketball practice facility, which is supposed to begin construction this summer.

"I'm super-excited," he told NJ Advance Media by phone. "I think it's something that's needed. I think it's going to give our school, not just the athletic department, I think it's going to give our school a tremendous face lift. It's supposed to be a 50-something million dollar practice facility so I'm excited about that."

Last October, Seton Hall AD Bryan Felt said they expected to break ground "in May," but the timeline has been pushed forward at least a couple of months with a new start date "around July 1," one source said.

The $52-million project will help both the men's and women's basketball programs, Felt said then, and will "pop out the back of our field house" so "you're going to lose some parking spaces."

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Felt said "it's close to a two-year project, I would think something like 18 months."

That would put its completion sometime in early 2025.

The state of the facilities at Seton Hall has been a long-running issue at the school, and can make it difficult for the school to recruit against some of the other programs in the Big East and nationally. The men's basketball team practices in the basement of Walsh Gym, but recently has had to practice at NJIT and elsewhere because the floor of the auxiliary gym was being waxed..

Felt believes the new practice facility should help recruiting as well as provide an overall upgrade to the athletic facilities.

"You talk about the things that are incredibly important to your programs, I think where these young men are going to be training and spending most of their time is really valuable to any program," he said. "It's going to be a big deal for us. It's state of the art, it's absolutely beautiful and I'm really excited."

In November 2021, Seton Hall alum Patrick Murray his wife Mary Ann Pfaff Murray announced they were adding $2 million to their previous gift of $5 million to support construction of the practice facility. Murray is the board chair emeritus and the Murrays also endowed a faculty chair position at the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall.

"I hope that our giving will stand as an impetus to other alumni and friends of this great university," said Murray in a statement. "Mary Ann and I realize that Seton Hall has many strengths and many needs, and we want to make a difference to as many students as possible."

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Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.Com.

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