Siena nearly pulls off miraculous upset against Duke in opening round

Justice Shoats, Gavin Doty, Brendan Coyle, Francis Folefac and Riley Mulvey.

Those five, and those five only. That’s all Gerry McNamara and the Siena coaching staff were going to ride with on Thursday. And those five gave the Saints’ faithful and the entire country a heck of a lot to cheer for in Greenville.

For 28 minutes, 16-seed Siena led No. 1 overall seed Duke. After the Blue Devils led by four early, Siena held them without a field goal for eight straight minutes, taking a 10-point lead with two threes by Coyle, and a supreme display of touch and footwork down low from Folefac. By halftime, the Saints led by 11. In the second, it got up to 13.

But as Siena’s starters lost their legs, and Duke’s talent began to win out, the Blue Devils charged back, taking the lead with four minutes left and sealing away a 71-65 win after a 40-minute war. Siena’s bench played all of two seconds. Its five starting warriors, drenched in sweat, beaten down physically, gimped off the floor to a massive round of applause by the traveling Saints’ fanbase, the largest of the 13 MAAC schools, whose return to the NCAA Tournament marked a return to what Siena basketball is supposed to look like.

While Doty, Coyle, and the rest of the group stressed that there are no moral victories, it’s hard to not hold your head up high if you’re a Saints’ fan, or if you’re McNamara.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” McNamara said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of any group of kids I’ve been around. I think the world and college basketball saw what I’ve been so grateful and thankful to be around all season, a group of kids that love each other, that compete at the highest level and play for each other.”

Already a thin team, the Saints dealt with injuries all year long. Freshman Owen Schlager has been out since November. Mulvey missed a few weeks early on with a concussion. In December, it lost big man Tasman Goodrick for the season. Neither Tajae Jones nor Reid Ducharme, both legitimate contributors last year, didn’t play a minute this year. And Marcus Jackson, who started all 15 games that he played last season, didn’t play after November.

That forced Folefac into a big role right away, and he stepped right into it. He eventually became one of the most feared big men in the MAAC, and the Saints couldn’t live without him on the floor. His scoring, rebounding, passing and defensive versatility has been on display.

Folefac guarded MAAC Player of the Year, Kevair Kennedy, a point guard, in the MAAC Championship game and did as much to shut him down as anybody in the MAAC did. Then, he was given the assignment on potential No. 1 overall pick Cameron Boozer of the Blue Devils on Thursday, and he held him down for much of the game until he eventually broke through.

Meanwhile, Doty had yet another monster performance. He opened the game with an off-balance three, just a continuation of everything that he’s been doing for the Saints all season, and in the MAAC Tournament as he won MVP.

Like always, Doty found himself diving all over the floor, and absorbing a ridiculous amount of contact. It wore him down throughout the game as he missed his last six field goal attempts. Duke made its run, and the Saints just couldn’t respond.

That run started after two missed dunks on the same possession with 17:30 to play that would’ve put Siena up by 15. Mulvey and Folefac each missed, and then Isaiah Evans went down the floor to score a dunk on the other end.

“It’s a game of runs,” Doty said. “We knew they would make runs. They’re the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. It was about withstanding those runs. We didn’t stop fighting until the final buzzer sounded. So, I’m proud of these guys.”

McNamara never went to his bench. And he shouldn’t have. If your bench can be minus-9 in three minutes against UAlbany, then what can it do when Duke is on the other side of the floor? That can lose you a game early.

The Saints lost this game, but did every possible thing it could to win.

“I asked them,” McNamara said. “Not that they would tell me the truth when I say, ‘are you good?’ They tell me ‘yeah.’ I would tell my coach the same thing, I’m fine regardless. They gave us everything. But that stretch did hurt us. We missed two dunks, led to a run, but we responded. Yeah, you’re going to get a little gassed, but when you’re playing the best team in the country, sometimes you dig a little deeper and fight it out.”

In both his on-court postgame interview, and in his postgame press cnference, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said that McNamara outcoached him. And it’s hard to argue that.

Make it back-to-back games where the Saints coaching staff has thoroughly outcoached a one-seed and conference coach of the year, after what happened last Tuesday in Atlantic City against Joe Gallo and Merrimack.

“A tournament’s all about your competitive readiness,” Scheyer said. “And Siena had that as well as any team we’ve gone against. We anticipated them trying to really do things to keep us out of the paint, and they executed great. The moments we made runs, they didn’t flinch. I think that’s a reflection on him, and that’s a reflection on his players. They were big time today, and it took us everything that we had to win it.”

But for McNamara, it’s just pride.

“I’m just really proud,” he said. “I’m devastated for them because we were fearless. We wanted to accept this. I knew when we came back from Atlantic City, when I got them that Friday before Selection Sunday, where we had two practices, really three practices before that Selection Sunday, the energy they brought to the gym.”

After all, that’s why he’s here.

“For me to take this job, to take it over,” McNamara said. “The goal was always to play on this stage, and I’m really, really proud of how they represented our school, our community, the alumni. Even the way they talked about each other, I think yesterday up here, I said yesterday up here. I said after Atlantic City I’m a proud coach. I’m still a damn proud coach.”