When I finally arrived about 5 minutes before the tip at Siena I was greeted with a near full parking lot at the generically named Siena Heights Gymnasium. Once inside it was apparent that yeah, this was probably a big deal to these people. A nice section of maybe 100 Siena students wore white t-shirts with the words "Our Town" written on them. While there were lots of Adrian students and fans there they sat all over the place and didn't coordinate to make any sort of opposing fan section.
The setting was kind of cozy, with all four sides surrounded by bleachers, I would estimate the crowd at between 1000 and 1200 with many people standing in the corners. There were open seats, I had no trouble finding one at mid-court even being late, but not many, I guess they prefer standing. For the most part though they'd probably consider this full.
The game itself tipped with Adrian and Siena trading missed shots, it was apparent early that both teams came to play defense and that scoring would be difficult. Adrian finally scored with an Adam Meier jumper 3 minutes into the game, they would never relinquish that lead. Adrian set a strong defensive tone and despite being a touch smaller began dominating the glass.
The rest of the first half had its moments of good play but it was mostly ragged and sometimes a little ugly. Had Adrian shot the ball just a little bit better it would have been no contest, but with a 3 pointer at the first half buzzer for Siena there was at least a small glimmer of hope for the Saints.
Siena hung on for a couple possessions in the second half before Adrian slammed the door with 3 straight baskets to go up 10, Siena would only get it under 10 one more time. With a combination of stifling defense and terrific rebounding Adrian just kept building the lead and it was pretty apparent with 10 minutes to play this wasn't happening for Siena. Adrian was just plain better at everything.
Rivalry?
Yes I'm sure. You can't share the same small town without being rivals of some kind. I probably just attended the least competitive Siena/Adrian game in the last 10 years. Here's the last few results:
- Adrian 77 Siena Heights 67
- Siena Heights 71 Adrian 65
- Siena Heights 48 Adrian 45
- Siena Heights 78 Adrian 71
- Siena Heights 72 Adrian 67
Siena and Adrian are two programs on different plains of existence. Mark White is in year 4, with kids he recruited and a team that has established a tough defensive identity, they are looking to win the MIAA. Siena Heights is in year one of the Joe Pechota era and have been a struggling WHAC program for the better part of the last decade. They are a long way from the WHAC Championship teams of the 90's and early 2000's. This year they're heading for the bottom half of that conference again and that's a pretty ugly neighborhood to be hanging around in.
I left being a bit disappointed in the total lack of crowd interaction but I'm sure the score had much to do with that, it was really 1100 people watching this thing going on in front of them with almost total indifference. It was weird. About the only moment of the game that brought sparks was when Siena's Donovan Campbell, who plays tight-end on the football team, body checked Adrian's Cody Barnes into, on top of and over the scorer's table earning himself a well earned technical foul. Other than the refs, no one seemed to see it or what led up to that moment. It was really the only time in the game with any hint of animosity.
At the end I expected at least some kind of joyous Adrian celebration but it was really the team just sort of sauntering to center court after the handshakes where they were presented with the Milk Jug, the traveling trophy awarded to the winner of this game. They posed for a couple team pictures and that was it, off to the locker room lugging that thing on Sean Gallant's shoulders.
Last years Milk Jug game
So, Adrian?
I think they are good. This team won at Wooster on Saturday, Wooster went out and kind of validated that win by beating one of the OAC favorites Baldwin-Wallace. For a team with 10 Freshmen, several who play quite a bit, they play Mark White's defense as if they've played it forever. I'm sure Mark would disagree.
Daryl Flemister and Sheldon Clay are almost clones to the departed Delano Collins and Dennis Mason from last year. Drew Torey brings good quickness and a nice 3 point shot, Ricky Jackson, Brad Hohman add depth on the blocks. They won't wow you, but they all seem to fit nicely into what Mark White is trying to do.
Offensively everything will go through Cody Barnes, Eric Lewis and Adam Meier. To me all 3 look improved from year ago and if Barnes and Lewis get loose the ball is likely going in the basket or at least towards the basket. As the year goes on I would think they'll try and establish more offense from some of the other guys, for now about 60% of the shots and 75% of the points are coming from these 3 guys. An off night or well defended night for any of the three will make things difficult but those 3 are going to carry this team as far as they can.
Defensively they looked in mid-season form, they just get it and always seem to be in good position. No shot ever seems to be uncontested and if it is the guilty party is coming out of the game quick. They dominated this team on the glass to the tune of 53-34 with 19 offensive rebounds on 41 misses. Holding any team to 40 points isn't all that easy, even bad offensive teams like Siena, you still have to be doing something good at that end of the floor to get there.
Between now and January Adrian has a bunch of games just like this. Teams they will be better than, teams they can defensively impose their will against, teams they should beat. I fully expect the crew I saw last night to be 11-0 or at worst 9-2 when they make their MIAA opening night trip to Calvin on Jan. 3. By then Calvin will likely be a top 20 team and will easily be the best opponent they've played outside of maybe Wooster. Two days latter they host Hope, those two games will define how involved the Bulldogs will be in the MIAA race. Come tournament time, yeah, these guys are going to be a pain in the neck again.
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