ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights men's basketball team fell in a tightly contested fight with Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) opponent UNOH inside the SHU Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. The Saints (4-10, 1-6 WHAC) ended a two-game winning streak with the 64-55 defeat with eight ties and ten lead changes.
Kevin Rice led all scorers with 18 points on 5-13 shooting from the floor. He also pulled down six rebounds in the losing effort. Kiewuan Graham was 6-13 for 12 points while tallying five rebounds and two steals. Curtis Bell III scored eight points while Jayden Sims and Elijah Sterling netted seven. Sterling was the team's leading rebounder with seven.
The game experienced seven ties and nine lead changes in the opening 20 minutes. The teams traded baskets to a 4-4 tie before Max Moratinos hit a three-point jumper to pull ahead 7-4. The Racers knotted things up at eight with a layup at the 13:59 mark. Sims made a jumper that gave Siena Heights a 12-10 lead before UNOH used a 7-0 run to move ahead 17-12 with 8:18 left in the first frame. Back-to-back shots from beyond the arc gave the Saints an 18-17 point lead the Racers eradicated with a layup on the following possession. The score tied twice more up to a deadlock at 25 before Graham made a jumper and layup to give SHU its largest lead of the game, 29-25. A jumper by the Racers in the final 1:10 put the margin at one possession as the team's entered the locker room at the half.
A layup by UNOH cut the deficit by two points and sparked a 12-0 run that gave the Racers a 39-31 advantage in the opening five minutes of the second half. The Saint cut the lead to five points before a three gave UNOH its largest lead of the game, 46-37, with 11:26 remaining in regulation. Siena Heights whittled the lead down for the next four minutes, including two free throws by Rice that brought SHU within one point of tying the score for the ninth time, 52-51, with 5:03 on the clock. The Racers pulled away again, though with two sets of free throws and a game-changing second-chance layup that put the score at 58-53 with just over 3:10 left. Graham hit a layup that brought the margin to just one possession, but the Racers hit their free throws down the stretch to complete the game's last six points and secure the win.
Up Next
The Saints hit the road for a road contest against RV IU-South Bend this Tuesday, December 28. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m.
