A lopsided defeat at St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center isn’t unusual for the Siena men’s basketball program.

A blowout loss just about anywhere has become the norm for this year’s team.

St. Bonaventure graduate guard Mika Adams-Woods scored 23 points on 9-of-9 shooting as the Bonnies stomped the Saints 89-56 Saturday to take back the Franciscan Cup.

In its last three trips to Reilly Center, Siena lost by 42 points in 2018, 28 points in 2021and 33 on Saturday.

The Saints (2-8) suffered their fifth loss this season by 20 or more points and fourth by greater than

30.

“I’m not sure if we think we’re good,” Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello said on 96.3 FM after the game. “We show up and we can compete for a time and then we say, ‘Oh, OK, I know what this is about.’ And then they punch you in the mouth and we don’t respond.’

Siena is off until a Dec. 19 game against Cornell at MVP Arena.

“These guys, the ones that want to compete, will compete and they’ll play,” Maciariello said later in a video provided by Siena athletic communication. “If there’s guys that can’t compete or can’t cut it, they don’t have to play ... I think they all have the ability to compete. I think sometimes things happen where they don’t want to battle through certain situations.”

Maciariello made his team stay on the court and watch St. Bonaventure celebrate with the Franciscan Cup, which Siena won 76-70 in Albany last year.

“We’re going to watch,” Maciariello said. “I had two cups in my office earlier in November. I don’t have any more cups in my office. It’s not acceptable.”

Siena lost the Albany Cup to the University at Albany 86-51on Nov. 26 at MVP Arena.

The return of Michael Eley from a sprained ankle gave the Saints a brief lift. He made his first two jumpers and scored six points as the Saints took an 11-9 lead with 14:46 remaining in the first half.

But St. Bonaventure dominated the remainder of the half to take a 46-25 halftime lead.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I had a little quicker sub for certain guys when they’re not doing things they’re supposed to do,” Maciariello said. “We can want to win every nonconference game. If this team is going to win the MAAC, they have to understand how they have to play and understand what they have to do, day in and day out.”

Eley finished with six pointson3-of-13shooting,including 0-of-7 on 3-pointers. Michael Evbagharu and Mason Courtney led Siena with nine points each.

Chad Venning added 20 points for St. Bonaventure of the Atlantic 10, which improved to 7-2. Adams-Woods is 20-of-21 from the field and 9-for-9 from 3-point range over his last two games.

Siena, ranked 362nd and last in Division I in NCAA NET Ranking, entered the game as a 221/2-point underdog.

ALBANY — Defense in basketball generally isn’t pretty, but it has become the calling card for the University at Albany women’s team, which gutted its way to another victory Saturday afternoon.

Trailing at halftime and after three quarters, UAlbany outscored Marist 19-6 in the fourth period to beat the Red Foxes 49-39 in a nonconference game at Broadview Center.

In winning their third straight, the Great Danes (7-2) held the opponent to fewer than 40 points for a second straight game. Their 51.3 points allowed per game ranks in the top 20 nationally.

“If they were giving out style points today,” coach Colleen Mullen said, “we received zero.”

The defensive numbers were impressive. UAlbany held Marist (2-7), which has lost six in a row, to 30 percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers. Four of those were shot-clock violations.

Morgan Lee and Maeve Donnelly, the Foxes’ two 6-foot-5 players, were held scoreless until a meaningless bucket with 7.2 seconds to go.

“Our goals are usually defensively based,” said graduate forward Helene Haegerstrand. “Every game for us comes down to the defense. That’s our whole motto we work around, so keeping this team to 39 was a huge key for us.”

That became especially important because UAlbany, which was averaging 66.1 points per game, was having its own offensive struggles. After Zaria Shazer (10 points, 10 rebounds) scored in the post with 5:04 left to give Marist its last lead at 37-36, the Great Danes suddenly awakened.

The Danes went on a 13-0 run, which included seven straight points by Haegerstrand and four by senior Kayla Cooper, who had her second straight double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. After scoring, UAlbany used its full-court press, and the Foxes were trapped.

“We just wore them down,” Mullen said. “Our players are experienced. Kayla and Hellie (Haegerstrand) have been through a lot, and they know how to win. When the game was on the line, you could see the fire in Kayla’s eyes. You can’t coach that. That’s not me. That’s her fire and her intensity.

“Everybody else jumped on board, and she led us to that win.”

It was the lowest-scoring UAlbany game since last year’s America East championship game, which the Great Danes lost 38-36 at Vermont.

“At one point I just got confident, and my teammates had a lot of faith in me,” Cooper said. “That gave me a lot of energy.”

“Coach kept saying we were fine,” said Haegerstrand, who finished with 13 points. “We just needed to take a breath and get the (defensive) stops we needed. We knew we could defend them if we kept communicating, and we knew Kayla was on fire.”

UAlbany continues its three-game homestand Tuesday night against Dartmouth.

“This (7-2) record doesn’t matter,” Mullen said. “It’s not going to get us to our ultimate goal, to get to the NCAA Tournament. It needs to be able to challenge us, and this game challenged us. We were down. We had to come back. We had to execute down the stretch. All those things are teaching you and preparing you for the conference play.”

Notes: Graduate guard Fatima Lee did not dress for a second straight game for what Mullen said was a “coach’s decision.” … UAlbany had only nine available players, as freshman Hailee Ford sat out because of an illness.

UALBANY VS. IDAHO

The University at Albany football program has it all there for the taking on Saturday night.

First win in a dome. First victory outside the Eastern time zone. First trip to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals.

While recognizing the importance of this FCS quarterfinal at Idaho, University at Albany red-shirt sophomore quarterback Reese Poffenbarger said the team isn’t overwhelmed by the moment.

“It’s awesome because you’ve got your best friends out at practice every single day and you’re out chasing the same goal and it makes it that much better,” Poffenbarger said. “I don’t think we’ve put too much thought into making it bigger than it is. ‘Oh, if we win this game, we’re doing something we’ve never done.’ After the game, it’s a fun thing to talk about. When you’re preparing and during the event itself, it’s not something you think about.”

Making their first quarterfinal appearance, the fifth-seeded Great Danes (10-3) bring a six-game winning streak into the matchup with the No. 4 Vandals (9-3) of the Big Sky Conference inside the P1FCU Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho.

The Great Danes, who won their first Coastal Athletic Association title, have beaten their last six opponents by at least 16 points each. They’re coming off a 41-13 rout of CAA rival Richmond in a second-round game.

UAlbany is listed as a four-point underdog on Saturday.

“We have proved to ourselves and everybody else that we can play wherever and play with whoever and win,” said UAlbany senior linebacker Dylan Kelly, the CAA Defensive Player of the Year. “So we’re very confident in this game.”

The Great Danes are accustomed to long road trips. They flew to Marshall and Hawaii on back-to-back weeks in September and also bused twice to Baltimore for victories at Morgan State (in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ophelia) and Towson.

“Nothing really fazes them,” UAlbany head coach Greg Gattuso said. “We’ve played in a hurricane. We’ve traveled to Hawaii. We’ve been battle-tested, I think, in every way you can. So that’s why flying across country isn’t going to make us blink at all.”

The Great Danes are 0-8 in program history in games played outside the Eastern time zone, including this year’s competitive defeats at Marshall and Hawaii of the Football Bowl Subdivision. They’re 0-3 at Big Sky programs with losses at Montana in 2002 and 2007 and an FCS second-round defeat at Montana State in 2019.

UAlbany senior safety Larry Walker Jr. and senior long snapper Stephen Sokach-Minnick are the only remaining Great Danes who played in that Montana State loss.

Walker acknowledged this UAlbany team is better than the one that lost 47-21 in Bozeman, Mont.

“When we were going out to Montana, it was our first playoff berth, so we didn’t know what to expect,” Walker said. “Now since all the away games this year, and we know who we are and we know what it takes to win, especially on the road, it’s like more comfortable to go to Idaho.”

The Great Danes are aiming for their first dome victory. They lost at North Dakota State and Syracuse indoors in 2021.

Poffenbarger, who wasn’t on the team two years ago, said the team will be ready for the noise in the 16,000-seat Kibbie Dome.

“We prepared for it with Marshall, we prepared for it with Baylor (last year) and it wasn’t a factor in either of those games,’ ” Poffenbarger said. “I think the noise level could be very similar to the sold-out Baylor game we played last year. It’s going to be interesting, but we’re definitely prepared for whatever happens.”

The game features a quarterback matchup of Poffenbarger, who leads the FCS with 33 touchdown passes, and Idaho redshirt sophomore quarterback Gevani McCoy. Gattuso and Idaho coach Jason Eck likened the quarterbacks for their ability to extend plays with their legs.

UAlbany’s defense, ranked No. 1 in the country against the run at 75.9 yards per game and first with 49 sacks, will face Mc-Coy, junior wide receiver Hayden Hatten (81 catches) and sophomore running back Anthony Woods (1,051 rushing yards).

Great Danes freshman running back Griffin Woo-dell of Glens Falls (790 yards) will try to find room against an Idaho defense that allows 125.1 rushing yards per game.

The winner of Saturday’s game faces the victor of another Saturday quarterfinal between No. 8 Villanova and No. 1 South Dakota State. If UAlbany wins, the Great Danes would travel next weekend to South Dakota State for a semifinal, or Villanova would come to Casey Stadium.

ALBANY — Special teams were a weakness for the University at Albany football team during its struggles in recent seasons. Their improvement has played a role in the Great Danes’ surge into a Football Championship Subdivision contender.

The kicking and punting games could be major factors in Saturday’s FCS quarterfinal at Idaho, which prides itself on “outstanding” special teams.

“It’s huge,” UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso said. “You can’t lose the kicking battle. You want to win the kicking battle, but at the end of the day, a tie in the kicking battle. Just do your jobs and don’t give up big plays in the kicking game makes a big difference.”

Idaho probably wouldn’t still be playing if not for game-changing plays by its special teams in a 20-17 overtime victory over Southern Illinois last Saturday. Redshirt senior Jermaine Jackson returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 10 in the third quarter.

Vandals freshman linebacker Xe’ree Alexander blocked a 41-yard field goal attempt by Southern Illinois for the win as time expired in regulation. Idaho senior Ricardo Chavez kicked a 29-yard field goal to end the game.

Jackson ranks third in FCS in punt return average at 16.7 yards per return, including a touchdown in each of the past two games. He’s 17th in kickoff return average at 24.9 with a long of 84 yards.

Chavez is 16-for-18 on field goals, tied for fifth in the country at 88.9 percent. He has made three attempts of 50 yards or longer. Chavez is also the punter and his 48.1-yard average would lead the country if he had enough punts to qualify.

“They’ve been outstanding,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “I think we’ve won the special-teams battle in most of our games. We take a lot of pride in those. We put a lot of importance in that with the players. That’s how we start most days, with a special-teams meeting and everybody in there. I think we have a lot of buy-in.”

Eck pointed out his special teams are a combination of starters and reserves who are mostly special-teamers. The same holds true for UAlbany, which uses defensive starters such as senior safety Larry Walker Jr., senior linebacker Dylan Kelly and graduate safety Isaac Duffy on coverage teams. Gattuso said that experience has helped the special teams.

“It’s playoff football, so everything matters, from offense, defense and special teams,” Walker said. “Special teams is definitely, definitely more important than they’ve ever been because it’s the second part of the season.”

UAlbany junior kicker John Opalko has improved from a year ago. He’s made 12 of 16 field goals, including five of six between 40 and 49 yards, after going 9-for-16 a year ago with a long of 36. He hasn’t attempted a field goal the past two games as UAlbany rolled over Monmouth and Richmond.

Great Danes senior punter Tyler Pastula, a Delaware transfer, has remained steady with a 42.2-yard average and 15 placed inside the 20.

UAlbany had a couple of shaky moments in the win over Richmond. Sophomore Levi Wentz muffed a punt that led to Richmond’s first touchdown and Kelly was offsides to negate a UAlbany recovery of a muffed Richmond kickoff return.

“We’ve improved solid throughout the year,” special teams coach Joe Bernard said. “We’ve had a few missteps along the way, but (Gattuso) always talks about being all in and the kids this year are really all in to all three phases and we have a lot of depth.”

Note: Gattuso finished second in the voting for the Eddie Robinson Award, which goes to the FCS national Coach of the Year. The winner was Jimmy Rogers, rookie head coach of defending national champion South Dakota State (12-0), the No. 1 seed in this year’s playoffs. Rogers received 16 first-place votes and 144 points to Gattuso’s nine and 130.

Dylan Kelly wasn’t ready to contribute the last time the University at Albany football team went out west to play a Football Championship Subdivision playoff game.

Arriving on campus as a 190-pound walk-on, Kelly redshirted as a freshman and didn’t travel when the Great Danes lost 47-21at Montana State in a second-round game in 2019.

“I did not, but I heard that the atmosphere was insane from teammates on the team,” Kelly said Thursday.

Kelly, a senior middle linebacker, will be in the middle of the action when the fifth-seeded Great Danes face No. 4 Idaho in the loud atmosphere of the PIFCU Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho. He’s the nation’s second-leading tackler heading into Saturday night’s FCS quarterfinal.

On Tuesday, Kelly was named one of the three finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the top defensive player in the FCS. The trio are invited to the award announcement Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas, the day before the FCS championship game.

“It was awesome,” Kelly said. “It just shows all the hard work I put in throughout the years, and then especially during the spring and summer, that pays off.”

Kelly also noted teammate Anton Juncaj, a senior defensive end, finished fifth in the voting.

While Juncaj is second in the nation with 14 sacks, Kelly serves as the backbone of the nation’s top-ranked run defense. He has a program-record 148 tackles, trailing only McNeese linebacker Micah Davey, and he should pass him on Saturday.

The 6-foot-2 Kelly has bulked up to 224 pounds, a far different player than the one who only got scholarship offers from Division II schools Edinboro (Pa.) and Findlay (Ohio) coming out of high school in Amherst, a Buffalo suburb. Kelly is the nephew of Hall of Fame Bills quarterback Jim Kelly.

Kelly instead chose UAlbany as a preferred walk-on.

“It’s just coming in as a walk-on, you kind of get that chip on your shoulder,” Kelly said. “You just want to prove everybody wrong and prove to people that you are better than what some people might have thought. Having that chip on my shoulder and getting the opportunity when two kids ahead of me transferred, and then just showing with the opportunity what I can do and having the players around me and the coaches around me to make me the player I am today.”

UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso recruited Kelly as a strong safety and moved him to outside linebacker as he got bigger. Kelly said he worked out six days a week and ate constantly. He got his chance when outside linebackers Joe Casale of Troy (Robert Morris) and Danny Damico (Villanova) transferred.

Kelly started at outside linebacker as a junior and led the team with 97 tackles. This season, he moved inside to replace Jackson Ambush, who transferred to Florida Atlantic.

Not big for a middle linebacker, Kelly said he relies on his sideline-to-sideline quickness.

Gattuso has success with walk-ons. Redshirt freshman Griffin Woodell of Glens Falls, the Coastal Athletic Association Offensive Rookie of the Year, was also a walk-on before receiving a scholarship in August. Gattuso recruited walk-ons when he was an assistant at Pittsburgh and Maryland.

“Some of these walk-ons start flashing before your eyes.” Gattuso said. “It just takes a year or two for walk-ons to jump out. … I believe in walk-ons. I just think kids take time to develop sometimes and we love our guys that walk on. They help on special teams and then they grow into these really good players and you’re seeing it with Dylan and Griffin.”

Despite his value as a defender, Kelly still plays on special teams on UAlbany’s kickoff coverage.

“I feel like just to help out the team in any way,” Kelly said. “I’ll play whatever position that helps the team out in the grand scheme of things.”

Kelly, a finance major, and his defensive teammates will try to stop an Idaho offense that averages 33.2 points per game, 13th in FCS. The UAlbany defense limits foes to 16.8 points per game, eighth in the nation.

“We know that they’re a really well-balanced offense and we’re a really, really well-balanced defense,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be a fun game.”

UALBANY AT IDAHO When: 10 p.m. Saturday Where: PIFCU Kibbie Dome, Moscow, Idaho TV/Radio: ESPN+, WTMM 104.5 FM