Siena Finds Another Path

The team that couldn’t win during the regular season has figured it out at tournament time.

Siena became only the second team to win an NCAA tournament game with a losing record, defeating Alcorn State, 81-77, Tuesday night in a play-in game that provided a fitting start.

Prosper Karangwa scored a career-high 31 points and Dwayne Archbold made two free throws in the closing seconds--the type of clutch performance that the Saints (17-18) rarely managed in the regular season.

“A week ago, we were left for dead,” Coach Rob Lanier said. “It’s quite a contrast.”

Siena joined the 64-team bracket and won a trip to Washington to play Maryland--the East’s No. 1-seeded team--on Friday.

The Saints also became the first team in 47 years to win an NCAA tournament game with a losing record.

Bradley is the team sharing the distinction--it won two in 1955.

Siena lost its last three regular-season games, leaving only one path to the NCAA tournament. It won four Metro Atlantic Conference tournament games on its home court to get the automatic bid.

Alcorn State (21-10) had been unbeaten in play-in games in Dayton, winning two in the 1980s under Coach Davey Whitney.

The Braves spent a sleepless night getting to Dayton for this one, then faced elimination at the end of a back-and-forth game that found them at less than their best.

It might have been the last game for Whitney, a former Negro League shortstop completing his 26th year at the Mississippi school. Whitney, 72, hasn’t decided whether to return for another season.

Siena is only the 16th team in NCAA history to make the tournament with a losing record and the first since Florida A&M; in 1999. Siena had won only one other NCAA tournament game, defeating Stanford, 80-78, when it was seeded No. 14 in 1989. That was the year that Siena changed nicknames, from Indians to Saints, and had to play several home games in an empty gym because of a measles outbreak on campus.