Siena Beats Ohio State in 2 Overtimes
DAYTON, Ohio — When it ended, after Siena and Ohio State battled for 40 minutes of regulation and two overtimes, the Saints gathered underneath a tunnel here at the University of Dayton Arena.
Saints fans hung over the railing, their faces painted the school’s colors of green and gold, their voices gone from screaming. They rang cow bells and leaned down, hoping to touch anyone wearing a green jersey.
It was already early Saturday morning. Even though this game started Friday night, it did not end until 12:21 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, the scoreboard remained stuck. The clock read 0:00. On its right, Siena 74. On its left, Ohio State 72.
“Definitely big,” junior guard Ronald Moore said. “We’ve got to get ready for Louisville.”
Indeed, the ninth-seeded Saints will meet the top-seeded Cardinals on Sunday evening in the Midwest Region in the Round of 32 of the N.C.A.A. tournament. The Saints ensured that with their wild, back-and-forth victory over eighth-seeded Ohio State, a team that led during most of regulation and the second overtime.
Siena outlasted Ohio State by the end of the second overtime, thanks to Moore, who not only tied the game at the end of the first overtime with a 3-pointer but won it with another 3-pointer he sank with 3.9 seconds remaining in the second overtime.
Moore said he struggled Friday night, and the final statistics show he made only 4 of 13 shots, and only 2 of 6 of his 3-point attempts. Of course, two of those four made shots and both of those made 3-pointers were the most important shots taken in the game. Those shots transformed Moore from a solid, if virtually unknown, player into another N.C.A.A. tournament celebrity, another hero made in March.
Moore appeared near tears after the game ended. Asked what went through his mind before the final shot, he said, simply: “Nothing, really. I needed to knock it down.”
After it went in, Siena players huddled on one side of the court, jumping and hugging and celebrating their advancement. This epic game had taken several twists for them to get here.
At the end of the first overtime, Moore hit a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 65-65. The Ohio State sophomore guard Jon Diebler missed a potential winning shot at the buzzer.
Near the end of regulation, Kenny Hasbrouck, the Saints senior guard and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference player of the year, knocked down a 3-pointer and made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 56-56. Evan Turner, Ohio State’s valuable sophomore swingman, missed a jumper that would have won the game in regulation.
Back and forth it went.
Hasbrouck and Turner are the best players on their teams, and they played as if attached to opposite ends of a fulcrum Friday night.
Turner dominated for most of regulation, while Hasbrouck remained stuck in a shooting slump on the worst possible night. Hasbrouck tied the game, but Turner missed at the end of regulation. Hasbrouck opened the first overtime with a driving lay-up, and Turner scored 7 points in the second overtime, tying the game twice and giving Ohio State a lead that did not last.
Twenty minutes after the game ended, the Siena fans and players and band lingered at the arena, as if they did not want to leave. A band member walked off the court, carrying a trombone, pointing at every person he passed.
“I love you,” he said. “And I love you. And I love you. And I especially love you.”
For Siena, it was that kind of night.
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