ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Javion Ogunyemi scored 24 points, including Siena's last seven with a dunk and five free throws, and never left the court as Siena battled past Fairfield 78-66 in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarterfinal on Saturday night.
Siena (16-16), the MAAC No. 4 seed, advances to meet conference champion and top-seeded Monmouth (27-5) in a semifinal on Sunday. Siena lost twice to Monmouth in the regular season.
The Saints made 24 of 52 field goals (46 percent), the bulk of them in the paint, outscoring Fairfield 34-24. Ogunyemi shot 7 of 11 and went 9 of 13 from the free throw line. He also grabbed nine rebounds as Siena won the glass 39-33. Lavon Long added 17 points while Marquis Wright and Brett Bisping added 12 each.
Bisping grabbed 11 rebounds, including his 1,000th with 2:39 remaining and then added three more off the defensive glass from there as the Saints battled to hold off Fairfield (16-14), which had cut a 15-point gap down to 52-47 and consistently came within eight or nine points in the closing minutes.
Tyler Nelson led Fairfield with 25 points.
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