Former Bishop Hannan and Syracuse Orange great Gerry McNamara is one win away from returning to the big dance – this time as a head coach.
McNamara and his Siena Saints (22-11) play top-seeded Merrimack (23-10) for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament championship Tuesday in Atlantic City, N.J., with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Game time is set for 9 p.m.
On Sunday playing in its first MAAC semifinal in seven years, the No. 3 Saints (22-11) defeated No. 7 Fairfield, 76-61, in the semifinals behind a season-high 26 points from Holy Redeemer graduate Justice Shoats and 25 points from Gavin Doty.
Shoats shot 8 of 15 from the field, including 3 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 7 for 11 from the free-throw line for the Saints. Doty hit 6 of 11 shots (3 for 4 from 3-point range) and 10 of 11 from the foul line, adding eight rebounds. Francis Folefac contributed 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Siena and Merrimack will meet for the third time this season. The Warriors won both previous meetings, 63-59, on Jan. 9 at Siena, and 79-72 in overtime Feb. 21 at home.
Kevlar Kennedy leads Merrimack in scoring with 18.5 points per game.
Doty is averaging 17.7 points and seven rebounds for the Saints while Shoats averages 13.3 points and leads the team with 146 assists and 48 steals.
McNamara, 42, is in his second season as head coach of the Saints after spending the previous 15 years at Syracuse. He started with the Orange as a graduate assistant in 2009, before being promoted to full-time assistant in 2011, then associate head coach in 2023, following the hiring of Adrian Autry to replace Jim Boeheim.
McNamara is Syracuse’s all-time leader in 3-point goals (400), free-throw percentage (.888), and minutes (4,799), and ranks second in steals (258), third in assists (648), fourth in scoring (2,099), and sixth in free throws (435). He started all 135 of his career games from 2002-06, and led the Orange in threes and assists in all four seasons, which each culminated in NCAA Tournament appearances, including the National Championship in 2003.
At Bishop Hannan, McNamara was a two-time Pennsylvania Player of the Year (2001, 2002), and finished his career as the seventh all-time scorer in state history with 2,917 points after leading the Lancers to the 2002 PIAA Class 2A championship..
