Saint Peter's buries Marist in second half

In a tightly played first half, Marist hung with Saint Peter's. The second half was another story.
Saint Peter's opened the second half on a 17-6 run and cruised past Marist, 61-49.
Nick Leon and Ryan Bacon buoyed the Peacocks' offense by scoring 16 and 12 points apiece. Saint Peter's other star guard Wesley Jenkins struggled in his return from a mild concussion. Marist limited him to seven points on 3-of-14 shooting.
Saint Peter's led, 27-21, at the half and that margin grew to as many as 17 midway through the second half.
Although Korey Bauer is Marist's only true big man, the rebounding margin remained close. Saint Peter's outrebounded Marist, 31-20. Bauer hauled in eight rebounds but shot only 2-of-8 from the field.
Marist received strong offensive performances from freshmen Devin Price and Sam Prescott. Prescott notched a team-high 14 points (5-9 shooting), while Price continues to thrive as the starting point guard. He tallied 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting. He knocked down two of his three three-point attempts.
In addition to Price's and Prescott's performances, Marist as a team shot 14-of-14 from the free-throw line. Saint Peter's shot just 2-of-5 from the charity stripe.
Other Observations and MAAC notes:
- Phenomenal effort from the free-throw line tonight. Credit to Martin & Co. for righting the ship in that area. While he can't control the youth and some of the struggles the Red Foxes have encountered with eligibility, it's nice to see they've improved on the fundamentals.
- I personally don't love the shot distribution. Rob Johnson and Korey Bauer shot a combined 4-of-16. Bauer should not be shooting eight shots, including a three-pointer. Kaba, meanwhile, attempted just two shots (1-2, six points). Javon Parris should not take the same amount of attempts (0-2) as Kaba. Price also had just five attempts. He made the most of them, however.
- Only 35.7 percent shooting from the field. That won't win many games. Only 10 buckets midway through the second half.
Elsewhere in the MAAC
- Rider continues to struggle mightily this season, but the Broncs made a strong comeback to overtake Manhattan, 65-64 in Draddy.
- Siena dominated Loyola and won by 20, 76-56. The final box-score is not indicative of how one-sided the game was.
- Niagara and Canisius both hold late second-half leads against Fairfield and Iona, respectively.