Niagara guards Aaron Gray and Noah Thomasson combined to score 50 of their team’s 76 points, with the 12 of those coming in the game’s final 6:12, as the host Purple Eagles defeated Canisius 76-73 Friday night in MAAC men’s basketball action at the Gallagher Center in Lewiston, N.Y. The win, Niagara’s third straight, improved the team to 12-9 overall and 7-5 in league play, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 5-16 overall and 3-9 in MAAC action with their fourth-straight defeat.
A 3-point field goal by senior Jacco Fritz with 6:39 left in the game put Canisius up 66-60, but that would be the Blue and Gold’s last score for the next 5:47 of game action, as Niagara erased the Griffs’ cushion thanks to a 12-0 run over the span of 5:13. Niagara’s scoring push was started after Gray hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 6:12 left to play, and following a bucket by Thomasson, Gray gave the home team the lead for good at 67-66 with a baseline dunk as the shot clock expired with 3:11 remaining on the clock. In the game’s final 4:00, Niagara stretched its lead to as many as six points on two different occasions before junior Siem Uijtendaal hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the contests’ final score.
Gray posted a game-high 27 points after he shot 9-for-17 from the field, 4-for-9 from 3-point land and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed six rebounds and recorded a blocked shot. Thomasson, the MAAC’s leading scorer, added 23 points after shooting 8-for-15 from the floor, 4-for-6 from 3-point land and 3-for-5 from the free-throw line. He also had five rebounds, five assists and a steal. Sam Iorio and Bryce Moore added six points apiece to the winning effort for Niagara, which shot 42.4 percent from the field for the game, and 41.7 percent (10-for-24) from 3-point range.
Canisius graduate student Jordan Henderson led the Griffs with 15 points, with nine of those coming off three made 3-pointers. Uijtendaal added 14 points off the bench, while Fritz was good for 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Redshirt-freshman Tahj Staveskie chipped in 11 points, six rebounds and three assists in the loss, as the Griffs shot 45.9 percent from the floor, 34.6 percent (9-for-26) from behind the 3-point line and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe.
Graduate student George Maslennikov and sophomore Xzavier Long each had seven rebounds on the night for the Griffs, who were out-rebounded by Niagara by a 35-33 count. Canisius outscored Niagara 32-30 in the paint, but the Purple Eagles held a 12-8 advantage in second-chance points.
HEAD COACH REGGIE WITHERSPOON’S POSTGAME COMMENTS
“This was a hard-fought game and we just came up short at the end. We had some good looks late, but we didn’t knock them down. We missed free-throws, we missed box outs. We played hard, especially with a short-handed group, but not hard enough.”
GAME NOTES
• Friday’s game was the 190th meeting in series history and it was the 33rd time the two rivals met at the Gallagher Center.
• Six of Canisius’ 12 MAAC games this season have been decided by five points or fewer.
• With his first 3-pointer of the game, Henderson moved past former Griffs guard Billy Baron for fifth-place on the school’s all-time 3-point field goals made list.
• Fritz has now recorded multiple assists in eight of the team’s last 10 games.
• Canisius was without the services of junior Bryce Okpoh (hip) and sophomore TJ Gadsden (upper-body injury). Freshman Youri Fritz remains listed as “week-to-week” with a knee injury.
UP NEXT
The Griffs will travel to play at Marist on Sunday, Feb. 5. Game time at the McCann Arena in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is set for 2 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The radio call can be found exclusively on GoGriffs.com.
