By Colin Richey
Canisius now sits at the bottom of the MAAC Men’s Basketball standings, following conference losses to both Niagara and Marist. The team has now lost five games in a row, and is 3-10 on the season against conference opponents.
The Griffins couldn’t manage to hold onto the lead against their rival Niagara, losing a close battle 76-73. After leading at halftime 41-37, Canisius extended their lead to as much as six points with a score of 66-60, with just under seven minutes to play. However, it took nearly six minutes for Canisius to register another point, allowing the Purple Eagles to accomplish a 12-0 run.
Niagara’s lead reached as high as six points before Canisius junior Siem Uijtendaal hit a 3-point buzzer beater to cut the final deficit to three points. Graduate student Jordan Henderson led the Griffs with 15 points, while Uijtendaal added 14 from off the bench.
Thanks to his first three-pointer of the game, Henderson moved into fifth place on the school’s all-time 3-pointers list, passing former guard Billy Baron. Canisius was also missing several players, including junior Bryce Okpoh (hip), sophomore TJ Gadsden (upper-body), and freshman Youri Fritz (knee).
After the game, Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon explained that, “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.”
The team’s next matchup came against Marist, who shared Canisius’ 3-9 MAAC record going into the game. The Red Foxes were coming off a five game losing streak of their own, but were able to defeat the Griffins 75-67.
The Griffs were outscored in both halves, 33-26 in the first and 42-41 in the second. Canisius attempted a late comeback, getting within two points of Marist with just 1:06 left in the game. However, that’s as close as they’d come, with the Red Foxes capitalizing on free throws in the final minute to extend their lead.
Henderson led the team with 17 points, his fifth straight game with double digit points. Playing in his 122nd career game as a Griff, Henderson ranks 8th in program history in that category. Graduate student Jamir Moultrie contributed 16 points in the loss. As a team, the Griffs shot just 22.6 percent from three point range, and 37.3 percent overall. Canisius out-rebounded Marist 45-31, as senior Jacco Fritz led the team with seven.
Canisius’s next matchup is this Friday against Iona, which will be played at the Koessler Athletic Center and broadcasted live on ESPN3 starting at 7:00 PM.
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