The Griffs scored a season-low 43 points against Youngstown State Saturday (Canisius Athletics/GoGriffs)
Heading into Saturday, the Griffs were looking for answers to snap a four-game losing skid and get back on track.
They certainly did not find those answers, dropping a fifth straight game by a final tally of 71-43 at the hands of Youngstown State on the road, the team’s lowest point total of the season as well as its largest deficit.
The Griffs missed each of its first 12 field goal attempts of the game, not making a shot in the first five and a half minutes of the game. They only made two shots in the first 10-plus minutes of the game.
They trailed 35-17 at halftime, the lowest point total by the Griffs in any half in over four years. The Griffs only made five shots from the field in the first half, only shooting a tad over 15% as compared to Youngstown State shooting over 40%.
“There was never a time when it looked like, some of the shots we took did not look like they were close to going in,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “If you’re missing shots the way that we were missing them, at some point they started hitting step-back threes and we continued to miss wide open shots.”
Things got a little better in the second half for the Griffs on offense as they shot 32% from the field in the final 20 minutes, but it was the defense that faltered as the Penguins only missed eight shots the entirety of the second half. Youngstown State shot over 50% for the game as a whole. They were led by Dwayne Cohill’s 18 points and 11 rebounds.
“This was a day not much went right, obviously. Could not get stops, could not make shots, add those two together and you got what you got,” Witherspoon said.
The only silver lining for the Griffs was Malek Green’s 19 points on 8-15 shooting. He also had nine rebounds, leading the Griffs in both categories. The rest of the team shot a combined 7-48 and no other Griff had more than six points.
“We were looking for anybody to help us out after a while,” Witherspoon said.
The Griffs fall to 2-9 on the season and are on their second losing streak of four or more games this season. They will continue to look for those answers on Saturday, facing Buffalo at KeyBank Center.
“You’re not going to get out of this on pregame speeches or postgame speeches,” Witherspoon said. “You’re going to have to get in the gym and practice. We don’t have anybody in there that’s good enough to play without practicing.”
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