ALBANY, N.Y. -- Canisius College freshman Greg Logins (pictured) scored six of his nine points in the game's final 2:44, capped by a pair of free throws with three seconds left, to help lift the 10th-seeded Golden Griffins to a 64-59 win over No. 7 Iona Friday night in the first round of the 2008 Citizens Bank MAAC Basketball Tournament in the Times Union Center. The win improves Canisius to 6-24 on the year and advances the team to Saturday's quarterfinal round where the Blue and Gold will meet second-seeded Rider at 7:30 p.m.
Canisius, which trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, became the first 10th seed in MAAC Tournament history to advance out of the event's first round with the victory. The Griffs have now posted seven MAAC Tournament wins in the last nine years and ended Iona's season at 12-20.
“No one expected us to win this basketball game except the guys in that locker room,” Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. “This is a huge step forward for this program. It's hard to win in the postseason and that makes this win that much better.”
Canisius junior Bob Bevilacqua posted 14 points in the win after he drained a career-high four 3-point field goals, while freshman Rishawn Johnson was good for a career-high 14 points and five rebounds in 16 minutes of action. Sophomore Frank Turner, the program's only active player to start a MAAC Tournament game at the beginning of the night, added 12 points and a game-high six assists to the winning effort.
Iona took a 40-28 lead with 18:12 left on the game clock after Milan Prodanovic knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key, but Canisius fought back and got within two at 42-40 with a 12-2 run over a span of the next six minutes. The Gaels stretched their lead to 45-40 after senior Gary Springer scored three points the old-fashioned way with a lay-up and a free throw, but Canisius hung around and eventually took a one-point lead at 49-48 with 8:06 left to play when Turner scored a three-point play with a lay-up and a made free throw.
Down the stretch, Iona would lead by three at 52-49, but Willie Hassell's jumper from the top of the key cut the margin to 52-51 in favor of the Gaels, and set up a closing sequence that featured three ties and two lead changes in the final 5:55. The Griffs took the lead for good on the night when Logins hit a jump-hook in the paint to give the Blue and Gold a 58-56 lead with 2:12 on the clock. Tomas Vazquez-Simmons put the Griffs up by three at 62-59 with 25.6 seconds left in the game, and after a missed 3-point attempt by Iona, Logins gathered the rebound and hit two tosses from the free-throw line to seal the win.
Prodanovic led Iona with a team-high 14 points as the Gaels shot 37 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from 3-point range. Dexter Gray was good for 12 points and seven boards in the loss for Iona, while teammate Kyle Camper posted 10 points and five assists.
Logins led all Canisius players with seven rebounds in the game as the Blue and Gold shot 41.1 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent, highlighted by a 56 percent effort in the game's final 20 minutes. Hassell came off the bench to add six points, four rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes of action.
Game Notes: The win snapped Canisius' two-game losing streak to Iona and evened the all-time series between the two schools at 25-25... The 10:07 p.m., tip-off was the latest start time of the season for the Griffs... Canisius is now 7-2 in its last nine first round games at the MAAC Tournament... Two of the team's last four games have been decided by five points or less, with Canisius coming out on the winning side in both contests... Frank Turner became the 12th player in school history to dish out 300 career assists with his third helper of the game, which came at the 8:15 mark of the first half... A total of eight Griffs made their first MAAC Tournament appearance Friday night.
