Men's Basketball 2/12/2009 5:00:00 AM Canisius College Athletics

Strong Defensive Effort Leads Niagara Past Men's Basketball

Niagara's Tyrone Lewis scored a team-high 14 points and teammate Bilal Benn posted his league-leading ninth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds as the visiting Purple Eagles defeated Canisius 57-41 Thursday night in the Koessler Athletic Center. The win was Niagara's sixth straight and improved the team to 20-9 overall and 11-3 in the MAAC, while the Golden Griffins dropped their sixth straight to fall to 7-18 overall and 2-13 in league play.

Canisius sophomore Greg Logins led all players with 20 points while teammate Frank Turner chipped in 10 points and three assists. Tomas Vazquez-Simmons was credited with a team-high 10 rebounds as the Griffs fell to their long-time rivals for the 14th time in the last 16 meetings.

Canisius was able to hold Niagara to a season-low 57 points after the Purple Eagles shot 36.8 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3-point range and 50 percent from the free-throw line, but Niagara showed a strong defensive effort as well, with Canisius shooting 24.5 percent from the floor for the game.

Niagara led by as many as 16 points early in the second half after Anthony Nelson drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make the score 36-20 with 19:12 left in the contest. From there, Canisius chipped away at Niagara's cushion, using a 14-5 run over the next 4:13 to make the score 41-34 following a Logins trey from the right corner with 14:27 left in regulation time. Niagara answered the Griffs' charge with the game's next four points, capped by two free throws by Nelson to make the score 45-34 with 10:59 on the clock.

“If you told me before the game that we'd hold them to 36 percent from the field, 25 percent from three and they'd only score 57 points, I would have thought we would have had a pretty good chance at winning the basketball game,” Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. “Like we've said for a while, our defense is way ahead of our offense, but I still think we had point-blank looks that we practice everyday and shots that we have to make in a game like this, and I think that was the difference.”

Niagara came out and took an early 5-0 lead before the Griffs answered with a pair of three-pointers by Logins and Vazquez-Simmons to take a 6-5 advantage at the 16:54 mark of the first half. The Purple Eagles got separation from there by scoring the contest's next 10 points, capped by a drive and layup by Benn. The two teams went into the locker room at the break with Niagara leading 31-20 after the Griffs shot 25 percent from the field in the game's first 20 minutes, while Niagara shot 42.9 percent from the floor while holding a 15-0 advantage in fast-break points.

Nelson finished the night with 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Niagara, which has now won 20 games under head coach Joe Mihalich for the fourth time in 11 seasons.

The Griffs will return to the road Monday, Feb. 16, when the team travels to Loyola for a MAAC contest. Tipoff in Baltimore is set for 7 p.m.

Game Notes: The game was the 163rd meeting between the two schools... Niagara now leads the all-time series 90-73... Logins is averaging 15.2 points per game in the team's last five contests... The 24.5 percent shooting effort for Canisius is the lowest in school history.

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Players Mentioned

#00 Greg Logins: F; 6' 7"; Sophomore

#2 Frank Turner: G; 5' 10"; Junior

#42 Tomas Vazquez-Simmons: F; 6' 7"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#00 Greg Logins
: 6' 7"; Sophomore
: F

#2 Frank Turner
: 5' 10"; Junior
: G

#42 Tomas Vazquez-Simmons
: 6' 7"; Sophomore
: F

Players Mentioned

#00 Greg Logins

#2 Frank Turner

#42 Tomas Vazquez-Simmons

Players Mentioned

#00 Greg Logins

#2 Frank Turner

#42 Tomas Vazquez-Simmons