Sophomore Adam Jones scored as time expired in regulation and then assisted on freshman Travis Gibbons' overtime goal, his first collegiate score, as the Canisius men's lacrosse team escaped with a 12-11 victory at Manhattan on Saturday. The win keeps Canisius' playoff chances alive as it improves to 4-7 on the season and 3-4 in MAAC play.

Jones led the Griffs with five points, recording a hat trick and registering two assists. Junior John Mineri, sophomore Nick LoCoco and freshman Simon Giourmetakis all added three points. Minieri matched a career high with three goals, posting his first hat trick of the season and the third of his career. LoCoco paced the Canisius attack with three assists, while Giourmetakis scored a goal and matched a career high with two assists.

Junior Mike Benzinger and freshman Jimmy Haney posted two points apiece, scoring a goal and adding an assist, while Gibbons, junior Dan Coates and freshman Brendan O'Hagan rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal each.

Senior Bryan Jack stopped 10 shots in goal to earn the victory. Juniors Tim Rowley and Matt Barkas led the Griffs with nine and seven ground balls, respectively. Rowley also led Canisius with 10 face-off victories, including the final two crucial draws.

The Jaspers (7-7, 3-3 MAAC) started the contest strong, scoring the first three goals of the game. Canisius responded with a 4-0 run of its own to take its first lead of the afternoon. Minieri sparked the run, tallying his first goal of the day with 2:02 left in the first period. O'Hagan then followed with a man-up goal just 28 seconds later as Canisius cut its deficit to one after the first quarter of play.

Giourmetakis opened the scoring for the Griffs in the second quarter, finding the back of the net 1:24 into the frame. Jones then capped the Canisius run with his first goal of the afternoon, giving the Griffs a 4-3 lead with 9:35 left in the half. The teams then alternated goals the remainder of the opening half with the Jaspers scoring the final goal as the two teams headed into intermission knotted at six.

Manhattan tallied the first goal of the second half but was followed by Coates' score just 50 second later to tie the game at seven. The Jaspers then notched the next two goals to grab a 9-7 advantage with two minutes remaining in the third period. Minieri completed his hat trick with 1:50 left in the third frame and then Benzinger knotted the game at nine, connecting off a feed from LoCoco 1:42 into the final quarter. Manhattan's Joe Variano scored with 8:59 left in regulation to give the Jaspers a 10-9 advantage and set up an exciting final minute of play.

The Jaspers would maintain their one-goal advantage until Jones scored his second goal of the day with just 53 seconds left in regulation. Manhattan's Angelo Marrano would then win the ensuing faceoff and tallied an unassisted goal with 30 ticks left in the fourth quarter to give the Jaspers an 11-10 lead.

Rowley followed by winning the faceoff and after a Canisius timeout, the Griffs' would fire a shot wide with less than 10 seconds remaining. Canisius would back up the ball and LoCoco found Jones, who scored as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 11 and send it into overtime. Rowley would once again win the faceoff in overtime and Gibbons scored off a pass from Jones 1:39 into the extra session to give Canisius its third MAAC victory of the season.

Manhattan outshot the Griffs, 33-27, and held a 44-42 advantage in ground balls. The Jaspers were led by James Synowiez, who tallied four points and three goals, while John Geagan stopped four shots in goal.

Canisius returns to action on Tuesday with a non-conference matchup at Hobart. Game time is slated for 8 p.m.

Game Notes: The teams were meeting for the first time since an 11-2 Griffs win in the 2008 MAAC Semifinals ... The win was the first in the series for the road team since a Canisius victory in 2003, ending a five-year winning streak for the home squad during the regular season ... LoCoco passed Kevin Ross to move into seventh place in the school's record book with his 60th career assist. Ross recorded 59 helpers from 2004 to 2007 ... The Griffs have won their last two one-goal games after losing their first three one-goal games of the season ... Canisius is now 1-1 in overtime contests during the 2009 season.