Canisius College sophomore Alshwan Hymes scored a career-high 28 points, powered by nine 3-point field goals, and the Golden Griffins' defense forced Northwestern State to turn the ball over 29 times en route to an 85-52 victory in the Koessler Athletic Center Wednesday night. The win is Canisius' second straight and improves the team to 6-6 on the year, while the Demons have now dropped two straight and fell to 8-5 with the loss.

All nine of Hymes' field goals came from behind the 3-point line in the win as he finished the night by going 9-for-19 from the floor, 9-for-13 from 3-point range and 1-for-2 from the free-throw line in 29 minutes of action. He is the sixth player in MAAC history to make nine 3-pointers in a game, with the last occurrence coming Feb. 24, 2006, when former Saint Peter's guard Keydren Clark had nine makes from behind the arc in an overtime victory against Canisius. The previous school record for 3-pointers made in a game was seven, set by six other Griffs, most recently by Pawel Malesa, who had seven 3-point field goals in a Griff win over Coastal Carolina at home Dec. 15, 2007.

Guard Julius Coles added 15 points to the Blue and Gold's winning effort, and his lay-up with 11:35 left in the game made the senior from Harlem, N.Y., the 31st member of the school's 1,000-career point club. Fellow senior Elton Frazier added 14 points and eight rebounds, while senior Greg Logins pulled down a game-high nine rebounds in the winning effort. For the game, Canisius out rebounded Northwestern State 43-38, with the Griffs recording a season-high 22 offensive boards.

The Demons jumped out to a 21-12 lead midway through the first half thanks to a 10-0 run over a span of 3:29 where the Griffs missed 12-straight shots before sophomore Gaby Belardo knocked down a jumper for the Griffs to make the score 21-14 in favor of Northwestern State. That basket by Belardo got the offense rolling for the Blue and Gold as Canisius would post a 24-2 run in the game's next 7:12 to take a commanding 38-23 lead with 2:48 left before the half. In that run, Hymes hit four 3-point field goals and Belardo added four points, highlighted by a fast-break lay-in off a block and assist by senior forward Tomas Vazquez-Simmons. Northwestern State was able to work Canisius' cushion down to nine points just before the half, but a traditional three-point play by sophomore Reggie Groves pushed the Griffs' lead back to 12 at 41-29 with less than a minute left in the first stanza.

"I thought this was a great team effort from top to bottom," Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. "We were down 21-12 and our guys came into the huddle, but you could tell they still felt good about themselves. They didn't hang their heads because there was an understanding as to what we needed to do to get going. I thought our defensive effort tonight was outstanding and we really did a great job of controlling the glass at both ends of the floor, not only to give ourselves second chances, but also to wear them down, which we were able to do as the game rolled along."

In the second half, Canisius stretched its margin to as many as 30 points with less than six minutes to play, and Hymes continued his hot shooting from downtown as he drilled five 3-point field goals in the game's final 20 minutes. For Northwestern State, which came into the game ranked 14th in the nation in scoring average at 82.1 points per game, senior Will Pratt scored a team-high 15 points, while fellow senior Devon Baker tallied 10 off the bench.

The Griffs will return to action Monday, Jan. 3, when the team travels to Jersey City, N.J., to meet the Saint Peter's Peacocks in MAAC action. Tipoff in the Yanitelli Center is set for 7 p.m.