Men's Basketball 2/6/2010 2:40:00 AM Canisius College Athletics

Niagara Closes Out Men's Basketball

LEWISTON, N.Y. -- After using an 11-0 run to take a 45-44 lead with just over 12 minutes remaining, Niagara held the Golden Griffins to nine points the rest of the way as the Canisius College men's basketball team fell 66-54 to the Purple Eagles in the Gallagher Center on Friday evening. Canisius is now 11-13 overall and 6-7 in the MAAC, sitting in a three-way tie with Niagara and Rider for fifth place in the conference standings.

Senior Frank Turner had 10 points, five rebounds and eight assists in 39 minutes. Turner's first assist of the game moved him into first place on the Canisius career assists list, passing Javone “Bam” Moore. Junior Julius Coles led Canisius with 16 points, going 4-for-6 on 3-pointers in the game. Junior Tomas Vazquez-Simmons had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds to go along with one block that moved Vazquez-Simmons into first place on the career blocks list, passing Micheal Meeks.

"We had opportunities to win this game and we let it get away," Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. "We did a lot of good things, but we turned the ball over way too much, especially when we were trying to pull out a win on the road. We'll regroup and continue to improve as a team."

Niagara (13-12, 6-7) came out firing in the first half, taking six 3-pointers in the opening four minutes and going 6-for-15 from behind the arc to take a six-point lead at intermission. The teams stayed close for the first part of the game, as a 3-pointer from Coles tied the game at 20-20 with just over eight minutes remaining in the half. Niagara then scored six straight points and used a 15-7 run to go up 35-27 on a jumper from Tyrone Lewis. Vazquez-Simmons had a tip-in just before the buzzer to make it 35-29 at the break.

Niagara pushed its lead to 10 points with a 7-0 run that was capped by a 3-pointer from Anthony Nelson to make the score 44-34 at the 16:50 mark. The Griffs then fought their way back into the game – scoring 11 straight points and holding the Purple Eagles scoreless for more than six and a half minutes. Turner started the run with a 3-pointer, Vazquez-Simmons had back-to-back layups and Elton Frazier capped the run with a layup to put Canisius up 45-44 at the 12:19 mark.

Niagara then scored eight straight points and wouldn't relinquish the lead the rest of the way, starting with another 3-pointer from Nelson. The Griffs had four turnovers during that run as a layup from Frazier made it 52-47 at 7:51, the closest Canisius would get the rest of the way. Niagara held Canisius to three field goals during the closing stretch and went 6-for-8 from the free-throw line to put the game away.

Rob Garrison led all players with 18 points – with 15 of those coming in the first half – to go along with five assists. Nelson had 17 points while Bilal Benn pulled down 11 rebounds as Niagara shot 42.9 percent from the floor and 9-for-27 from behind the arc.

Canisius concludes its three-game road stretch at Saint Peter's on Sunday, with tipoff in the Yanitelli Center set for 12 p.m. That game will be shown live on the MAAC-TV package.

Notes: Canisius and Niagara met for the 165th time, the most of any Canisius opponent… Turner now has 558 assists in his career… Vazquez-Simmons has 184 career blocks… Turner became just the sixth player in school history to go to the free-throw line more than 600 times in his career... The previous five Griffs to reach that milestone were all post players... Niagara had 26 points off the 21 Canisius turnovers… Vazquez-Simmons had the fourth double-double of his career… Canisius had 21 turnovers for the second consecutive game.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Julius Coles: G; 6' 4"; Junior

#24 Elton Frazier: F; 6' 6"; Junior

#1 Frank Turner: G; 5' 10"; Senior

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

Players Mentioned

#15 Julius Coles
: 6' 4"; Junior
: G

#24 Elton Frazier
: 6' 6"; Junior
: F

#1 Frank Turner
: 5' 10"; Senior
: G

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