JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Canisius senior Frank Turner scored a team-high 23 points, highlighted by his runner in the lane with 1.2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, but it was not enough to help the Golden Griffins get over the top as the Blue and Gold fell to Saint Peter's 73-72 in overtime in the Yanitelli Center on Sunday. The loss is Canisius' third straight and drops the team to 11-14 overall and 6-8 in the MAAC, while the Peacocks improved to 14-10 overall and 9-5 in conference play.

Canisius was down 58-49 with 3:01 left on the clock after Saint Peter's guard Wesley Jenkins went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line. From there, Canisius would outscore Saint Peter's by a 13-4 count that sent the game into an extra session. Julius Coles drilled a 3-pointer from the corner with 13 seconds left to cut the Peacocks' lead to 62-60, and after Saint Peter's missed a pair of free throws with nine ticks left in regulation time, Turner took the ball the length of the court and laid one over the front iron to knot the score at 62-62, sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, the Blue and Gold took an early three-point lead when Tomas Vazquez-Simmons hit a 3-pointer from the wing, but Saint Peter's answered with seven straight points, capped by a 3-pointer from Jenkins to make the score 69-65 with 3:11. Vazquez-Simmons hit a second 3-pointer moments later to make the score 69-68 with 2:17 left in overtime, but Saint Peter's junior Nick Leon pushed the home team's cushion to four at 72-68 with a trey from the deep corner.

Turner scored a layup with 1:36 left in overtime to make the score 72-70, but after trading a pair of missed chances, Canisius was forced to foul Jenkins with 11 seconds left. The junior guard hit one of two, allowing Turner and the Griffs one last chance to send the gqme into a second overtime. With less than three seconds on the clock, Turner attempted to get off a 3-point chance from the top of the key, where he was fouled. The senior from Atlantic City, N.J. was ruled to not be in the act of shooting, and the 71.9 percent free-throw shooter hit both to make the score 73-72.

"I thought we really got back to competing the way we need to," head coach Tom Parrotta said. "We were sound defensively and we out rebounded an extremely physical team, but costly turnovers were the difference. We managed to fight back from 10 points down with less than four minutes to play to get to overtime and we got open looks to win the game. It will be good for us to get back home after this tough three-game road stretch." 

Turner was credited with a double-double in the loss as he added 11 rebounds to his 23 point-effort. Vazquez-Simmons was credited with 16 points and six rebounds. Coles had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Blue and Gold, which has now dropped six straight to Saint Peter's.

Saint Peter's was led by Jenkins, who scored a game-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds and four assists. Leon chipped in 16 points after going 4-for-7 from 3-point range, while Darius Conley posted 11 points and 10 rebounds.

After the game started with back-and-forth action through the first 12 minutes, the Peacocks pulled out to an eight-point lead at 28-20 thanks to a 14-4 run over a span of 4:30 toward the end of the stanza. Turner scored the Griffs' final four points of the first half and a defensive stop put the Blue and Gold down seven at 31-24. For the first half, Saint Peter's shot 36.7 percent from the field, but hit on 50 percent of its tries from behind the 3-point arc. The Griffs shot 25 percent from the field and hit on just one of 11 shots from 3-point land in the first half. Canisius kept the game within reach by shooting 78.6 percent from the free-throw line in the game's first 20 minutes as the team made 14 trips to the stripe against Saint Peter's four.

The Griffs will return to action Friday, Feb. 12, when the team hosts Marist in the Koessler Athletic Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game can be seen live on Time Warner SportsNet.

Game Notes: Canisius is now 2-2 in overtime this year… The Griffs lead the all-time series against Saint Peter's by a 35-28 count… Turner's double-double was the sixth in his career and the third time his double-double came with points and rebounds... Vazquez-Simmons now has 187 career blocked shots, with 113 coming in MAAC games… Coles went for double digits for the 44th time in his career… Logins had nine boards off the bench to give him 541 for his career.