Riverdale, N.Y. - The Canisius College men's basketball team used a 24-4 run that ran from the closing moments of the first half through the first 4:23 of the second half en route to a 72-51 win over Manhattan College Saturday afternoon in the Draddy Gymnasium. The win improved the Golden Griffins to 8-8 overall and 2-4 in MAAC play, while the Jaspers dropped their 15th-straight game to fall to 2-15 overall and 0-6 in league action.

The win, which was Canisius' sixth all-time victory in Manhattan's Draddy Gymnasium, was fueled by Canisius' 40-22 advantage in points scored in the paint. Senior Elton Frazier led the Blue and Gold with 18 points and six rebounds, while fellow senior Greg Logins chipped in 13 points and five boards in the win. Sophomore Gaby Belardo was good for 11 points, five assists and a career-high five steals, as the Griffs ended the contest with 15 points off 17 Manhattan turnovers.

For the Jaspers, guard George Beamon scored a game-high 21 points while teammate Rhamel Brown was credited with a double-double after he scored 10 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds. Manhattan shot 33.3 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from 3-point range in the loss.

After a slow start to the game where both teams struggled to get offense flowing, the Griffs trailed by a score of 14-6 with 11:35 left before the break. Canisius cut into Manhattan's lead and trailed by three at 22-19 following a traditional three-point play by freshman Michael Alvarado with 4:43 left before the break. From there, Canisius closed out the first stanza on a 15-2 run, with Belardo and Frazier tallying 11 of those points for the Griffs.

"I thought early on there wasn't a lot of flow and we weren't making a lot of shots which was kind of draining us," Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. "I give a lot of credit to guys like Gaby Belardo and Elton Frazier because they just buckled down and Reggie Groves came off the bench and really added a spark to our defense by jumping passing lanes and getting the ball out on the break for us."

In the second half, Canisius stretched its margin to as many as 15 points just 4:33 into the half with a basket from Logins and back-to-back dunks by Frazier and senior Tomas Vazquez-Simmons. Manhattan cut the Griffs' hold to 12 at 43-31 with 13:48 left on the clock, but Canisius answered with a 9-0 run over the next 2:23, capped by a dunk by Frazier and a baseline jumper from Logins that made the score 52-31 with 10:40 left in regulation time.

As a team, the Griffs were charged with a season-low six turnovers, assisted by the fact that the team went 22 minutes of game action without a turnover. The team was also credited with 19 assists on 28-made field goals, with Belardo and senior Robert Goldsberry dishing out five assists apiece. Groves ended the day with a career-high four steals to add to the team-total of 13 swipes, and Vazquez-Simmons added one block to the final stat sheet. That block gives him 249 for his career, which allows him to pass former La Salle All-American Lionel Simmons for second on the MAAC's career blocked shot list.

Canisius will return to action Monday, Jan. 17, when the team plays at Siena in Albany, N.Y. Tipoff in the Times Union Center is set for 7 p.m., and the game can be seen live on Time Warner SportsNet throughout New York state.