ALBANY, N.Y. - Siena College scored the game's last five points in the final minute of regulation, highlighted by a break-away dunk by senior Clarence Jackson with 15 seconds left, to help lift the host Saints to a 73-69 win over Canisius Monday night in MAAC action in the Times Union Center. The win improves Siena to 7-10 overall and 4-3 in the conference, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 8-9 overall and 2-5 in league action.

Canisius, which trailed by as many as 15 points in the game, were brought back to life by the play of sophomore guard Gaby Belardo, who led all players with a career-high 29 points after he went 12-for-20 from the field, 4-for-9 from 3-point range and 1-for-1 from the free-throw line while recording five assists, five rebounds and a steal. Senior Julius Coles added 10 points to the Griffs' effort, while senior Greg Logins and sophomore Alshwan Hymes chipped in nine and seven points, respectively.

Canisius trailed by eight at 66-58 with 5:20 left on the clock after Jackson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. From there, Belardo took over, scoring eight-straight points in a span of 1:26 with two 3-pointers and a lay-up to make the score 68-66 in favor of Siena with 3:36 left. The score would remain 68-66 for the next 2:16 before Belardo took a pass from teammate Tomas Vazquez-Simmons and drilled a 3-point field goal from the top of the key to give Canisius its first lead of the night at 69-68 with 1:20 left in regulation time.

On Siena's ensuing possession, senior forward Ryan Rossiter, the MAAC's Preseason Player of the Year, drew a foul in the lane as he was triple-teamed by the Griffs, and he promptly nailed two free-throws to put the Saints back up one at 70-69. Canisius had a chance to take the lead back with a 3-point try with 21 seconds left, but the ball rattled off the front-iron and bounced out of bounds to give Siena possession. On the inbounds pass, Rossiter took the ball and threw it three-quarters of the court to Jackson, who had broke out of the pack, and he slammed it home to put the Saints up 72-69 with 15 ticks left on the clock. The Griffs had one more chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but another 3-point try hit the back iron and Jackson pulled down the rebound, where he was fouled with less than a second left on the clock. Jackson made one of two free throws to finalize the score at 73-69.

Canisius trailed by 13 with 2:46 left before the break, but the Blue and Gold answered with six-straight points to close out the stanza to trail by seven at the break with the score reading 41-34 at halftime. Out of the locker room, the Griffs out scored Siena 9-2 in the first 3:37 of the stanza to make the score 43-42 in favor of the Saints. Rossiter scored five of the Saints' next seven points to push the Saints hold back to eight at 50-42. Canisius worked its way back at Siena again with a 9-0 run thanks to five points from Logins and four from Belardo to make the score 52-51, but Siena pushed back with another scoring spurt that made the score 59-51 with 9:33 remaining after Jackson hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

"I thought we had the looks we wanted down the stretch, they just made one more play than we did tonight," Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. "It's hard to spot a team like that 15 points in their building, but we showed a lot of grit to get back into the game. I liked the way we started to defend and the way we worked to get back into the game, but it just kind of got away from us at the end there."

Rossiter recorded his 45th career double-double in the win for the Saints as he posted 28 points and 10 rebounds. Jackson added 15 points off the bench, while OD Anosike and Rakeem Brookings scored 10 points each. Canisius shot 47.5 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from long range, while the Saints ended the night shooting 43.8 percent from the field, 31.6 percent from behind the arc and 64.7 percent from the free-throw line.

The Griffs will return home Friday, Jan. 21, when the team opens a three-game MAAC homestand against Fairfield. It will be a "White Out" in the Koessler Athletic Center, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.

Game Notes: Siena now leads the all-time series 49-37... Vazquez-Simmons was credited with five blocks in the game, which gives him 254 for his career... This marks the 12th time in his career where Vazquez-Simmons had five or more blocks in a game... Freshman Chris Manhertz had a career-high three blocks as well... As a team, Canisius' 10 blocks is a season high, besting the previous team-high of eight, which the team had three different times... Belardo's 29 points are the most for a Griff in a road game since Frank Turner scored 30 points against Southern Miss last season...  Belardo has been credited with five assists in each of the team's last three games.