LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - Canisius sophomore Gaby Belardo hit a fall-away jumper in the lane with 7.8 seconds left, and Rider's last second 3-pointer from the corner as the horn sounded hit the far-side of the rim as the Golden Griffins defeated the host Broncs 67-65 Friday night in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J. The win is Canisius' third-straight and improves the team to 13-11 overall and 7-7 in MAAC play, while Rider falls to 17-9 overall and 9-5 in conference action with the loss.

The win for the Griffs is the program's first at Rider since the series began back in 1932. Canisius was previously 0-13 in Alumni Gymnasium and 0-14 in the series all-time on the road. Senior Julius Coles led all scorers with 18 points after he went 6-for-12 from the field, 2-for-3 from 3-point land and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line to go with five rebounds, three assists and a steal. Fellow senior Greg Logins added 16 points and eight boards in the victory, while Elton Frazier added 10 points, seven boards, two assists and two steals to the winning effort.

Canisius trailed 65-62 with 2:25 left in the contest after Jonathan Thompson went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe. Moments later, the Blue and Gold knotted the game at 65-65 when Logins drilled one of his four 3-point field goals from the left corner with 1:08 left on the clock. Following a missed jumper by the Broncs, Canisius corralled the rebound and crossed the timeline, where the squad took a timeout with 32 seconds to play and 23 seconds left on the shot clock. As the shot clock dwindled down, Belardo got free in the paint and laid one over the rim as the shot clock expired with 7.8 seconds left. Rider tried to tie the game with less than three seconds left, but Thompson's drive to the bucket was swatted by senior Tomas Vazquez-Simmons with one second left to play. After a Rider timeout, Justin Robinson, the MAAC's reigning Player of the Week, got a last-second shot off from the corner as the final horn sounded, but the ball hit the side of the rim, allowing Canisius to earn the victory.

"We did a great job sticking with the game plan," Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. "Early on, we weren't getting the rebounds, but I always talk to the guys about sticking to the game plan and punching through, and that's what we did. In the second half, we did a much better job on the interior and guys like Julius Coles and some of his teammates really locked down Justin Robinson. This was a great team win against a very good team in a pretty hostile environment. I'm happy for this team and I'm happy for our five seniors."

Canisius trailed by eight at 20-12 midway through the first half, but the Griffs were able to cut the score to 24-23 in favor of Rider with an 11-4 run over a span of 5:43, capped by a 3-pointer by sophomore Alshwan Hymes with 4:21 left before the break. The Broncs pushed their cushion to 30-23 with 2:40 left before the intermission, but again, Canisius made a run and outscored the Broncs 7-2 in the last 2:10 of the first stanza to send the teams into the locker room at the half tied at 32-32. For the first half, Rider shot 53.6 percent from the field, but the Griffs' defense held the nation's 10th-best 3-point shooting team to no treys in the first half. The Griffs shot 40 percent from the field in the first half and 25 percent from 3-point range in the game's first 20 minutes.

Rider opened the second half with a 9-2 run in the first 3:28, but the Blue and Gold made the score 43-41 with four points from Frazier and a 3-pointer from Logins with 14:54 left in the game. Rider would hold one more seven-point lead in the game with 7:07 left after Robinson hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key on a fast-break, but Canisius answered with seven-straight points, capped by a leaner in the lane by Coles with 5:10 left on the clock as the shot clock expired to knot the game at 59-59. Canisius took its first lead of the game at 62-61 when Coles hit three free-throws with 4:08 left to play, before the Broncs scored the game's next four points to drive the score to 65-62.

Danny Stewart scored a team-high 17 points in the loss for Rider, which shot 44.6 percent from the field, 14.3 percent from 3-point land and 86.7 percent from the free-throw line. Canisius shot 40 percent from the floor, 34.6 percent from 3-point range and a season-best 90.9 percent from the charity stripe. The two teams were tied in the rebounding battle with 43 boards each, with Rider holding a 44-22 advantage on points scored in the paint.

Canisius will return to action Sunday at noon when the team travels to Loyola. The game will be shown live on MSG-Plus and MASN as part of the MAAC-TV broadcast package.

Game Notes: Canisius splits the regular-season series with Rider, as each team won on the road... The Broncs lead the all-time series by a 26-7 count... Canisius has won three games in a row for the first time this season... This marks the first time Canisius has been tied at the half this year... The Blue and Gold improved to 4-2 this season in games decided by five-or less points... Coles has now scored in double figures in 14 games this year and in 61 games in his career... Belardo has now scored three game-winning shots this season... Frazier had two second-half dunks to give him 76 slam dunk baskets in his career... Redshirt freshman Reggie Groves had a team best four assists in the win, the second-straight game where he's led the team in helpers... Vazquez-Simmons' block with one second left in the game was the team's only block of the night and gives him 267 in his career.