The Canisius College men's basketball team scored 26 second-chance points and four players scored in double figures, led by senior guard Isaac Sosa who had a team-high 21, as the Golden Griffins defeated Alcorn State 87-74 Thursday night in the Chevrolet Gotham Classic in the Koessler Athletic Center. The win moves Canisius to 9-3 on the season, while the Braves lost their eighth straight and slipped to 2-12 overall.

Sosa scored his 21 points after he went 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-9 from 3-point range to go with three rebounds and two assists. Junior Billy Baron added 19 points, five assists, four rebounds and a steal to the Blue and Gold's efforts, while juniors Jordan Heath and Chris Manhertz chipped in 14 and 11 points, respectively. As a team, Canisius shot 48.2 percent from the floor and 39.1 percent from 3-point land and ended the night holding a 41-25 advantage on the glass, with Manhertz pulling down a game-high eight rebounds in the victory.

"Coming into this game, we knew it would be a challenge because we were coming off the holiday break and Alcorn State can really get up and down," Canisius head coach Jim Baron said. "We played a bit more zone tonight because we saw on tape that we wanted to make them shoot from the outside and not allow them to drive to the basket. Again, we did a great job of rebounding the basketball and we had 17 assists on 27 made baskets, which is a sign of a good team victory."

Alcorn State led the Griffs 20-13 with 10:58 left to play in the first half before the Griffs went on a 14-4 run over the span of 4:12 to take a 27-24 lead, capped by a traditional three-point play by Manhertz. The Braves knotted the game at 27-27 moments later, but Canisius responded with a 10-0 run that pushed the Griffs' hold to 37-27 with 2:10 left to play before the halftime intermission. Canisius led at the half by a 44-32 count after the team shot 50 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from 3-point land in the game's opening 20 minutes.

In the second half, Canisius scored the first four points of the frame and used an 8-3 scoring spurt over the first 2:53 of the half to push its lead to 17 points at 52-35, capped by a lay-up by Manhertz off an assist from Sosa. Alcorn State was able to trim the Griffs' hold to 11 points at 62-51 with 9:14 left in the game, but Canisius put the game away for good with a 9-2 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Baron, senior Alshwan Hymes and junior Reggie Groves to push Canisius' margin to 71-53 with 7:128 left on the clock. The Griffs ended the night with 16 offensive rebounds, 32 points scored in the paint and scored 18 points off 12 Alcorn State turnovers en route to the victory.

Jordan Heath added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals to his final stat line, while Hymes was good for seven points, six rebounds and three assists in the win for Canisius. Senior Freddy Aspilla and Groves added six points apiece off the bench for Canisius, which saw its reserves out score Alcorn State's bench by a 22-11 clip on the night.

Alcorn State guard Marquiz Baker scored a game-high 30 points, highlighted by his six makes from 3-point land in the loss for the Braves, while fellow guard Anthony Nieves scored 20 points. The Braves shot 45.6 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from 3-point land and 82.4 percent from the free-throw line in the defeat.

Canisius will return to action Sunday, Dec. 30, when the team closes out its participation in the Chevrolet Gotham Classic at Detroit. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.