Canisius sophomore forward Phil Valenti scored a career-high 24 points and freshman Jan Grzelinski added 10 points and three assists as the Golden Griffins started the 2014-15 season with a 64-60 victory over Vermont Saturday afternoon in the Koessler Athletic Center. It was the season-opener for both squads, and with the win, Canisius has now won the first game of the year in three-straight seasons, the first time that has happened for the Blue and Gold since 2001-03.

Valenti's 24 points came after he went 9-for15 from the field, 3-for-4 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. He also added six rebounds, three assists and a steal to his final stat line in his fourth career start. The new-look Griffs played 10 players in Saturday's game and eight of those players contributed at least one point. In addition to Grzelinski's 10 points, junior Jamal Reynolds was good for eight points in his first career Division I game, while sophomore Zach Lewis scored seven points to go with four assists. Senior Josiah Heath had six points and a game-high eight rebounds for Canisius in the win, as the Blue and Gold shot 40 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from 3-point land and 60 percent from the free-throw line in the victory.

For a team that averaged close to 79 points per game a season ago, Canisius came out on Saturday and showed a defensive side that forced visiting Vermont into 17 turnovers. The Griffs were able to turn those 17 Catamount turnovers into 15 points on the day. 

"This was a dogfight. We knew it would be," Canisius head coach Jim Baron said. "I really liked how we were able to turn them over and then go score. People are going to see a different team here. We lost a lot. We're going to play like junkyard dogs. We are a blue collar team that isn't afraid to work hard and turn defense into offense."

Vermont scored six-straight points in the final 1:29 of the first half and then in the first 16 seconds of the second stanza to take a 28-22 lead over Canisius with 19:44 left to play. From there, Canisius fought back and eventually took a 33-32 lead with 16:00 left in the contest on a running lay-up from Reynolds. The game remained tight for the better part of the second half, with no team leading by more than five points before Canisius went on a 6-0 run over the span of 1:14, capped by a fast-break bucket from Grzelinski off a pass from Lewis. That play was set-up on the Griffs' defensive end of the court as Lewis was able to strip Vermont guard Brendan Kilpatrick at the top of the key and then send a lead pass up the floor to a sprinting Grzelinski to make the score 51-45 in favor of the home team. Out of a Vermont timeout, the Catamounts cut the Griffs' cushion in half to 51-48 after Kurt Steidl hit a 3-point field goal from the top of the key, but the Griffs answered again with eight-straight points in 1:25, highlighted by back-to-back treys from redshirt-freshman Adam Weir and Grzelinski. A Valenti lay-up with 3:35 left in the game put Canisius up 11 at 59-48, the Griffs' largest lead of the afternoon.

Vermont was able to make it a five-point game late and actually got within three points at 63-60 with six seconds left before Lewis made one-of-two free-throws with four ticks left to seal the win for Canisius. Vermont freshman guard Trae Bell-Haynes had a team-high 17 points in the loss for the Catamounts, while junior Ethan O'Day chipped in 12 points, seven boards and three blocks. As a team, Vermont shot 40.4 percent from the floor, 27.8 percent from 3-point land and 85 percent from the charity stripe.

Canisius will return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 18, when the team travels to play Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa. Game time is set for 7 p.m.