The Griffs were down 78-67 with 50 seconds left on the clock before starting their comeback effort. After a pair of made free-throws by sophomore Kassius Robertson with 39 seconds left to play, Canisius forced a turnover and junior Phil Valenti scored off an offensive rebound to make it a seven-point affair at 78-71. Canisius took advantage of a missed free-throw by Quinnipiac and raced down the floor to make the score 78-73 with 21 ticks left after Robertson laid one off the glass.

Canisius was forced to foul Quinnipiac to stop the clock, and again, the Bobcats missed the front-end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, where the Griffs grabbed the rebound. Robinson was fouled on his ensuing drive to the bucket, and he made the first of two free-throws to make the score 78-74 with 12 seconds left. He missed the second charity toss, but senior Jamal Reynolds grabbed the loose ball and laid it back into the hoop with 10 seconds remaining to cut Quinnipiac's lead to 78-76. After Quinnipiac took its final timeout of the game, the Bobcats threw the in-bounds pass away, setting up a chance for the Griffs, who had a 3-point attempt and a pair of tip-ins bounce off the iron as the final horn sounded.

"We knew this was going to be a dogfight coming in because [Quinnipiac] is a big, tough, physical team that can really rebound the basketball," Canisius head coach Jim Baron said. "We struggled defensively at times today, and give those guys credit, because they are not a great free-throw shooting team and they made enough to win today. We had shots and a chance to win or tie at the end and we just missed them."

Valenti had a career-high 25 points to go with nine rebounds, an assists and a steal in 33 minutes, while Robertson added 15 points and two steals to the losing cause. Reynolds, who came into the game ranked fourth nationally in offensive rebounds per game, recorded his sixth career double-double effort with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, six of which came off the offensive glass.

Four Quinnipiac players scored in double-figures, led by freshman Aaron Robinson, who scored 14 points, 12 of which came in the game's second-half. James Ford, Jr., was good for 13 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Samuel Dingba was credited with a team-high nine rebounds as the Bobcats finished the game with a 45-33 advantage on the glass.

Canisius jumped out to an early lead and led by as many as 12 points with 6:12 left in the first half after redshirt-freshman Isaiah Gurley scored two of his six points on a driving lay-up. But from there, Quinnipiac went on a 21-3 run in 6:48 that covered the end of the first half and the opening minutes of the second half, turning Canisius' 30-18 lead into a 39-33 Bobcat advantage with 18:40 left to play in regulation time. In that run, Quinnipiac took the lead at 35-33 at intermission when Ayron Hutton took an in-bounds pass with 0.9 seconds left in the first stanza and drilled a 75-foot basket as the horn sounded. That basket gave the Bobcats more than enough energy moving forward.

"I was concerned about this game because we played so hard in our win last night over Monmouth," Baron said. "We played with a lot of emotion and energy last night, and tonight we just didn't have the great balance we got last night."

Canisius shot just 39.7 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from 3-point land in the loss, while seeing 11 turnovers converted into 19 Quinnipiac points. Senior Malcolm McMillan scored nine points and matched a season-high with six assists in the loss for the Griffs, while fellow senior Kevin Bleeker added eight points and two blocked shots.

Canisius will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 10, when the team travels to play Penn State in the opening segment of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. Game time in State College, Pa., is set for 7 p.m., and the game can be heard on Timeless WECK 1230-AM and FM-102.9 in Buffalo and on GoGriffs.com.