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Majesty Brandon brings the ball up the floor at Buffalo on Dec. 18, 2019
Marshal Filipowicz
72
Canisius CANIS 5-6,0-1 MAAC
73
Winner Siena SIE 4-5,1-0 MAAC
Canisius CANIS
5-6,0-1 MAAC
72
Final
73
Siena SIE
4-5,1-0 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Canisius CANIS 41 31 72
Siena SIE 30 43 73

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Wild Finish Gives Siena a 73-72 Win over Men’s Basketball

Game Recap
Siena forward Elijah Burns' 3-point field with 9.0 seconds left in the game proved to be the game-winner, as the host Saints came back from an 11-point halftime deficit to score a 73-72 win over Canisius Monday night at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. The win, Siena's second straight, improved the Saints to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in MAAC play, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in conference action.
 
Canisius was led by junior Majesty Brandon, who came off the bench and scored a career-high 30 points in the losing effort, while fellow junior Scott Hitchon added 15 points and five assists. Freshman Armon Harried added eight points and a career-high nine rebounds in the loss, while senior Malik Johnson was good for seven points, eight assists and five rebounds for the Griffs, who ended the night shooting 45.0 percent from the field, 40.9 percent from 3-point land and 69.2 percent from the free-throw line.
 
Siena led 70-69 with less than 30 seconds left to play before Brandon took a pass at the top of the key and drilled his seventh 3-pointer of the night with 14.7 seconds left to play to put the Blue and Gold ahead 72-70. Siena took the ball down to its end of the floor where sophomore Jalen Pickett found Burns in transition at the top of the key, and the graduate student stepped in a knocked down the game-winning triple with 9.0 seconds left on the clock. Canisius rushed up the floor and had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but Johnson's off-balanced jumper in the lane as time expired banged off the side of the rim, allowing Siena to score the victory in the MAAC opener for both programs.
 
The Griffs shot 55.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range in the game's opening 20 minutes to take a 41-30 lead into the locker room at halftime. Out of the intermission, Siena scored 11-straight points in the first 2:04 of the frame to knot the game at 41-41. The game would remain tight through the final 15-plus minutes of the game, with neither team leading by more than four points at any point. Siena led by four at 62-58 with 6:21 left to play before Brandon scored a four-point play with a 3-pointer and a made free-throw to knot the score at 62-62 with 6:12 left. Down the stretch, the lead changed hands six times before Brandon's 3-pointer that gave the Blue and Gold the 72-70 advantage.
 
Pickett scored 22 points to lead the way for Siena, with 19 of those points coming in the second half. Burns had 16 points in the victory for the Saints, while Manny Camper posted a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. For the game, Siena out-rebounded Canisius 42-29, highlighted by a 10-2 advantage on the offensive glass.
 
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon's Postgame Comments
"Give [Siena] credit, they played harder than we did in the second half and [Elijah] Burns stepped up and made a big shot to win it for them. If I was a fan and I was here tonight, I would walk out of her thinking this was a really good college basketball game.  Being on the short-end of this is tough to swallow, especially with how well we executed our game plan in the first half."
 
"We work on late game situations in practice all the time, this was just where we lost a guy in transition and he made a shot. We executed really well to score at our end and take the lead, but we didn't execute as well at the defensive end. I thought about taking a timeout after they made the three, but we work on pushing the ball up the floor in those situations. I don't think we pushed hard enough, to be honest, but we still got a decent look."
 
Game Notes
• This was the 103rd all-time meeting between Canisius and Siena, with the Saints leading the series 55-48.
• Monday's game marked the 26th time in series history that has been decided by five-points or less, with Siena having won 14 of those contests.
• The loss in the MAAC opener snapped Canisius' seven-year streak of starting league play with a victory.
• Brandon is the first Griff to score 30 points in a road game since Jermaine Crumpton had 32 points in a road win at Fairfield Jan. 10, 2017.
• Brandon's seven 3-point makes are the most for a Canisius player in a game since Kassius Robertson made nine treys at home against Marist Jan. 14, 2017.
• Johnson's game-high eight assists marks the 56th time in his career where he's been credited with five-or-more assists in a game. He now has 516 career assists, which ranks third all-time in the school's record book.
• Hitchon's five assists tied his career high, set previously at Niagara on Jan. 30, 2019.

Up Next
Canisius will close out the non-conference portion of the 2019-20 schedule on Monday, Dec. 30, when the team travels to play at Pitt. Game time is set for noon, and the contest will be broadcast through the ACC Digital Network. The radio call will be available through WECK Buffalo Radio (1230-AM, 100.5-FM and 102.9-FM) and GoGriffs.com.
 
For complete coverage of Canisius men's basketball, please follow the Griffs on social media at @Griffs_MBB on Twitter and Instagram.
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