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Canisius University Athletics

#Griffs The Official Home of the Canisius University Golden Griffins | #Griffs
Malik Johnson
Stockton Photo, Inc.
73
Winner Monmouth MON 14-20
59
Canisius CAN 15-17
Winner
Monmouth MON
14-20
73
Final
59
Canisius CAN
15-17
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Monmouth MON 35 38 73
Canisius CAN 26 33 59

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men’s Basketball Eliminated with Semifinal Loss to Monmouth

Game Recap
Monmouth sophomore Deion Hammond scored a game-high 19 points and senior forward Diago Quinn recorded a double-double as the sixth-seeded Hawks defeated Canisius 73-59 in the semifinal round of the 2019 MAAC Men's Basketball Championship at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., Sunday night.
 
With the win, Monmouth (14-20) advances to the MAAC Championship game on Monday where the Hawks will meet three-time defending league champion Iona for the right to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Canisius sees it season end at 15-17.
 
With the score tied 12-12, Monmouth reserve guard Louie Pillari hit a 3-pointer with 11:28 left in the first half to give Monmouth a 15-12 lead, a lead the Hawks would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. The shot sparked a Monmouth run that would see the Hawks outscore the Golden Griffins 23-14 for the remainder of the opening half to send Monmouth into the locker room up 35-26 at intermission.
 
In the second half, Canisius was able to trim Monmouth's lead to three points on five separate occasions, but the team could not get over the hump. In the first 2:25 of the second stanza, the Griffs got three-straight buckets from Takal Molson, Scott Hitchon and Malik Johnson to make the score 35-32, and moments later, a lay-up by Hitchon moved the Blue and Gold within three again at 37-34. Trailing 42-37 with 14:05 left to play, Molson hit a pair from the free-throw line to make the score 42-39, but the Hawks again responded by outscoring the Griffs 7-2 over the next 59 seconds to make the score 49-41 with 12:50 left to play.
 
A lay-up by Johnson with 8:33 left on the clock trimmed Monmouth's cushion to 55-52 before the Hawks proceeded to score the game's next eight points, capped by a pair of free-throw makes by Samuel Chaput at the 4:43 mark, that made the score 63-52. A free-throw make by sophomore Jalanni White put the Griffs down eight at 67-59 with 1:03 left to play before the Hawks closed out the contest by making six free-throws in the closing 50 seconds.
 
Molson led the way for Canisius with a team-high 17 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals. White added 11 points after shooting 4-for-5 from the field to go with six boards, an assist and a steal, and Johnson chipped in 10 points, a game-high five assists, four rebounds and three steals to the losing effort, as the Blue and Gold shot just 37.9 percent from the floor, made 3-of-20 from 3-point land and 12 of 17 tosses from the free-throw line.
 
Hammond went 8-for-11 from the floor en route to his game-high 19 points for Monmouth, as the Hawks shot 47.1 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from the perimeter and 72.4 percent from the free-throw line in the win. Marcus McClary chipped in 10 points, while forward Mustapha Traore was good for eight points and eight rebounds as the Hawks ended the night with a 39-28 advantage on the glass, while posting 16 second-chance points against Canisius' four.
 
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon's Postgame Comments
"I am proud of the effort our guys gave all season long. We ran into a buzz saw tonight. You have to give Monmouth credit. They were outstanding at every phase and we just didn't have enough energy to overcome that."
 
"I give our guys a lot of credit for the hard work that it took to get us to this point. It has been a grind, and we grinded Friday night against Manhattan. We got down and we came back, we didn't even lead until the overtime. We fought, and fought, and got it down to one possession on a couple of occasions tonight, but you just have to give Monmouth credit for the way they responded."
 
Game Notes
• This was the 14th all-time meeting between these two schools in a series that Monmouth leads 8-6. This also marked the second meeting between the Griffs and the Hawks in the MAAC Championship, with Monmouth winning both of those games.
• Canisius was appearing in the semifinal round for just the fourth time since 2000, and for the first time since 2014.
• Canisius is now 3-6 all-time in MAAC Championship semifinal round games.
• White averaged 13.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in the team's two games in Albany this weekend. He also led Canisius by shooting 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the field.
• Molson ended the season by scoring in double-figures 30 times.
• Johnson's five assists gives him 455 in his career, which ranks fourth all-time in school history.
• The start on Sunday was the 99th consecutive in Johnson's career, which is every game for the Griffs since 2016-17.
 
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