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Canisius University Athletics

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Scott Hitchon looks for a rebound at Buffalo Dec. 18, 2019.
Marshal Filipowicz
71
Winner Manhattan MAN 5-5, 1-0 MAAC
67
Canisius CAN 5-8, 0-2 MAAC
Winner
Manhattan MAN
5-5, 1-0 MAAC
71
Final
67
Canisius CAN
5-8, 0-2 MAAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Manhattan MAN 38 33 71
Canisius CAN 35 32 67

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Hot-Shooting Manhattan Beats Men’s Basketball in MAAC Play

Game Recap
Visiting Manhattan shot a season-high 55.3 percent from the field, highlighted by a 64.3 percent shooting clip in the game's second half, and the Jaspers made 13-of-17 free-throws in the game's final 20 minutes en route to a 71-67 win over Canisius Friday night at the Koessler Athletic Center. The win moves Manhattan to 5-5 overall and 1-0 in MAAC play, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 5-8 overall and 0-2 in league action.
 
Four Manhattan players registered double-figures in the scoring column in the victory, led by sophomore Warren Williams, who posted a game-high 16 points. Fellow sophomore Tykei Greene added 13 points and seven rebounds, while Pauly Paulicap and Samir Stewart were good for 13 and 12 points, respectively. For Canisius, junior Majesty Brandon recorded a team-high 15 points to go with a career-best 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and fellow junior Scott Hitchon posted 12 points, with eight of those coming after halftime. Canisius shot 40.0 percent from the field, but the Blue and Gold hit on just 5-of-24 shot from 3-point land and 10-of-18 free-throw chances in the losing effort.
 
Canisius trailed Manhattan 68-63 with 1:45 left to play after Williams drilled a pair of free-throws, but the Griffs answered right back and trimmed the lead back to three points following a turn-around jumper by sophomore Jordan Henderson with 1:21 left to play. After Manhattan went empty on its next possession, Canisius had a chance to tie the game, but the Blue and Gold's 3-point shot from the top of the key banged off the rim and went out of bounds.
 
Stewart pushed the Jaspers' hold back to five at 70-65 with a pair of made free-throws with 38 seconds left before Brandon hit on two charity tosses with 22.1 seconds left to make it a three-point game at 70-67. Canisius applied full-court pressure and appeared to have the Jaspers tied up in the back-court, but the Blue and Gold were whistled for a foul just before Manhattan tried to call for a timeout, and Christian Hinckson hit one-of-two free throws with 15.4 seconds left to seal the victory for the visiting team.
 
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon's Postgame Comments
"Give Manhattan credit, they fought, they played hard and they out-scrapped us tonight. We turned the ball over too many times, so you have to give them credit."
 
"It is important to hit shots from outside, especially when you're playing a team like Manhattan with Williams and Paulicap. A lot of those [3-point shots] are shots that we like. We normally make those, but we didn't make them tonight. You have to capitalize when you get those opportunities."
 
"We needed to get more stops. Usually, our initial defense has been better, but we've given up too many offensive rebounds. Tonight, they only got four [offensive rebounds], but they didn't have a lot of misses. We need to do a better job with that moving forward."
 
Game Notes
• This was the 94th all-time meeting between these two schools. Manhattan now leads the series 56-38.
• Canisius is 0-2 in MAAC play for the first time since the 2011-12 season.
• As a team, Canisius recorded 15 steals, the most for the Blue and Gold in a home game at Koessler Athletic Center since the team had 13 steals against Siena on Jan. 19, 2013.
• After having a season-low two offensive rebounds in the loss at Siena Dec. 23, Canisius has posted 33 offensive rebounds in the last two games combined, with 16 of those coming Friday against Manhattan.
• Brandon's 15 points on Friday gives him a total of 79 points scored in the team's last four games. That's the best four-game scoring output for a Canisius player since Malcolm McMillan had 90 points in the first four games of the 2015-16 season.
• Brandon is the second Canisius player to record a points and rebounds double-double this season. Freshman Jacco Fritz had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the team's win over St. Bonaventure back on Nov. 23.
• Senior Malik Johnson scored six points to go with eight assists, five rebounds and five steals in the loss. The eight assists gives him five-or-more assists in a game 58 times in his career, and the five steals gives him 175 during his time on Main Street.
• Henderson, who missed the previous two games with a knee injury, scored nine points off the bench in 21 minutes of action.
• Brandon made his first career start on Friday as Canisius was without the services of guards Akrum Ahemed (foot injury) and Sam Rautins (lower-body injury).

Up Next
Canisius will close out its weekend homestand on Sunday with a MAAC game against Fairfield. That game, which will be broadcast live on ESPN+, is set to tip-off at 2 p.m. 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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