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Majesty Brandon drives to the basket in a home game against Marist on Dec. 11, 2020.
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56
Winner Marist Marist 3-1,1-1 MAAC
52
Canisius Canis 1-1,1-1 MAAC
Winner
Marist Marist
3-1,1-1 MAAC
56
Final
52
Canisius Canis
1-1,1-1 MAAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Marist Marist 28 28 56
Canisius Canis 23 29 52

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men’s Basketball Comes Up Short in Loss to Marist

Game Recap
Marist freshman guard Hakim Byrd scored three of his team-high 10 points in the game's final 35 seconds with a bucket and a free-throw, and junior Matt Herasme sealed the win for the visiting Red Foxes with a pair of charity tosses with 13 seconds left to play, as Marist scored a 56-52 victory over the Canisius men's basketball team Saturday night at the Koessler Athletic Center.
 
The win moves Marist to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in MAAC play, while the Griffs slipped to 1-1 overall and 1-1 in MAAC action with the loss.
 
Canisius senior Majesty Brandon led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, while junior forward Malek Green posted a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Armon Harried added nine points to Canisius' losing effort, as the Blue and Gold shot just 29.6 percent from the field and 24 percent from 3-point land for the contest.
 
Canisius trailed Marist 49-47 with 2:40 left to play before Brandon pushed the home squad ahead by a point at 50-49 with one of his four 3-point makes on the night with 2:26 remaining. After Herasme gave Marist a 51-50 lead moments last with two makes at the free-throw line, Canisius quickly regained the lead following a pair of successful charity tosses by Green with 50 seconds left in the ball game. That set the stage for Byrd, who was able to knife through the lane to score and get fouled with 35 seconds left on the clock, making the score 53-52 in favor of the Red Foxes. Byrd's ensuing free-throw put Marist up by two at 54-52, and after a Canisius miss from 3-point land on its next trip down the court, Herasme was fouled to seal game for Marist.
 
The Griffs trailed by eight at 38-30 with 13:34 left in the game before the Blue and Gold used a 9-2 run over the game's next 2:46 to cut the Red Foxes' cushion to 40-39. In that run, all nine of the Griffs' points came from Brandon, Green and sophomore Jacco Fritz, who capped the scoring spurt with a traditional three-point play with 10:04 left in the contest. Down the stretch, neither team led by more than three points until the closing seconds, and the game saw six ties and six lead changes over the final 7:53.
 
Brandon's 21-point effort came after he went 8-for-15 from the floor, 4-for-8 from 3-point land and 1-for-2 from the free-throw line, and he was also credited with a career-high five steals. Green matched a career-best with his 13 rebounds, with five of those boards coming off the offensive glass, and Fritz ended the night with seven points, four rebounds and a team-high four assists.
 
Byrd and his teammate, Jordan Jones, each had 10 points in the victory for Marist. Herasme and Jones each grabbed seven boards as well in the victory for the Red Foxes, who won despite turning the ball over 22 times. For the game, Marist shot 38.8 percent from the field and 18.8 percent from 3-point range, but ended up hitting on 75 percent (15-of-20) shots from the free-throw line.
 
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon's Postgame Comments
"We gave good effort initially in our defense, but we did not do a very good job blocking out. They got 11 offensive rebounds, and that cost us tonight."
 
"I thought our guys played really hard, given that we basically have nine guys available. We had some guys who played some heavy minutes, and we tried to get them some rest. This is all sort of a new deal with the back-to-back [games], so we're trying to see if we have a rotation that we can use to keep guys fresh. I think our guys preserved through that the best they could."
 
"We have been talking about this turnover deal. We're trying to keep them down. Last night, we kept them down, and today they got out of control. It is decision making on offense. It's playing with patience and poise offensively and blocking out and challenging shots on defense. There's a level of energy that's required that a lot of the new guys are finding out about. Who knows – maybe we'll be a little healthier, and that's always a big maybe in 2020, but maybe we will be and maybe we can preserve through things a little bit better."
 
Game Notes
• This was the 54th all-time meeting between the two schools. Canisius leads the series 34-20.
• Saturday marked the first time Canisius has played two MAAC regular season games on back-to-back dates since Dec. 4-5, 2015. The Griffs went 1-1 on occasion as well.
• Dating back to the 2018-19 season, Canisius has played 30 games decided by five-points or less. The Griffs are 17-13 in those 30 contests.  
• Brandon's 21-point effort marks the seventh time in his career where he's scored 20-or more points in a game, with two of those times coming against Marist.
• Green's double-double was the fifth of his career. He had four double-double performances during his two seasons at Morehead State.
• Harried has tallied three blocked shots in the team's first two games this year after recording 12 blocks in 32 contests a season ago.
 
Up Next
Canisius is scheduled to play its first two road games of the season Dec. 18-19 at Siena, with game time on both days set for 5 p.m., in Loudonville, N.Y. Those contests will be shown live on either ESPN3 or ESPN+, and the radio call 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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