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Canisius University Athletics

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Ahamadou Fofana looks to make a pass from the point in a game against Monmouth in West Long Branch, N.J., on Dec. 27, 2020
Karlee Sell
66
Canisius Canis 1-2,1-2 MAAC
84
Winner Monmouth MU 2-2,2-1 MAAC
Canisius Canis
1-2,1-2 MAAC
66
Final
84
Monmouth MU
2-2,2-1 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Canisius Canis 30 36 66
Monmouth MU 44 40 84

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men’s Basketball Falls to Monmouth, 84-66

Game Recap
Monmouth used a 16-5 run to close out the first half and never looked back, as the host Hawks defeated Canisius 84-66 Sunday afternoon in MAAC men's basketball action at OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, N.J. The win moves Monmouth to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in MAAC play, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 1-2 overall and 1-2 in league action.
 
Monmouth senior Deion Hammond led all scorers with his 21 points. He also added five rebounds and a blocked shot in 26 minutes of action. Junior Nikkei Rutty was good for 10 points and four boards for the Hawks, which ended the day by shooting 54.1 percent from the field despite making just 5-of-19 tries from 3-point range.
 
Canisius senior Majesty Brandon led the Blue and Gold with 12 points, while fellow senior Scott Hitchon scored 10 points off the bench in his first game action of the 2020-21 campaign. Sophomore Armon Harried scored all nine of his points in the game's second half, while junior Ahamadou Fofana chipped in nine points, two boards and two assists in the losing effort.
 
A driving lay-up by Canisius' Malek Green with 4:06 left before halftime cut the Hawks' lead to 28-25, but Monmouth answered by scoring the game's next 11 points over the span of 2:35 to take a 39-25 lead. A 3-point field goal by Brandon off an assist from Green with 1:06 left in the opening stanza stopped Monmouth's run and got Canisius within 11 at 39-28. Following another bucket by Green with less than 20 seconds left in the first half, Hammond scored a traditional 3-point play with a hoop and a follow-up free-throw with 1.4 seconds left before intermission to give the Hawks a 44-30 advantage at the break.
 
All 13 Canisius players in uniform played on Sunday, with seven of those players scoring at least four points in the loss. For the game, Canisius shot 33.8 percent from the field and 25 percent (8-for-32) from 3-point range, while connecting on 14-of-23 (60.9 percent) of its attempts from the free-throw line. Monmouth out-rebounded the Griffs by a 40-38 clip for the game, but the Hawks were able to turn 15 Canisius turnovers into 22 points and the home team ended the contest with a 44-24 advantage on points scored in the paint.
 
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon's Postgame Comments
"I thought we came out and played well defensively for the first few minutes, but we were never really got into any sort of a rhythm offensively, and that kept us from getting into a flow within the game. We never got rolling offensively because we had too many unnecessary turnovers, and a lot of those turnovers were because of bad passes. That's something we've been working on for a while now. We need to focus in on being a better passing team. We need keep working and find a way to get better in that aspect of the game."
 
"We played a lot of guys today, but in the first half, we had no choice because we had five guys with two fouls. At that point, there's no way you can have a consistent rotation because you're just playing guys to rescue other guys who are in foul trouble. Foul trouble negates hustle. We have to play defense without fouling. Fouling, making smart passes, limiting turnovers – those are all things we've been talking about a lot and we need to start improving there."
 
Game Notes
• The game on Sunday was the 17th all-time meeting between the two schools. Monmouth leads the series 11-7, as the Hawks have now won four-straight meetings between the two schools dating back to the 2018-19 season.
• Senior Jalanni White and sophomore Akrum Ahemed each played in their first game of the 2020-21 season, and both players were in the starting line-up.
• White, who missed the team's first two games with a knee injury, ended the day with five points and two blocked shots – his 13th career game with multiple blocks.
• For Ahemed, the game on Sunday was his first game action since Dec. 30, 2019 at Pitt. He had missed the team's last 25 games, dating back to last year, with an injury.  
• Brandon's 12 points off the bench gives him 10-or more points scored in 25 of his first 35 career games in a Canisius uniform.
• Harried is averaging 9.3 points per game in three career contests against Monmouth.
• Sophomore Malik Brooks, who started his college career as a football player at Monmouth before transferring to Canisius, made his first career appearance on Sunday and was credited with an assist.
 
Up Next
Canisius will close out its two-game MAAC series at Monmouth on Monday, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on 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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