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Malek Green drives past a Marist defender on his way to the hoops in a MAAC men's basketball game at the Koessler Athletic Center on Dec. 11, 2020.
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80
Winner Canisius Canis 6-3,6-3 MAAC
69
Fairfield Fairf 5-15,5-10 MAAC
Winner
Canisius Canis
6-3,6-3 MAAC
80
Final
69
Fairfield Fairf
5-15,5-10 MAAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Canisius Canis 33 47 80
Fairfield Fairf 37 32 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men’s Basketball Scores 80-69 Win at Fairfield

Game Recap
Three Canisius players scored in double-figures, led by junior Malek Green and his career-high 29 points, as the Golden Griffins went on the road and scored their fifth-straight victory with an 80-69 win over Fairfield at Alumni Hall Friday evening.
 
The win moves the Griffs to 6-3 overall and 6-3 in MAAC play. The team's current five-game win streak is the longest for the program since the 2017-18 campaign. Fairfield fell to 5-15 overall and 5-10 in league action with the loss.
 
Green's 29 points came after he went 10-for-15 from the field, 4-for-6 from 3-point land and 5-for-7 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in the victory for Canisius to go with an assist and a steal. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native scored 19 of his 29 points after halftime, with nine of those points coming on the power of three made 3-point field goals in the second stanza. Fellow junior Jordan Henderson posted a season-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, with two makes from 3-point land, and junior guard Ahmadou Fofana added 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in the winning effort, as the Blue and Gold snapped a two-game losing skid to Fairfield dating back to last season.
 
Canisius trailed by as many as 11 points midway through the first half, but raced back and cut the Stags' lead at halftime to 37-33. In the second half, Canisius trailed by seven at 42-35 less than 3:00 into the frame, but the Griffs used a 9-0 run over the game's next 3:42 to take a 46-42 advantage. In that run, sophomore Jacco Fritz scored the Griffs' first three points, and then Green capped the scoring spurt with back-to-back 3-point field goals in the span of 46 seconds.
 
Fairfield would trim Canisius' cushion to one point at 50-49 with 9:17 left in the contest, but that was as close as the Stags would get for the rest of the game, as Canisius scored the game's next seven points over a span of 52 seconds, capped by a 3-ball from Henderson that gave the visiting team a 57-49 advantage with 8:11 left on the clock.
 
The Griffs finished the game shooting 44.4 percent from the field, highlighted by a 53.3 percent shooting clip in the game's second half. After starting the game going 0-for-8 from 3-point land, Canisius ended the game with eight 3-point makes, and the Blue and Gold hit on 16-of-22 chances from the free-throw line as well. The difference in the game was points off turnovers, as Canisius turned 15 Fairfield turnovers into 24 points, while also outscoring the Stags 8-0 in fast break points.
 
Fritz finished the game with nine points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal for Canisius, which has now overcome double-digit first-half deficits to earn wins in back-to-back weeks. Senior Majesty Brandon added eight points, two assists and a game-high two blocked shots off the bench.
 
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon's Postgame Comments
"In the first half, I thought our defense was good, but we didn't rebound the basketball at all, and Fairfield just played harder across the board than we did. We knew coming in that Fairfield was going to give maximum effort. We needed to match that effort from the start. It took us a while to match their effort. But the fact that we took care of the basketball in the first half was key, because it kept us within arm's reach at halftime, and when we came out and played hard to start the second half, we started to hold them accountable at both ends."
 
"We talked at halftime about the level of the effort. We talked about getting a collective effort from everyone on the team at all times. I told the guys that I wanted them to play to a point of exhaustion, and when they got there, we'd take them out and get them a break. But the next guys in had to give the same level of effort. And that's how you battle back. That's what you saw in the second half."
 
"If you look at our scoring, one night we get contributions from this guy, the next night it is someone else's turn, and it just keeps building. When a team buys into the mindset, you become very difficult to defend. That's what we've been talking about all year and that's the way we want to play. When you do that, you force the other team to focus on multiple scorers. So when everyone plays hard, and we spread the scoring around, that puts a burden on the opponent. They can't just stop one guy and shut your offense down."
 
Game Notes
• Friday was the 89th all-time meeting between Canisius and Fairfield, with the Stags holding a 49-40 lead in the series.
• The win on Friday stands as the 1,325th all-time win in program history and it is also the Griffs' 245th MAAC regular season victory as well.
• Since 2000-01, Canisius has won five-or more consecutive MAAC games three times, with the most recent occasion coming in 2017-18, when the Blue and Gold won six-straight MAAC contests.
• After scoring 89 points in the win at Quinnipiac Feb. 13, Canisius has now scored 80-or more points in back-to-back MAAC wins for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
• Green's 29 points are the most points scored in a MAAC game by any player in the league this season.
• Junior George Maslennikov grabbed a career-high five rebounds in the win for the Griffs.
• The win on Friday is head coach Reggie Witherspoon's 72nd at Canisius. That ties him with Canisius Hall of Famer Joe Niland, who won 72 games as the program's head coach from 1948-53.

Up Next
Canisius will close out its weekend trip to Fairfield on Saturday, as the two teams will meet again in Alumni Hall, with tip-off set for 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3, with 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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