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Canisius University Athletics

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Tana Kopa drives to the basket in a home game against Brown on Nov. 23, 2024.
Anthony Militello
93
Winner Sacred Heart SH 7-12,3-5 MAAC
84
Canisius Canis 2-17,2-6 MAAC
Winner
Sacred Heart SH
7-12,3-5 MAAC
93
Final
84
Canisius Canis
2-17,2-6 MAAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Sacred Heart SH 49 44 93
Canisius Canis 41 43 84

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Sacred Heart Pulls Away from Men’s Basketball

The visiting Sacred Heart Pioneers used a 15-4 run over the span of 4:25 in the late stages of the game's second half to pull away from the Canisius Golden Griffins en route to a 93-84 victory in MAAC men's basketball action Thursday night at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
 
The win snapped Sacred Heart's four-game losing skid and improved the Pioneers to 7-12 overall and 3-5 in MAAC play, while Canisius slipped to 2-17 overall and 2-6 in conference action with the loss.
 
Six Sacred Heart players recorded double-figures in the scoring column, led by Tanner Thomas, who posted a team-high 18 points to go with six rebounds. Amiri Stewart added 16 points, while Bryce Johnson came off the bench and scored 15 points along with seven boards and three assists. Seven of the eight Sacred Heart players that saw time in the game made at least one 3-point field goal, as the Pioneers ended the contest by hitting 15-of-30 shots from long range. As a team, Sacred Heart shot 52.5 percent from the floor and made 16-of-23 chances from the charity stripe, while out-rebounding Canisius by a 40-25 clip.
 
Sacred Heart guard Mekhi Connor was good for a double-double in the win for the Pioneers, as he scored 10 points and dished out 16 of his team's 26 assists on the evening. Those 16 assists are the most for any player in Koessler Athletic Center history, and Conner is just the 10th player in MAAC history to record 16-or more assists in a conference game. Additionally, he is just the fifth player in the nation this season to record 16-or more assists in an NCAA Division I men's basketball game.
 
For Canisius, junior Paul McMillan IV led all scorers with a game-high 23 points, his 12th game this season with 20-or more points scored. Senior Tana Kopa matched a season-high with 21 points, his third-straight game with 20-or more points scored, while redshirt-sophomore Cam Palesse added 15 points and four rebounds. As a team, Canisius shot 51.6 percent from the field and 41.4 percent (12-for-29) from 3-point land, but hit on just 6-of-11 chances from the free-throw line.
 
Trailing 75-68 with 7:13 left on the clock, Canisius knotted the game at 77-77 with 5:20 remaining thanks to a 9-2 scoring surge over the span of 1:40, with McMillan IV accounting for four of the Griffs' nine points in the run. However, Canisius would never be able to take the lead, as Sacred Heart pulled away with that 15-4 run over the game's next 4:25. In that run, which was started by five-straight points from guard Griffin Barrouk, Thomas and Stewart combined to score the other 10 Pioneer points to make the score 92-81 in favor of the visiting team with 45 seconds left to play.
 
Fifteen of Kopa's 21 points came on the power of five makes from 3-point land, while McMillan IV posted a career-high eight assists to go with three rebounds in the losing cause for the Blue and Gold. Sophomore Dylan Godfrey chipped in nine points off the bench for Canisius, while graduate student Jasman Sangha added eight points, four boards, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot to the team's final stat line.
 
HEAD COACH JIM CHRISTIAN'S POSTGAME COMMENTS
   
GAME NOTES
• Thursday marked the second all-time meeting between Canisius and Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart is the 89th different school to play a game against Canisius at the Koessler Athletic Center.
• After scoring 99 points in a 99-82 win over Canisius back on Jan. 5 in Fairfield, Conn., Sacred Heart is the first MAAC school to post 90-plus points against Canisius two times in the same season since Niagara in 2016-17.
• Canisius has made 10-or more 3-point field goals in four of the team's last six games.
• McMillan IV, who leads the MAAC in scoring average at 20.2 points per game, is averaging 22.1 points per game in eight home contests this season.
• Kopa's five 3-point field goals on Thursday gives him 63 makes from behind the arc this year. Of those 63 makes, 30 of them have come against MAAC opponents.
• Freshman Evan van der Plas came off the bench and scored five points to go with a season-best three assists.
 
UP NEXT
Canisius will continue its three-game MAAC homestand on Saturday when the Griffs play host to Marist. Game time is set for 1 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The Griffs' radio call will be available through the Golden Griffin Broadcast Network on GoGriffs.com and the Varsity Network APP.
 
Tickets for Saturday's game, and all remaining home Canisius basketball games, can be purchased by CLICKING HERE.
 
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