Most of the time, freshmen and sophomores are unfamiliar with big time rivalries and shy away from the spotlight. That was not the case in the latest version of the Canisius-Niagara rivalry as the Purple Eagles’ underclassmen came up huge in a Niagara 75-56 win. The intensity was hot, the crowd packed, and the teams were fired up when the ball tipped at the Koessler Athletic Center and the game started off like Canisius fans didn’t even expect.
Gabby Belardo hit two deep threes in the first three minutes and ten points in the first 3:24 seconds of the game. You could see the emotion pour out of the face of Belardo as he let out multiple fist pumps and shouts as his buckets led to a Joe Mihalich timeout.
At that time, Canisius held a 10-2 advantage and was looking to keep up the pace and energy. However Niagara was able to creep their way back into the game when at 11:58 in the first half, they took their first lead at 17-15.
Midway through the half, Niagara was 6-8 (75%) from beyond the arc which helped them go up by as many as 16. Canisius went over six minutes in the half without a bucket as Niagara continued to stretch their lead. The Griffs were able to close that margin by scoring the final six points of the half to trail 37-27.
Unfortunately for the Griffs, Niagara came out firing to start the second half as they scored a quick six points in the first minute and a half which yielded a Tom Parrotta timeout. Once again, like in the first half, Niagara was able to stretch their lead to a large margin; this time it was 19.
Like the first half, the Golden Griffins were able to overcome poor shooting and get back in the game. Their comeback got them as close as five points but the comeback didn’t have enough fuel as the Purple Eagles were able to pull away and win comfortably 75-56.
“We’re a team trying to score some points” said Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta “It’s very frustrating.”
The Griffs are currently 243rd in the country at just under 65 points per game and are 289th in field goal percentage at 40.7%. Shooting has been the Achilles heel for this team all season. Parrotta has consistently talked about his team missing shots and opponents making which zaps all the energy out of his squad.
Belardo opened up hot but after the first few minutes but only ended with 13 (3 in the final 37 minutes). I asked Gabby about the hot shooting in the first half for Niagara’s guard. “They had 2, 3, 4 guys and it was really hard to stop.”
Alshwan Hymes lead his team with 20 points. Third leading scorer in the MAAC Harold Washington was held to just 2-10 from the floor for only 6 points.
A bright spot for Canisius was Chris Manhertz’ play not only on the boards but his offense as well. Manhertz was very effective for the Griffs tonight as he put in 13 points and snagged 15 rebounds (9 offensive).
Niagara came into this game led by underclassmen and they did not disappoint. Freshman Juan’ya Green came into the game leading the nation in freshman scoring. Even though he only put in 6 points in the win, he had 11 assists which was a career high. “I think the team is playing better when I’m in the distributor role” Green said. “I like to get my team going before I get going.”
Antoine Mason led the team with 22 points and Marvin Jordan came in off the bench and had 16 points while hitting five three pointers.
“We played about 33 minutes of pretty good defense and pretty good basketball” Joe Mihliach said of his teams’ performance. “We’re playing some good basketball which is important because it’s only going to get tougher down the stretch.”
Canisius falls to 4-14 (1-7 MAAC) with this loss while Niagara creeps closer back to .500 at 9-11 (4-4 MAAC). The Griffs do not have long to worry about this loss as they will travel on the road to take on Rider.
Photo from Niagara Athletics
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