Canisius outlasts Siena

By Paul Casey Gotham

BUFFALO, N.Y. –The Canisius Golden Griffins had all the answers.

Siena took leads of 10, 6 and 5 points. Each time the Golden Griffins responded with a barrage of three-pointers over the Saints’ zone defense.

When the Saints went man-to-man to take away any perimeter threat, the Griffs penetrated the lane.

In the end, Siena got the ball to the player they wanted, where they wanted, but Canisius gave one last rebuttal.

Three Golden Griffins combined to hit a dozen shots from behind the arc, and Tomas Vazquez-Simmons tipped away a last-second attempt as Canisius ended a five-year drought defeating the Siena Saints 62-61 in Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference action at the Koessler Athletic Center, Friday.

A resilient Canisius squad played from behind for most of the contest’s first 36 minutes.  After scoring the game’s first basket, Canisius did not grab the lead again until Gaby Belardo’s open-court lay-up off a lead pass from Julius Coles  staked the Griffs to 58-57 edge with a little more than three minutes remaining.

The Griffs added to the lead when Coles grabbed a defensive rebound on the ensuing play and started the transition finding Belardo with an outlet. Belardo returned the favor, and Coles knocked down a mid-range jumper for the three-point advantage.

The lead did not last as Siena fought back like the champions they are.

Ryan Rossiter hit a pair of free throws. Canisius failed to convert at the other end, and Siena trailed by one inside a minute to play.

After a timeout, the Saints ran a set play to get Rossiter the ball in the lane. The 6’9″ senior forward backed his way in, pivoted, used his left shoulder as leverage against the chest of Vazquez-Simmons and finished with his right.

Sixteen seconds remained. Siena 61 Canisius 60.

The Griffs wasted little time getting the ball out of the basket and moving into the front court. The Saints took away all perimeter options. Belardo penetrated the lane, up-faked and finished over Brookins.

After an exchange of timeouts, Siena ran the sidelines out-of-bounds play from in front of their own bench that played out like the previous possession where Rossiter scored. There was Rossiter with the ball in the lane looking to get an advantage on Vazquez-Simmons. Rossiter pivoted and released. This time, Vazquez-Simmons elevated and re-directed the shot.

“I knew it was coming to him,” Vazquez-Simmons said of the pass to Rossiter on the game’s final play. “He’s their play-maker. He’s their go-to guy. He made a couple of great plays toward the end. It only makes sense that they would go to him.”

Vazquez-Simmons chose to play behind Rossiter rather than denying the pass.

“On the inbound, I initially though about stealing it, but I didn’t want to pick up the foul. Once he got it, I just played him straight up and assumed he would go either way, and it worked out for the better.”

The win ended a ten-game streak for Siena against the Griffs that dated back to the 2005.  The Saints came into the game winners of 46 of 50 against MAAC opponents winning both the regular season and conference tournament the last three years.

“They’re the defending champions,” Vazquez-Simmons commented about defeating Siena . “They have great personnel. At the end of the day, they are the ones who everyone is looking to beat. You have to take the crown from them.”

Down 22-12 early in the first half, the Griffs used defense to jump start their offense.

Robert Goldsberry created a turnover by diving and tapping the ball away from Davis Martens. Coles scooped up the ball and raced along the right sideline before finishing over O.D. Anosike.

Two trips later, Goldsberry snuck along the baseline and stripped Rossiter of the ball in the post. Hymes made two free throws, and the Griffs trailed 22-17.

When Anosike found a gap along the baseline, Greg Logins rotated and blocked his shot.

Coles made it 22-20 with a trey from the left side in front of the Siena bench.

But the Saints recovered.

Anosike finished inside. Rakeen Brookins hit a three, and the lead was back to six.

Alshwan Hymes answered for the Griffs. Canisius ran a lengthy possession with the ball changing sides of the floor before the sophomore guard caught it on the left side and knocked down his first of six trifecta on the night. Hymes set a school record with nine threes against Northwestern State. He followed that outing with five more deep balls in a loss to St. Peter’s.

“As every other game, I got to continue to give the credit to my teammates,” Hymes commented about his recent success. (They are)”finding me in open places and running good offense.”

At the other end of the floor, Goldsberry intercepted a pass in traffic. While stumbling to floor, the senior guard alertly handed the ball to Frazier who found Coles open in the right corner, and the game was tied at 27.

Siena regained the lead as Brookins connected again, and Trenity Burdine hit a free throw.

Vazquez-Simmons blocked a Rossiter shot. Coles corralled the rebound, and Frazier found Hymes who connected from five feet behind the arc.

Rossiter hit a pair of free throws before Hymes, with the defense extending on him, entered the ball to Logins in the post who finished with his right over Rossiter to end the half.

The teams traded baskets for the first ten minutes of the second stanza before a Rossiter jumper gave the Saints a 53-48 lead with six and a half minutes remaining.

From there, Belardo took over.

The red-shirt sophomore caught the ball at foul line extended along the right side of the floor. He used a behind-the-back to get by Brookins before up-faking Rossiter into the air and finishing jsut over the Siena forward’s finger tips.

The native of San Juan, Puerto Rico played penetrate and pitch on the next two possessions. First, he got into the lane and hit Hymes in the left corner for a three.

Then he got his feet in the paint and dished to Coles for another 3-ball. Canisius trailed 57-56.

Frazier tapped away a pass into the post. Again, Coles gathered the loose ball and led Belardo for the open-court lay up and a one-point lead with three minutes remaining. Coles hit another jumper before Siena rallied setting up Belardo’s game-winner.

“I was halfway between calling (a timeout),” Coach Tom Parrotta commented. “Gaby had momentum going that way, and I didn’t want to give them (Siena’s defense) a chance to set up. I believe at that juncture they (Siena) had one timeout left, and I didn’t want to give them a free one.”

Belardo finished with eight points and four assists – six of those points and two handouts came in the game’s final five minutes.

Hymes had a team-high 19 on 6-of-11 shooting from long range. Coles added 18 going 4-for-7 from behind the arc. Goldsberry connected twice one three balls.

Logins led the Griffs with eight rebounds. Vazquez-Simmons turned in a workman-like performance grabbing six boards with four blocks, four assists and a steal. Vazquez-Simmons continues to re-establish the Canisius mark for rejections now with 244.

Rossiter scored 19 and registered a game-high 14 rebounds. The senior came into the contest second in the country grabbing more than 13 per game.

Siena falls to 2 and 2 in conference play and 5 and 9 overall. The Saints made more field goals (24-23) and out-rebounded the Griffs 44 to 30.

Canisius has won three of four and improves to 1 and 3 in the MAAC and 7 and 7 for the ledger.

“We’ve been moving the basketball pretty well the last couple of weeks,” Parrotta noted. “We don’t have all the wins to show for it, but I think the team is better than certainly a few weeks back.”

Canisius hit a dozen threes to six for Siena.

Canisius hosts Rider for a Sunday afternoon matinee at 2 p.m. The Broncs are 3 and 1 in conference play with their only loss coming to Siena 73-60.