By Paul Casey Gotham
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Not many have given the Canisius College Golden Griffins men’s basketball team a puncher’s chance this season.
Friday night, the Griffs showed they can take a haymaker, get up off the canvas and deliver a few of their own.
Senior, Julius Coles (Harlem, N.Y.) and red shirt sophomore, Gaby Belardo (San Juan, Puerto Rico) sparked a rally from an early deficit as the Golden Griffins opened the 2010-11 campaign with a convincing 80-70 victory over their long-time rival, St. Bonaventure Bonnies in front of standing room only crowd at the Koessler Center.
Coles capped the first-half with a pull up jumper in transition giving the Griffs a 37-33 lead as the clock expired.
“I talked to Julius about being a great guard,” commented Canisius coach, Tom Parrotta. “We already know he’s a good guard. Now, it’s time for him to be great.”
Coles knocked down mid-range jumpers off the dribble, a catch and shoot three and showed his ability to get to the basket off the dribble.
“Coach Parrotta and the rest of the staff always do a great job of preparing us,” said Coles. It doesn’t matter who we are playing, coach sends us out on the floor with confidence.”
Coles gave Canisius the lead at 57-50 with a drive to the basket. Tomas Vazquez -Simmons (Rochester, N.Y.) set a ball screen on the three-point arc. Coles went opposite and attacked the rim finishing over St. Bonaventure’s Atlantic 10 First and Defensive team pre-season pick, Andrew Nicholson (Mississauga, Ont.).
The Bonnies led by as much as seven early in the contest. In one 15 second sequence, the Griffins picked up three fouls as Robert Goldsberry (Troy, OH), Coles and Elton Frazier (Syracuse, NY) were all whistled for infractions. Three minutes later, Goldsberry picked up his second foul sending the senior to the bench for the rest of the half with 14 minutes remaining.
Alshwan Hymes (DeWitt, NY) came off the bench and got the Griffs going from long range. After Canisius started 0-7 from behind the arc, Hymes connected and gave the Griffs a 25-21 advantage. Hymes added a reverse lay up on the next possession and followed with a jumper the next trip down the floor.
Canisius went on to hit six of their remaining twelve attempts from long range.
Hymes put the Griffs up 63-56 with back-to-back threes late in the second stanza.
“Our penetration into the lane was better in the second half,” said the sophomore when talking about the space created on the perimeter by his teammates. “I fed off my team and coach giving me confidence to shoot.”
Belardo, seeing his first action since transferring from South Florida two seasons ago, hit five of nine from the field including one three-pointer and eight of twelve from the free throw line.
“All the credit goes to Canisius,” said Bonnies’ skipper, Mark Schmidt. “Those two guards (Belardo and Coles) really hurt us. Defense and rebounding is how you win, and we didn’t get it done tonight. We let them get inside.”
“We were really gearing up for Bonaventure,” said Parrotta. “We fed off the energy in the building. It was very gratifying to walk in and see the sold out sign hanging on the door.”
Nicholson led all scorers with 23. Michael Davenport added 19 and Da’Quan Cook 11 for the Bonnies.
Coles led the Griffs with 21. Belardo added 19 as Hymes scored a career-high, 13 and Greg Logins (Sodus, NY) chipped in with 10.
Vazquez-Simmons grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while Frazier collected seven boards.
The victory was the first season-opening win for Canisius since the Griffs knocked off the University of Buffalo, 60-58 on November 21, 2003. Jon Ferris and Toby Foster led Canisius with 14 points apiece as the Griffs trimmed their cross-town rival.
Tonight’s meeting was the 159th between the two schools with St. Bonaventure holding a 95-64 edge. Canisus has won eight of the last eleven tilts against the Bonnies.
Canisius opens their 107th season of basketball ranked seventh in the pre-season Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference coaches’ poll.
The Griffs travels to Syracuse on Sunday to take on the Orange at the Carrier Dome. Game time is slated for 3 p.m.
Keep cheering, CeCe & friends! Good Luck to the team on Sunday against SU.
NY State basketball. What does Pickin’ Splnters NOT cover? Oh yeah – NASCAR.
What high school did Simmons go to, Casey? Going from a good to great player? Wish there was a manual on this. I think work ethic would be on page one. Sounds like the Griffs have some guys who will fundamentally compete in every game this year with loads of experience.
Vazquez-Simmons went to SOTA.