Canisius falls to James Madison in opener

HARRISONBURG, VA. —James Madison guard Humpty Hitchens scored a game-high 26 points and teammate A.J. Davis added 23 points to help lead the host Dukes to an 82-73 win over Canisius College Sunday night in the Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, Va. The game was the season opener for both teams.

Canisius (0-1) was led by junior guard Harold Washington, who scored 23 points in his first game as a Golden Griffin after he went 11-for-17 from the field and 1-for-1 from the free-throw line. Sophomore Chris Manhertz posted a career-high 16 points to go with nine rebounds and three blocks, while junior guard Alshwan Hymes chipped in 15 points and six boards. Fellow junior Gaby Belardo had 11 points and a team-high four assists and freshman Josiah Heath was good for four points and nine rebounds in his first collegiate game.

The Griffs trailed by six at 70-64 with 4:48 left in the game before Manhertz hit a jumper and Belardo drilled a trey from the top of the key to make the score 70-69 in favor of James Madison with 3:24 left in the game. From there, the Dukes scored eight-straight points in a span of 1:57, with Hitchens and Davis accounting for all eight of those points. Davis, who sat out 2010-11 after transferring from Wyoming, capped the run with a dunk with just 1:09 left in the contest.

Canisius got the Dukes’ hold down to five at 78-73 with 20 seconds left, but Hitchens and Davis went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the win for JMU (1-0).

“We played really hard today against a very good team from a very good conference and should have won the ballgame,” Canisius coach Tom Parrotta said. “We had opportunities and good looks at the hoop and the shots didn’t go down. That being said, we played the way from an aggressive and toughness perspective that I am excited about.”

The Griffs trailed by as many as nine midway through the first half, but battled back and took a 26-25 led with 6:27 left before the break on a Manhertz jumper from just outside the paint. The Blue and Gold led 40-37 at the break and by as many as six in the second half before the Dukes fought back to take a 51-48 lead with 13:07 left in the game. From there, the game was tied five different times before James Madison pushed its hold to six at 70-64 following a jumper by Trevon Flores with 4:48 left to play.

Canisius will continue its four-game road swing to start the year Tuesday when the team plays at Longwood. Tipoff in Farmville, Va., is set for 7 p.m.  The game can be seen live on Time Warner SportsNet in New York state and on FOX College Sports and MASN through DirectTV.

Game Notes: This marked the second all-time meeting between Canisius and James Madison, with each team winning on its home court… Washington’s 23 points in his first game as a Griff stand as the most for a Canisius player in their debut in more than 20 years… Manhertz’s previous career-high for points in a game was six, set Dec. 3, 2010 at Iona in his only other career start… Hymes scored the Griffs’ first points of the season with a lay-up 47 seconds into the game – the second time in his career he’s scored the team’s first basket of the season (also scored the first points for the Blue and Gold against Loyola (Chicago) in the 2009-10 season opener.