Saint Peter’s College used a 24-6 run over the first 6:49 of the second half, and the visiting Peacocks shot 61.9 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from 3-point range in the game’s second stanza en route to a 74-60 win over Canisius College Sunday afternoon in the Koessler Athletic Center. The win snapped Saint Peter’s two-game losing skid and improved the team to 4-14 overall and 3-4 in MAAC play, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 4-13 on the year and 1-6 in conference action.
Saint Peter’s went 7-for-10 from the field and drained six 3-point field goals to go with four made free-throws in the scoring spurt that allowed the Peacocks to overcome a 31-25 halftime deficit. Junior guard Chris Prescott scored a game-high 21 points in the win for Saint Peter’s, while freshman guard Lamin Fulton added 20 points, highlighted by his four 3-pointers in the second half. For Canisius, junior guard Harold Washington scored a team-high 19 points in the loss and fellow junior Alshwan Hymes chipped in 14 points to the Griffs’ effort. Junior Gaby Belardo was good for 10 points and four assists for the Blue and Gold, which has now dropped nine of the last 10 meetings between the two schools.
“I thought this weekend was really a tale of two games for us,” Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta said. “I thought we played really well and took two steps forward Friday [in a win over Marist] and then we took two steps back today in this game. To their credit, they started making shots and we went 7-for-30 in the second half, that’s really the story of this game. We were not as crisp as we were on Friday, and our margin for error is very slim. They started making their shots and I felt like we started to press a little bit on offense.”
The Griffs took a 31-25 lead into the locker room at the halftime break after the Blue and Gold shot 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the 3-point line in the game’s first 20 minutes, while Saint Peter’s went 33.3 percent from the field and 40 percent from long range. In the second half, Saint Peter’s tied the game 34-34 with 17:32 left on the clock when Fulton nailed his second-straight 3-point field goal from the left wing, and from there, the Peacocks pushed the score to their favor with the score reading 49-36 with 13:11 left on the clock.
Washington scored five-straight points on his own for the Griffs with a pair of free-throws and a 3-pointer to make it an eight-point game at 49-41 with 12:19 left in the contest, but Saint Peter’s answered with a an 8-3 run over the next 3:49 to pull away for the win. Saint Peter’s forward Darius Conley was good for nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the win for the Peacocks, while guard Yvon Raymond came off the bench to score eight points.
Canisius freshman Josiah Heath had eight boards for the Blue and Gold, which ended the game with a 35-32 advantage on the glass, but Saint Peter’s was able to turn 17 Canisius turnovers into 19 points in the win.
The Griffs are set to close out their three-game MAAC homestand Thursday, Jan. 19, when the team hosts long-time rival Niagara in the Koessler Athletic Center. The game will be shown exclusively on ESPN3 as part of the MAAC’s National Game of the Week package, with tipoff set for 8:30 p.m.
Game Notes: This was the 67th all-time meeting between the two Jesuit schools, with Canisius holding a 36-31 advantage in the series… After shooting just two free-throws Friday in the win over Marist, the Griffs went to the line a season-high 31 times, where they made 21… Washington went 12-for-16 from the three-throw line for the Griffs, which stands as the most trips to the charity stripe by a Canisius player since former Griff Darren Fenn went to the line 19 times against Manhattan in four overtimes on Jan. 31, 2000… Hymes went 2-for-4 from 3-point range to move into seventh-place all-time in Canisius history for career 3-point makes, passing from Griffs Craig Wise and Greg Logins… Prior to tipoff, Canisius held a moment of silence to honor Paul Peltz, Class of 1971 and long-time Griff supporter, who passed away Saturday evening.
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