By Paul Gotham
ITHACA, N.Y. – A wintry mix blanketed the roads and walkways of central New York, Wednesday night. Inside the Newman Arena, Cornell’s Big Red endured their own rough patch late in the first half.
Galal Cancer posted a game high as Cornell defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins, 67-60 in non-conference action.
The senior guard scored five midway through the second half as the Big Red pulled away for their third win of the season.
“He’s been tremendous the last few games,” Cornell head coach Bill Courtney said. “When he stays out of foul trouble, he’s been our go-to guy down the stretch. That was a huge stretch from him.”
With Cornell clinging to a four-point lead, Cancer connected on a catch-and-shoot three. He followed with a steal and layup to give the Big Red a 58-49 advantage and 5:42 left in the game.
“He’s attacking the basket and taking open threes,” Courtney continued. “It’s great to see him make a couple open threes because he’s been making them in practice.”
Cancer hit from behind the arc as the Big Red scored the first eight coming out of the half to break open a tie game.
“Coming into this game, we wanted to do it for the full 40 minutes,” Cancer stated. “At halftime, we felt we weren’t playing the way we should, so we came out and pushed each other…Luckily my teammates found me open.”
The run came after a pair of Cornell starters ended the first half on the bench with foul trouble.
“Shonn Miller and Devin Cherry both had two fouls for the last eight minutes of the first half,” Courtney noted. “We weathered that storm which was kind of a great thing. They’re captains. They put the onus on the other guys.”
The pair combined on an alley oop to start the scoring in the second with Cherry feeding his teammate for the slam.
“If we’re able to get stops and rebounds, we’re pretty fast in transition,” Courtney explained. “That allowed us to get out and run a little bit.”
“That’s our identity,” Cancer said. “Speed teams up. Make them do what they don’t want to do. Don’t let them run offense.”
The Griffs battled back repeatedly throughout the second stanza but could not get over the hump.
Trailing by ten, Jeremiah Williams and Josiah Heath scored back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to six at 49-43. The Griffs got a stop on the defensive end but failed to trim the deficit any further.
“It’s a process, but you’re playing teams, especially on the road, that can hit shots, and have upper classmen who are good players,” Canisius head coach Jim Baron stated. “It’s on-the-job training, and they got to step up. We needed guys to step up.”
After Cancer pushed the Cornell lead to nine, Jermaine Crumpton connected on a pair of threes and hit two from the free throw line making it a four-point game at 61-57 with 1:56 remaining.
“He’s very aggressive, very physical,” Baron said of his redshirt freshman. “He’s good that way because he can score inside and outside.”
Canisius missed five of eight free throws in the game’s closing moments.
“We need guys to step up because that’s what it’s all about,” Baron added. “It’s an opportunity for each guy every game we play.”
Phil Valenti played just eight minutes of the first half. The sophomore forward needed stitches in his mouth before returning to the game in the second half. Zach Lewis picked up his fourth foul with 8:54 remaining on the game clock.
The Griffs tallied a trio of easy baskets early in the game to grab a four-point lead. Jamal Reynolds fed Jan Grzelinski for a layup in the open floor. Zach Lewis grabbed a defensive rebound and found Phil Valenti on the leak out. Cassius Robertson scored on a similar play when he got ahead of the defense and took an Adam Weir feed for two.
Lewis gave Canisius its largest lead of the half at 13-9 with a step back jumper in the lane
“We wanted to be aggressive,” Baron explained. “I told our guys ‘just get that thing down the court and attack them.’ I thought we did a real, good job the first half. The second half we just had too many silly fouls. You can’t do that. You got to play smarter and you got play wiser when you’re playing against a quick team.”
“We made an adjustment at half to take away the leak out plays,” Courtney said. “We realized our guys were getting caught pressing.”
Williams sparked a 13-6 run as Canisius and Cornell went into the locker room tied at 32. The senior guard drilled a catch-and-shoot three from the right corner. After Kevin Bleeker converted on one of two free throws, Williams used a crossover to drive from the wing to knot the score at 30. Canisius briefly took the lead when Crumpton hit a pair of free throws.
Cancer closed the half with a drive from the top and reverse layup.
Darryl Smith sparked the Big Red midway through the first half. The sophomore converted a traditional three-point play with a drive from the wing and one. After the under 12 media timeout, Smith nailed a catch-and-shoot three from the corner. His two free throws gave Cornell a 19-16 advantage. Cancer pushed the lead to seven when he grabbed a loose ball in the lane and scored.
Cancer finished with 18 and a team-high eight rebounds. Miller added 13, and Smith had 10.
Cornell outscored Canisius 32-22 in the paint.
Crumpton paced the Griffs with 15. Lewis added 14. Williams had 10. Reynolds pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Canisius created 23 turnovers.
Cornell improved to 3-4. Three of Cornell’s four defeats have come by a combined eight points. Canisius fell to 2-2.
Cornell travels to Binghamton, Saturday.
The Griffs take on the University of Buffalo in the Big 4 doubleheader, Saturday at the First Niagara Center. A 4:15 tipoff is scheduled.
Leave a Reply