By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — UCLA couldn’t do it. Neither could Notre Dame. Canisius proved worthy of the task.
It took a near program record, an inspired individual effort and a late-game adjustment as the Canisius Golden Griffins topped the Monmouth Hawks, 96-86 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action at the Koessler Athletic Center, Friday night.
Freshman Chris Atkinson registered a career-high 12 points, and the Golden Griffins used a decisive run midway through the first half to take a commanding lead they never surrendered.
Atkinson came off the bench and capped a 17-2 run with his second of four 3-pointers on the night.
“Obviously, everybody wants to play,” Atkinson said. “When your name is called, you got to be ready to play. I’m like an energy guy. When I come in, I be an energy guy and run the team as a point guard as well.”
Trailing by three, junior forward Phil Valenti started the barrage with a 3-ball from the top of the arc. It was part of an effort which saw the Griffs connect 13 times from long range in the first half.
“We wanted to be aggressive, and we wanted to attack,” Canisius head coach Jim Baron said. “That’s the kind of league we’re in. We got a lot of athletes. They got a lot of athletes. We want to keep pushing the ball and keep attacking and up tempo.”
Malcolm McMillan connected on a three of his own. The senior guard led the way with a team-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting including 3-of-5 behind the arc.
“We got a floor full of confident guys,” McMillan stated. “Everybody on our team can step and knock down shots. Everybody on the team can give you 20 or more on any night. We just stay confident in each other, pick each other up and just step up and knock down big shots.”
Isaiah Gurley followed with a steal, layup and one for a 26-20 edge.
After Collin Stewart knocked down a jumper, Atkinson pushed the lead to seven with his first trey of the night.
“He stepped up and made shots,” Baron commented. “He’s got that ability.”
But Monmouth didn’t go away. The Hawks, which started the season with a win at Pauley-Pavilion before knocking off then No. 17 Notre Dame and USC, rallied in the second half.
“They were coming in with a lot of confidence,” Baron said referring to the three wins over schools from Power 5 conferences. “We knew that they’re a good basketball team.”
Justin Robinson ignited the Hawks with back-to-back treys early in the second half.
“By the time we started to pick it up, it was almost a little bit too late,” said Monmouth’s 5-8 point guard who scored 77 points over three games to earn MVP honors in last week’s Advocare Invitational. “We got growing up to do, but I’m not worried about it. I’m confident that we’ll bounce back.”
Micah Seaborn stripped Gurley at the top of the arc and took off for a layup to ignite eight straight from the Hawks and cut the Canisius lead to single digits.
Seaborn went end to end for another layup, and Monmouth trailed 74-67 with 8:36 remaining. Pierre Sarr made it a five-point game on the next possession, but that was as close as Monmouth would get.
“They played a great game,” Monmouth head coach King Rice said. “They knocked us down. Tonight we got beat by a better team. There’s 19 more league games. I told my kids ‘there’s no reason to be crying. You bounce back.'”
Atkinson stopped the Monmouth run with a catch-and-shoot three. After McMillan converted a pair of one-and-one free throws, the Griffs went into a 2-3 zone. The change in defense resulted in the blue and gold’s only steal of the second half. Jamal Reynolds responded and pushed the lead back to double digits with a trifecta of his own. Canisius led 85-74 with 4:10 left on the clock.
“We were fouling man to man,” Baron said of the defensive change. “We wanted to run the clock and force them to take tough shots. It settled us down a little bit. They’re real good against man to man.”
“I played five guards, and we got it down lower,” Rice explained. “Then I went back to a traditional lineup, and that didn’t work tonight. Bad coaching move on my part when we had it rolling like that. I probably should have kept the five guards in there. That was working for us. I have four years under my belt. I should have known better than that.”
Je’lon Hornbeak gave Monmouth one last flicker of hope. The Hawks guard converted a pair of free throws and stole the ensuing inbound pass before hitting a three to make it a seven-point game with 26 seconds remaining.
“We didn’t respond well in the first half to their run,” Hornbeak stated. “We had chances to really make a stop, and we didn’t. That’s something we’re going to work on. We expected them to come out with a lot of energy, but we didn’t expect for them to have more energy than us. That’s something that we can control, and we can control moving forward.”
Hornbeak scored 17 on the night.
Robinson led all scorers with 23.
Seven Griffs finished with double figures. Canisius handed out 20 assists on 29 made field goals.
“We made the extra pass,” Baron said. “We have a lot of guys that have confidence. The way we play, we want guys to step up. We’re playing aggressive, and when guys are open they have the opportunity to shoot the ball. We had a lot of guys that were open today. They stepped up and made shots.”
The 16 made 3-pointers matched a Koessler Athletic Center record. The Canisius program record of 17 was set December 9, 2012 at Marist, Baron’s first season as coach.
“It wasn’t like we weren’t guarding them,” Rice said. “They have guys that don’t shoot threes, making threes. They made 13 of them. That was a game plan.
“Iona hit 19 threes,” Rice said referring to last year’s MAAC semi-final game. “Coach Baron is a veteran coach. He’s going to watch and find where you might some weaknesses. Tonight they exploited us with guys that don’t make ‘em. Their main guys made some.”
Valenti led the Griffs with eight rebounds as Canisius outrebounded their opponents 46-39.
Canisius hosts Quinnipiac on Saturday. A 7 pm tip time is scheduled.
Monmouth plays at Niagara on Sunday.
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