By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO — If there was a hangover, it was short-lived. An 11-day layoff between games couldn’t slow the Canisius Golden Griffins. Not at least on this day.
Kassius Robertson led four in double figures including a career high off the bench from Spencer Foley, and Canisius, which led by as many as 13, held on to defeat the Siena Saints 82-79 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action at the Koessler Athletic Center Monday afternoon.
Robertson netted the Griffs’ first 14 points of the day. Foley nailed his first 3-point attempt of the day to give Canisius a 19-18 edge with 11:49 to go in the first half. The Griffs did not trail again.
“I thought this was a big challenge for us,” first-year coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “They’re so physical and strong around the basket that it really was a big-time challenge for us, and as you can see, they kept fighting. It made it a challenging game because we couldn’t afford any letdowns. ..Our guys persevered. We stayed together until the end of the game.”
Robertson got Canisius on the scoreboard when he used an upfake from the left corner to free himself of a defender for a jumper. He followed with a drive from the right side split a pair of defenders in the lane. The junior guard knocked down a pull-up jumper then followed with a three late in the clock before drilling a catch-and-shoot trey and finishing a wing drive with a floater off the glass.
“I was just trying to be aggressive, trying to exploit the openings in our offense,” Robertson said. I knew that they were going to play a certain way, so we just tried to find openings.
“Siena’s identity is kinda bruising basketball. They’re going to try and outrebound you. They’re going to put shots up and go hard to the glass which they did. We just tried to echo that.”
Robertson’s early effort represented what was to come as the blue and gold showed their ability to break down an opponent with a varied approach. The Griffs continued their recent success from long range. At the same time they attacked the paint off the dribble and used the low post when it was open.
They scored early in the shot clock. They scored late. They ran ball screens and kept Siena’s man-to-man defense off-balance with a flurry of back door cuts from every spot on the floor. When the Saints went zone, Canisius had yet another answer.
“We wanted to be able to improve on that, and we wanted to be efficient when we see a change in defense particularly if it’s coming after we’ve done some pretty good thing against man-to-man defense we really need to lock in and be efficient,” Witherspoon explained. “We were a little bit better at that today. But that’s happened probably every game for I don’t know how long. It’s happened where we got in rhythm offensively and teams change to a zone. Our hope is the more we see the more comfortable we get with it.”
The Griffs’ defense also took four charges and forced 13 turnovers which they converted into 15 points.
“The other thing that doesn’t ever show up on a stat sheet is the charges we took, especially down the stretch,” Witherspoon noted. “That’s so important for us. It was really big for us to be able to protect that basket when we needed to get some stops.”
Foley connected on both of his attempts from behind the arc in the first half and led Canisius which hit 10 of 28 from long range.
“The first couple games of the season it was like it’s just a different level,” said the freshman who hit five of seven from long range Monday afternoon. “I’m just getting used to it more. I’m just finding my rhythm and just making shots.”
Canisius outscored Siena (4-10/1-2) 30 to 6 from behind the arc. Every one of those treys was needed as the Saints finished with advantages on second-chance points (20-8) and points in the paint (52-32).
“They’re not just big and strong, they’re experienced and they’re good players,” Witherspoon said of Siena. “It was definitely a challenge for us.
“While they certainly hurt us around the basket, I think that we were able to put them in some uncomfortable situations as well. Just from a standpoint of moving the ball and the ball changing and the court turning over. We got some good looks at the basket. I think it was sort of a battle of those sorts of styles of play.”
Despite being outrebounded 41-32, Canisius (9-5/2-1) won its sixth straight. The longest streak in program history since the 1998-99 season.
“We just kept battling and kept battling and kept battling,” Witherspoon commented. “We’ve gotten better. The more we battle, the better we play. For instance, today we got outrebounded by nine rebounds. That’s not what we aimed for, but it didn’t deflate us. Whereas I think earlier in the season it may deflated, and it would have affected everything else we did.”
The Golden Griffins have won eight of nine and have not lost since a six-point setback at Monmouth on December 4th. Of the five losses, three came by single digits including a pair of three-point defeats.
“We’re on a roll right now, and the game’s all about ups and downs,” Robertson said. “When we hit a down spot, we got to stay positive. That’s what I’m anticipating. Like coach said ‘we can’t get deflated.’ We might find ourselves down 10 points in a game. We’ve been up probably for the last three games most of the game. I hope it keeps rolling like that.”
Jermaine Crumpton scored 16 for Canisius. Phil Valenti added 10 points with a team-high five assists. The Griffs handed out 19 helpers on 30 made field goals.
Canisius scored on 37 of 74 possessions and averaged 1.108 points per possession.
Despite playing the last 12 minutes of the game with four fouls, Siena big man Javion Ogunyemi scored 19 on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor. Brett Bisping, who fouled out with 2:45 to go, added 17 on 8-of-12 shooting as well to go with a game-high nine rebounds. Marquis Wright chipped with 15 points and a game high seven assists. Nico Clareth had 10 points. Siena starter Lavon Long fouled out with 4:30 to play. The senior scored eight points in 24 minutes.
Canisius hosts Quinnipiac on Wednesday. The Bobcats, which lead the MAAC and are 24th in the nation with 13.75 offensive rebounds per game, will continue to challenge the Griffs at the rim. A 7 pm tipoff time is scheduled.
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