Courtesy of GoGriffs.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Iona shot 64.7 percent from the field and made 46.7 percent of its shots from 3-point land, as the visiting Gaels took down Canisius 80-59 in MAAC men’s basketball action Friday night at the Koessler Athletic Center. The win, Iona’s fourth straight, improved the Gaels to 17-7 overall and 10-3 in MAAC play, while the Golden Griffins fell to 5-18 overall and 3-11 in league action with the defeat.
Iona guard Walter Clayton Jr., was one of three Iona players with double-figures in the scoring column after he posted a team-high 19 points. Osborn Shema was good for 16 points and six rebounds, while Nelly Junior Joseph chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds in the winning effort. Berrick JeanLouis added eight points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals to Iona’s cause, as the Gaels extended their win streak over the Griffs to nine straight, dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.
For Canisius, redshirt-freshman Tahj Staveskie scored a career-high 26 points after he went 9-for-16 from the floor, 3-for-5 from 3-point land and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in 36 minutes of action. The Sandusky, Ohio, native also grabbed four rebounds to go with three assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Graduate student Jamir Moultrie added 11 points off the bench and sophomore Xzavier Long scored nine points to go with six boards, as the Griffs shot 37.7 percent from the field, 31.6 percent from 3-point land and 86.7 percent from the free-throw line in the losing effort.
Iona raced out to an early 10-0 lead just 5:16 into the contest with Junior Joseph and Clayton Jr., accounting for all 10 of those points. From there, Staveskie got hot for the Blue and Gold, scoring 11 of the Griffs’ first 13 points in the span of 3:02 to give the home team a 13-10 lead with 12:50 remaining in the opening stanza. With the game knotted at 15-15 midway through the first half, Iona scored the contest’s next nine points to take a 24-15 lead with 9:25 remaining before halftime.
The Gaels led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but a 6-0 scoring surge right before intermission sent the teams into the locker room with Iona leading 40-33. Canisius scored four of the first six points in the second half to trim the Gaels’ cushion to 42-37 with 17:54 left to play, but Iona put its foot down with an 11-0 run over the game’s next 3:02 to make the score 53-37 in favor of the visiting team. Iona shot 69.6 percent (16-for-23) from the field in the game’s final 20 minutes, with three of those 16 field goals coming from behind the 3-point arc.
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