By Andrew Nowel, Sports Reporter
12 days ago, Main Street fell silent as Niagara took control of the Grand Island Bridge. With a rematch set in Lewiston on Tuesday, the Canisius men’s basketball team was ready to turn the purple to blue and gold on a snowy night in Western New York.
The team’s heartbreaking 64–63 loss to the Purple Eagles at the end of January was game three of what has turned into a five-game losing streak entering their rematch against Niagara.
Canisius came out with a want-to-win attitude early in the first half, jumping to a 5–2 lead. However, this early lead wouldn’t hold for long, as the Purple Eagles took a lead at 9–7 and held it for the better part of the half. Junior forward Gianni Thompson led the way on the offensive side in the first half for the Griffs, ending the half with a team-leading 13 points.
At the halfway mark of the first half, Thompson knocked down his third 3-point shot of the game, and yelled in the direction of the Niagara bench, earning himself a technical foul. The Purple Eagles scored four points with the two free throws and the possession from that technical, taking a tie game back to a four-point lead for Niagara. Canisius battled back to keep the score within three, but a late foul on the final play of the half gave Niagara a 36–31 halftime lead.
“I was happy and proud of the focus and the way that our guys competed tonight,” said Coach Christian when asked about playing from behind the majority of the game.
Continuing their momentum from the final play of the first half, the Purple Eagles built a 10-point lead five minutes into the second half. The Griffs were able to bring the lead back within reach, but foul trouble gave Canisius a major problem with gameplanning in the final minutes. Four different players had four fouls in the final five minutes of the game. Thompson, who led the Griffs with 17 points, earned his fourth foul in the early stages of the second half.
“We played a lot of zone, and we have to play smarter, especially when we have six guys against their 10,” said Coach Christian. “Gianni got one 15 seconds into the second half, so we gotta learn from that and not pick up early fouls, especially because he had a really, really good game.”
As the final buzzer sounded at the Gallagher Center, the Purple Eagles left the court victorious with 71–60 on the scoreboard. Though the score wasn’t a fully accurate representation of the game, Coach Christian commented about needing to “finish the game.”
Niagara head coach Greg Paulus was proud of the way his guys fought to win the rivalry game. “I’m really proud of this group; different guys stepping up at different times,” commented Coach Paulus. “We grew a lot in this one. We’re not a finished product, but I’ve seen some growth and habits in our practices that we can build on when we play our fourth game in eight days on Friday night.”
With the Purple Eagles hosting Mount St. Mary’s on Friday, Canisius will need to win on Sunday against the Mountaineers to keep their Atlantic City hopes alive. With seven games remaining on the schedule, both teams are fighting for every win, and the opportunity to earn a trip to March Madness.
Photo courtesy of Andrew Nowel