Canisius falls a touch short again

By Budd Bailey

There hasn’t been a large amount of sunshine and warmth around Western New York. You may have noticed that.

The gloom might be a little more amplified in the Koessler Athletic Center these days.

Canisius put up a good fight but couldn’t close it out again, this time to Marist by a score of 88-86 in overtime. After opening the 2026 portion of the schedule with three straight wins, the Golden Griffins (8-14, 3-8 MAAC) have dropped six in a row in January. The last three of them have been by a combined total of 11 points.

It’s enough to make someone dive under the nearest electric blanket.

“We can’t battle any harder than we did,” Canisius coach Jim Christian said. “They did as well. They are a really good basketball team. We had our chances to win, even in the last three seconds. We battled right until then. I can’t fault our effort. We just needed better execution.”

If nothing else, Friday’s game was very interesting and very competitive. Marist (14-7, 8-4 MAAC) came into the game hoping to earn a win as the jockeying for seeding in the MAAC Tournament starts to heat up. Instead, the Red Foxes had to go through a game that was very two-sided in nature. Whenever one of the teams looked to be in trouble, it would summon some energy and climb back into striking distance. Forty-five minutes of that is quite a ride.

Canisius set the tone early, jumping out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes. The margin grew by a point when the score was 25-14 with nine minutes left in the half. But Marist woke up to score the game’s next 17 points. That’s quite a punch. Yet the Griffins had something in reserve to counter and get within two points (37-35) at halftime.

It was back and forth in the second half too. Canisius fell behind by 53-48, but a 12-5 run put the Griffs back in front. So it went through the final minutes, the lead flipping without any pattern. Finally, with 15 seconds left, Kahlil Singlton of Canisius completed a conventional three-point play to put his team up by a pair with 15 seconds left. And when Marist looked disorganized on its next possession and had to call a timeout to salvage a chance at a final shot with four seconds left, the Griffins could think good thoughts.

But Marist had a trick up its sleeve. Rhyjon Blackwell caught a lob pass off a high screen and laid it in for the game-tying points. “They ran an over-the-top play, and we just got beat on it,” Christian said.

The Red Foxes had the better of overtime, but a couple of five-second calls allowed Canisius one last chance at tying or winning in the final moments. That effort fell short.

“We didn’t execute the last play the way we wanted to,” Christian said. “It’s a learning experience for us.”

The Griffins’ offense had a nice, balanced night. Bryan Ndjonga had 21 points, Singleton added 20, and Javante Edwards supplied a career high 17. Three Marist players, including Blackwell, had at least 20 points.

This is a busy stretch for Canisius, with Siena coming in on Sunday followed by a trip to Niagara on Tuesday. The motto under the circumstances is one game at a time.

“I’m not worried about (the losing streak),” Christian said. “You can only do what you can do. We have guys out but we had guys play well tonight.”

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