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Canisius University Athletics

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Youri Fritz drives to the basket in a home game against Robert Morris on Dec. 6, 2023.
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62
Canisius Canis 12-17,7-12 MAAC
74
Winner Fairfield Fairf 19-11,13-6 MAAC
Canisius Canis
12-17,7-12 MAAC
62
Final
74
Fairfield Fairf
19-11,13-6 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Canisius Canis 22 40 62
Fairfield Fairf 31 43 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Fairfield Fires Past Men’s Basketball

Fairfield guard Brycen Goodine scored a game-high 37 points, highlighted by seven 3-point field goals, to lead the host Stags to a 74-62 win over Canisius in MAAC men's basketball action Thursday night in Leo D. Mahoney Arena in Fairfield, Conn.
 
The win improved Fairfield to 19-11 overall and 13-6 in MAAC play, while the Golden Griffins slipped to 12-17 overall and 7-12 in conference games after dropping their second-straight contest.
 
Four Griffs recorded double-figures in the scoring column in the loss, led by junior Frank Mitchell, who registered a team-high 12 points to go with 11 rebounds for his MAAC-leading 14th double-double performance of the season. Sophomores Youri Fritz and Devean Williams each scored 11 points in the losing effort, while Tre Dinkins chipped in 10 points. Sophomore Cam Palesse grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds for the Griffs, who ended the night out-rebounding the Stags by a 41-31 count.
 
Goodine ended his night by shooting 14-for-19 from the field and 7-for-11 from behind the 3-point arc in the win, Fairfield's 10th victory at home this year. Caleb Fields added 17 points and five rebounds, while Jalen Leach posted eight points, a game-high seven assists and three steals for the Stags, who shot 47.5 percent from the field and 40.0 percent (10-for-25) from 3-point land on the evening.
 
GAME RECAP
Trailing 24-16 with 5:23 left to play in the first half, Canisius trimmed Fairfield's lead to just three points at 24-21 with 3:16 left in the opening half after Fritz completed a traditional three-point play. That would be as close as the Griffs would get on the night, however, as Fairfield outscored Canisius 7-1 over the final 2:30 of the first half to send the Stags into the locker room up 31-22 at intermission.
 
In the second half, Canisius trimmed Fairfield's advantage to 38-32 with 15:36 left to play after Williams hit a pull-up jumper in the paint, but a 7-0 run by Fairfield, fueled by five-straight points from Goodine, stretched the Fairfield lead back to 13 points at 45-32 with 13:45 left on the game clock.
 
HEAD COACH REGGIE WITHERPSPOON'S POSTGAME COMMENTS
"No doubt, we got tired tonight. We like to play games where we score in the 70s, but the weapons we need to help us do that were not on the floor tonight. We were fine for a while, and I thought I thought the guys that played gave us pretty good effort, but Fairfield just kept coming at us and we got fatigued both physically and then mentally at times."
 
"We talked about our need to rebound, and we talked about how we needed to be good on the offensive glass. And while we had 16 offensive rebounds, we knew that they were going to collapse and we needed to be ready to kick the ball out and get good shots. On the other side of that effort, we knew Fairfield was going to let us go to the offensive glass and look to run out on us, which they did. As the game wore on, they were able to get out in transition and score and we just didn't have the ability to slow them down."
 
"With our current roster situation, it is extremely difficult to execute what we've been working on since the summer time. We have guys playing in positions that they don't normally play, in some cases, they've never played in those spots in a live-game situation ever. And when you're out there and working so hard and having to think about where to be, and where to move to next, you get tired faster because now it's a drain on you mentally and physically. It's really challenging to say the least. I thought we had a few mental breakdowns and our effort dipped for like 5:00 midway through the second half because we were getting tired, but I think the last 5:00 or so, our guys showed some fight and just kept working hard."
 
GAME NOTES
• Thursday was the 97th all-time meeting between these two Jesuit schools. Fairfield swept Canisius in the regular-season this year, and now leads the series 56-41.
• Thursday's game, which was broadcast live on ESPNU, marked Canisius' first game on the network since March 1, 2019.
• As a team, Canisius went just 4-for-22 from 3-point land in the loss. The Griffs have now made a 3-point field goal in 892 consecutive games, dating back to the 1994-95 season.
• Mitchell's 14 double-doubles this season are the most for a Canisius player in a single-season since former Griff Darren Fenn had 18 double-double games during the 1999-00 campaign.
• Mitchell's 11 rebounds Thursday gives him 316 for the season, which ranks as the fifth-most in a single-season for a Griff in program history.
• Dinkins extended his stretch of scoring in double-figures to seven-straight games.
• Graduate student Davon Ware scored a career-high six points off the bench.
• Senior Bryce Okpoh made his first start of the season, and he matched a career-high with 32:00 played.
• Canisius was without the services of senior Siem Uijtendaal (concussion protocol) and junior TJ Gadsden (lower body). Gadsden was injured at the end of the team's practice on March 5, and will miss the remainder of the season.
 
UP NEXT
Canisius will close out the 2023-24 regular season on Saturday afternoon when the team plays at Manhattan. Game time is set for 4 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The Griffs' radio call can be heard for free through the Golden Griffin Broadcast Network on GoGriffs.com and the Varsity Network app, with the M&T Bank Pregame Show set to start at 3:40 p.m.
 
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