By Mike Ferraro
POUGHKEEPSIE – The Marist men’s basketball team earned a 71-70 victory over Canisius on Saturday night in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at McCann Arena.
The Red Foxes came back from a 10-point deficit with 16 minutes to play as they won their second straight.
Neither team led by more than three points in a back-and-forth first half. A jumper by Malek Green beat the buzzer to give the Golden Griffins a 32-29 halftime lead.
Canisius’ Scott Hitchon scored the first five points of the second half. His three-pointer with 18:24 to play put the Golden Griffins up 37-29 and forced a Marist timeout.
Armon Harried’s basket with 16:07 to play gave Canisius the game’s largest lead at 41-31.
Jao Ituka’s basket tied the score at 53 with 8:22 to play, and Ricardo Wright’s jumper on the ensuing possession gave Marist its first second-half lead at 55-53 with 7:59 remaining.
Hitchon drained a three on the Golden Griffins’ next possession, but then Samkelo Cele’s three on the following trip down the floor gave the Red Foxes the lead for good.
Marist led by as much as six on two occasions, the last coming on an Ituka layup with 4:17 remaining.
Canisius scored the game’s final four points, and had the ball with a chance to win on the game’s final possession, but the Red Foxes got a stop to end the game.