Dec. 8, 2006

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POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.-The Marist men's basketball squad used a balanced attack to down feisty Canisius 80-69 Friday evening at the McCann Center in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener for both schools. The Red Foxes also improved to 7-2 overall, while the Golden Griffins dropped to 2-5 overall.

The win snapped a three-game home losing streak for Marist against Canisius.

Marist senior point guard Jared Jordan (Hartford, Conn.) led the attack, notching 20 points, six assists and six rebounds. Redshirt junior forward Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio) also posted double figures (14), as did senior center James Smith (Nyack, N.Y.) and senior guard Will Whittington (Kingwood, Tx.) who each had 13, while junior forward Wilfred Benjamin tossed in 11 (St. Francis Village Erin, Trinidad). Jordan came into the contest leading the nation at 8.6 assists per game, after leading the country last season at 8.5.

Canisius was led by a career-high 27 points from Chuck Harris, while Frank Turner nearly had a triple double, registering 11 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Corey Herring also had 14 points for the Golden Griffins.

Stilphen also led Marist with nine rebounds, as the Red Foxes held a 46-33 advantage on the glass. Smith also led Marist with three blocks, while sophomore guard Gerald Carter (Harlem, N.Y.) had three steals.

The first half looked to be going Marist's way entirely as the Red Foxes quickly built a 12-point lead (26-14) at the 12:49 mark on a 3-pointer by Jordan. However, Canisius roared back on a 11-0 run over the next 3:27 to pull within one (26-25) on a 3-pointer by Harris with 9:22 remaining in the half. Harris had five first-half 3-pointers. The Red Foxes fired right back and pushed the advantage back out to nine (39-30) with 2:22 to play on a layup by Jordan.

Canisius battled valiantly throughout the second half, but could pull no closer than four several times, the least with 11:01 to go (55-51) on a layup by Menghe a'Nyam.