POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - In an early season battle for a 2-0 mark in MAAC play, hot shooting from beyond the arch by the visiting Canisius Golden Griffins upended the Marist men's basketball team by a score of 94-82. Senior Devin Price (Inglewood, Calif.) spearheaded the Red Foxes' second half comeback attempt with a team-high of 25 points.
After Canisius opened the game with a 9-2 run over the first 3:11 of play, the Red Foxes would fight their way back with an 11-2 run of their own to take a one point lead at the 11:31 mark. Price led Marist during this span of action with six points on a pair of baskets and two made free throws.
Up by a five point margin at 23-18 with 7:06 left to play in the half and the Golden Griffins extended their lead to 19 with a 20-6 run over the next 5:55.
A late Devin Price jumper would cut the Red Foxes' deficit to 17 at 43-26 going into the locker room at the half.
Statistically, the story of the first half was an 8-0 advantage for Canisius in made three pointers and a 30-16 lead in total rebounds. The Golden Griffins' power forward Chris Manhertz had 13 individual rebounds.
In the second half, the action sped up exponentially as each team looked for more scoring opportunities in transition.
Faced with a 22-point deficit early on in the period, the Red Foxes would rattle off 10 unanswered points to bring the contest to within 12 by the 16:38 mark in the action. Again, Price was Marist's offensive leader as he netted six of his team's 10 points.
The lead would range between 17 and 11 and back up to 17 over the next seven minutes of play. Timely outside shooting by the Golden Griffins seemed to quell any mini-run that the Red Foxes would begin to establish.
Marist's final attempt to get back into the game came in the final five minutes of the second period. After two made free throws by sophomore Isaiah Morton (Vineland, N.J.) at 4:46 brought the score to 80-64, the Red Foxes would continue to cut into Canisius' lead at a 16-8 rate. Chavaughn Lewis (Queens, N.Y.) highlighted this three minute span with a rim-shaking dunk off of an intercepted pass and sprint out, as well as with a trey off of a Price assist. Junior Jay Bowie (Tampa, Fla.) added two three pointers to augment Lewis' offense.
With the score 88-80 with 1:49 in the half, the Golden Griffins held on by scoring six of the game's final eight points to make the final score 94-82.
In the prior 35 meetings between the two schools, this was the highest point total by the winning team, losing team and combined with 176. In the previous matchups, a 166-point combined total in Canisius' 85-81 victory in 2005 was the series high.
For the game, the Golden Griffins outshot Marist 43.5 (30-69) to 42.9 (27.63) from the field and 47.2 (17-36) to 32.0 (8-25) from three-point range. The Red Foxes' overall three-point percentage was helped dramatically with an 8-18 performance in the second half. As a team Marist scored 56 points in the second frame. On the glass, Canisius earned a 51-32 advantage on the strength of a career-high 18 rebounds by Manhertz.
Individually, Price led four Red Foxes in double digits with 25 points; Lewis added 18, while Bowie registered 14. Junior Adam Kemp (Sherrill, N.Y.) tallied his third double-double of the 2012-13 season with 10 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Morton added nine points and a team-high five assists.
Canisius improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in MAAC play to claim sole possession of first place, while Marist fell to 3-6 overall and 1-1 in the MAAC. After a week off for final exams, the Red Foxes will return to action next Sunday when they host Maine. Tip-off at McCann Arena is set for 2 p.m.
