Last-Second Shot Sends Canisius Past Bucknell, 83-81

Saturday, November 16

Buffalo, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

2-2

Canisius

1-2

Bucknell

Canisius

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Last-Second Shot Sends Canisius Past Bucknell, 83-81

11/16/2019 9:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Malik Johnson scored 27 points, but it was his backdoor feed to Jacco Fritz for a layup with eight-tenths of a second left that sent Canisius to an 83-81 victory over Bucknell on Saturday night at Koessler Athletic Center. Avi Toomer scored a career-high 20 points in his first action of the season for the Bison, who hit 15 3-pointers for a second straight game but could not overcome 24 turnovers.

It was a wild, fast-paced game that featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties. Six of those lead changes came in the final 1:45, starting with a Jimmy Sotos 3-pointer that gave the Bison a 76-74 lead.

Jordan Henderson followed with a 3-point play for Canisius before Toomer hit a pair of free throws after being fouled on a drive with 1:19 left. Johnson hit a deep 2-pointer, but a Bruce Moore offensive rebound led to an Andrew Funk go-ahead 3-pointer with 0:43 left. The Golden Griffins tied it at 81 on another long jumper by Johnson.

After a timeout, the Bison got the ball to Toomer, but he lost control of the ball as he was being ridden out by a hedging defender. Canisius took a timeout with 5.6 seconds left, and then Johnson found a cutting Fritz for the winning layup.

"Give Canisius a lot of credit for making plays when they needed them, but our defensive performance was very disappointing," said head coach Nathan Davis. "You can't go on the road and allow a good team to shoot 64 percent in the second half, and the 24 turnovers just added it to it. We did a lot of good things just to be in a position to win it at the end, and I don't want to lose sight of the fact that our guys hit some big shots too. We have a lot of work to do, but we have a lot to build on."

Now 2-2 on the season with the two losses coming by a combined five points, Bucknell built up advantages on the glass and from outside the 3-point arc. The Bison outrebounded Canisius 38-21, parlaying 17 offensive boards into 18 second-chance points.

After hitting 11 3-pointers in the second half and 15 overall in Wednesday's win over Hofstra, the Bison went 15-for-30 from downtown in this one. They were 7-for-12 in the second half and outscored the Golden Griffins 45-18 from the arc.

Bucknell shot 49.1 percent for the game but just could not get enough stops at the other end. Canisius, which was playing at home for the first time this season, made 18 of 28 shots in the second half (.643) and shot 59.6 percent for the game. Coming into the game, opponents were shooting just 37.6 percent against the Bison.

Toomer's 20-point night came in 21 minutes of action, after he had missed the first three games of the season due to injury. He went 6-for-10 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from long range, and hit five of his six free-throw attempts. He also had five rebounds and three assists.

Also in double figures in the scoring column were Funk with 15 points and John Meeks with 12 to go with a career-high nine rebounds. Walter Ellis went 3-for-5 from 3-point distance, making him 10-for-16 on the season, and scored nine points.

Despite leaving the game on two occasions due to leg cramps, Johnson went 11-for-17 from the field to lead all scorers with 27 points, and he added six assists and four steals. Henderson followed with 17 points and Fritz had 12 for Canisius (1-2).

Bucknell led 39-38 after a frenetic first half. The Bison started 6-for-10 and hit eight first-half threes. Toomer connected on back-to-back treys and then drove and kicked to Kahliel Spear for a left-corner three and a 17-16 lead. After Johnson answered with a trey for Canisius, Ellis hit two in a row, the second one from well beyond the arc in transition.

Meeks' second 3-pointer in a row gave Bucknell its largest lead of the first half, six points at 35-29. The Golden Griffins closed the half with a last-second tip-in by Jalanni White to pull within one.

Canisius scored the first seven points of the second half to retake the lead, but a transition layup and a 3-pointer from Sotos keyed a 10-2 run that put the Bison back on top. The margin moved to six after a Toomer three with 12:43 left before Canisius answered with back-to-back triples from Johnson and Henderson.

A left-wing jumper by Meeks gave Bucknell a 67-63 lead with 5:45 to go, but White finished a 3-point play at the other end, and the game was played within a single possession the rest of the way, with the lead changing hands eight more times.

Bucknell is back in action on Tuesday at Penn State. The 6:30 p.m. contest will be televised on the Big Ten Network.