CRUSADERS DEFEAT MARAUDERS IN COMEBACK FASHION

A game that was once in the hands of the St. Joe’s Marauders (9-3, 5-1) but ended in comeback fashion for the opposition saw the Canisius Crusaders (12-2, 6-0) emerge victorious by a 51-49 score.

It was a back-and-forth affair that Crusaders coach Kyle Husband was thankful to come out on the positive side of.

“It was a great basketball game,” Husband said. “I’m glad to be a part of it. Guys stepped up and made big plays in the fourth quarter, and today was about learning a little bit more about our team and trying to get better from here.”

The game between the two bitter rivals started off the same way it ended – as a slugfest. St. Joe’s began the contest with a 5-0 run before Nick Purdie went on a 7-0 run of his own. The Marauders answered back by outscoring them 11-4 to close the quarter. The second was more of the same, with Gary Alexander and Nate Blenman making big plays for the Marauders and Patrick and Jack Cullinan each making contributions for the Crusaders.

“We’ve had a lot of slow starts this year and I feel like that's like a big reason why we're always in a pickle at the end of games,” Purdie said. “We knew we had to come out hot, and we did.”

 When the third quarter rolled around, things got a bit chippy between the two sides as each team drew a pair of technical fouls. The two-point lead that the Marauders had at the half quickly turned into a 10-point stranglehold, as Blenman, Mekhi Gidney and Jaymeir Goosby each made crucial contributions.

To the uninitiated, it might have looked as if St. Joe’s might have been able to cruise away with a win. But Canisius then flipped a switch.  

“I think throughout the game, we had a lot of really good focus on what we wanted to do defensively,” Husband said. “I didn't think we were playing fast enough. Then we finally did that down the stretch and getting easy buckets was hard too, so we needed to get a few in transition.

“Being down by 10 late in the third was a tough spot and a little chaotic. But we’ve got a senior group that’s tough, and I knew we were going to make some plays eventually.”

By late in the fourth quarter, the Crusaders went on a seven-point run to pull within two. It was capped off by Jack Cullinan’s three-point shot with 2:09 to play, and then Cullinan was able to get a layup to tie the game with 41 seconds left.

The dagger was then driven in with three seconds to go when Purdie drilled a game-winning three-point shot from the corner to cap off a game-high 15 points for Canisius.

“We actually wanted to get (Purdie) going downhill – which he did – kicked it to Patrick Enright and then Patrick hit another gap,” Husband said. “All game, we were just talking about trying to play a little faster, getting downhill and making the right play. Those two seniors stepped up and made the right play at the end.”

“Cullinan got downhill and made the right read,” Purdie said. “He saw me in the corner, I was ready to shoot and it was open.”

The Marauders will face Williamsville South on Monday before a tough matchup with Bishop Timon on Saturday.

Photo Gallery Credit Emily Croisdale/WNYAthletics