St. Joe's topples Canisius 54-42
- Jerry Sullivan
- 6 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Liam Horan was asked if he could remember playing a half of basketball like he did against Canisius on Friday night.
“Freshman year of JVs, probably.” Horan said with a big smile.
Suffice it to say, Horan had never had this sort of performance in a game of this magnitude. The St. Joe’s senior had the night of his life on the sport's biggest stage, scoring 19 of his 21 points in the second half as the Marauders beat Canisius, 54-42, in the latest installment of Buffalo’s fondest high school hoop rivalry.
Horan essentially took over the game as St. Joe’s shrugged off a sloppy first half and took down the No. 1-ranked large school in Western New York. St. Joe’s, which came in ranked second in the Centercourt poll, won its seventh straight game and handed the Crusaders — who beat the Marauders in overtime last March for the Manhattan Cup — their first loss of the year against a local foe.
“Liam was great,” said St. Joe’s head coach Cooper Calzonetti. “He was absolutely phenomenal. He’s always trying to figure out where he is, and tonight he showed it. He was absolutely great. I’m so proud of him. But it was a great team effort by us. We were down, it was ugly, but we found a way.”
‘Ugly’ sums up a first half that was reminiscent of the overtime in last year’s Monsignor Martin title game, when Canisius outscored Joe’s, 2-0, in the extra season. The offense in the first 16 minutes of Friday night’s showdown wasn’t much better. Canisius led, 19-16, after a first half filled with blocks, bricks and butchered half-court possessions.
To their credit, both teams played suffocating man-to-man defense before a typically raucous crowd in the bandbox on Kenmore Avenue. Twice, Canisius worked the ball around, only to see the shot clock expire before they attempted a shot. St. Joe’s didn’t make a basket outside five feet until Mike Schraufstetter’s three-pointer with 1:45 left in the half.
Horan didn’t score a point until the final minute of the first half. Whatever was said in that halftime locker room, he was a different player in the second half, determined to physically impose his will on the Canisius front line.
“I feel I’m a lot stronger than these guys,” Horan said. “I know my presence under the rim. I just made that known and got off the three-point line and was able to get under the rim and score there. I’m really happy. I’m proud of my strength, how it’s come. I got myself off the perimeter and was able to get under the basket and really use my strength there to score.”
Horan powered inside for the first basket of the third quarter. He made a three-point play on a putback. He scored inside again, giving him seven points in the first three minutes of the second half. A St. Joe’s team that scored seven points in the entire second quarter had a 13-2 run in the first five minutes of the third to take a 29-21 lead.
Canisius clawed back to within three after the third, but Horan took over again in the fourth, scoring eight straight points on a couple of cutbacks, a layup on a nice feed from Luke Cloen and a spinning hook in the lane. The Crusaders got back within four on a hoop by Jack Cullinan (11 points), but Horan scored twice more inside in the final two minutes and that was it for Canisius.
JJ Shanklin, the Marauders’ leading scorer on the season, had 12 points. But the night belonged to Horan and a suffocating St. Joe’s defense that made every half-court possession a struggle for the defending Monsignor Martin champs.
“I think we play well together,” Horan said. “We’re a good team. We’re young, but we’re mature for our ages. I’m really proud of our defensive game. We do not let teams get into their stuff and run all over us.”
St. Joe’s is 9-3, 5-0 in the Monsignor Martin. Canisius fell to 7-5, 3-1 in the league and will no doubt fall out of the top spot in the large-school poll. The rivals meet again on Feb. 10 at Canisius, and it would not be a surprise to see them play in early March for the Catholic title, as they did a year ago.
Calzonetti said Friday’s win didn’t make up for last year’s loss in the league title game, by any means.
“No, it’s a new season,” Calzonetti said. “We’re two new teams, and we’re still trying to figure it out. When we play them again, they’re going to be a totally different team. Kyle (Husband) is an unbelievable coach. Canisius and Joe’s on a Friday night, the best rivalry in Western New York!”