The St. Francis College men’s basketball team rewarded the loyal crowd that braved the snowy weather over the weekend with a skid-snapping victory.
The Terriers used a big second-half run to secure a 67–51 win over visiting Canisius last Saturday afternoon, breaking a two-game losing-streak. Freshman guard Sheldon Hagagil led all scorers with 15 points for St. Francis. Sophomore Amdy Fall registered a career-high 11 points and junior guard Brent Jones delivered six points, eight assists and only one turnover.
St. Francis limited Canisius (6–4) to a season low in points and went on a 25–6 second half run to break open the game. The Terriers dominated in the paint, out-scoring the taller Golden Griffins 48–26 and out-rebounding 39–28.
“I’m just so proud of our guys,” said St. Francis coach Glenn Braica. “They had a will defensively, [working for] loose balls and rebounds.”
The Terriers (6–5) clearly focused on bottling up Canisius senior guard Billy Barron —son to Golden Griffins head coach Jim Barron — who came in averaging 20 points per game. A combination of Anthony White and Hagigal harassed Barron into a 4-of-15 shooting day while holding him to 11 points, nine below his average.
“They were physical, aggressive, [and] they outrebounded us,” Jim Barron said. “It just seemed like they wanted it more than us.”
Jones provided the spark the Terriers desperately needed, regularly breaking the Canisius press. He dished out seven first-half assists and numerous easy buckets for Jalen Cannon (eight points) and Fall putting St. Francis up 35–32 at the break.
“It was all about composure,” Jones said. “As a point guard you’re supposed to recognize that [pressure] and have a feel for it. Once I’m composed the team is composed.”
Hagigal finally snapped a St. Francis’ scoreless string in the second half with a put-back off of a missed Cannon jumper. Jones took it from there.
He picked up a loose ball at half court and went in for an uncontested bucket. Jones drove to the basket before threading a nifty pass to a streaking Aleksander Isailovic for another easy layup after a miss by Barron. A driving layup by Jones extended his team’s lead to five.
Then the Terriers really got rolling. A 15–4 run put St. Francis up by 60–44 with less than 6 minutes to play. Even though Jones spent the tail end of the spurt on the bench, it was his leadership that sparked the Terriers.
“He was terrific,” said Braica of his point guard. “I thought he changed the game, he just controlled the whole game.”
The game was a rude homecoming for Jim Barron, a Brooklyn native. He watched as both his son and his team struggled mightily to score in the second half with the game’s outcome in the balance.
“We missed too many easy layups,” Barron said. “They kept hanging around and then all of the sudden it didn’t fall for us and it fell for them.”
