Dreadful Canisius shoots ‘themselves in the foot’ against Bucknell

Lewisburg, PA – Too often, the simple things like turnovers and missed rebounds become the name of the game for many teams.

Canisius was no exception this afternoon in their 76-57 loss to the Bucknell Bison.

The Golden Griffins entered Sojka Arena coming off a 67-59 loss to Cornell on Wednesday… a loss that included 21 turnovers that Cornell converted into 25 points. Today told the same story, with 20 turnovers turning into 28 points for the Bison.

Bucknell head coach Aaron Roussell says those turnovers played a major factor in the outcome of the game.

“Those (turnovers) are huge. We haven’t been producing enough of them until today. That just credits how well our players have been looking at the scouting report on the defensive end. We said ‘let’s go force some action’, and we did. It was fun,” Roussell said.

The Bison kept the lead for the entirety of the game, but the Golden Griffins continuously brought the score back just close enough to put a Bucknell fan under stress before falling back behind.

“We’d close the score within five or six points, then shoot ourselves in the foot and turn the ball over and allow them to pull away again,” said Canisius head coach Terry Zeh.

The game differential continued to flow back and forth until a Bison 10-pt swing in the third quarter put the game out of reach for Canisius. Gia Hayes put up seven of the ten points while Ellie Mack sunk a shot clock buzzer beater to secure the lead.

“Ellie and I are roommates. We have a bond and trust each other on the court. That whole streak came from that trust and confidence in each other’s abilities,” said Hayes.

Junior guard Kyi English was on Canisius’ watch list from the start. Coach Zeh said his team knew that if she got going downhill, she’d be making big plays. That’s exactly what she did. English finished the game with 17 points, followed by Hayes who put up 10. English credits the team’s success to energy.

“We made sure we got in the passing lane, stayed on our toes and were getting over in help. Our energy overall created those turnovers for them. It created a key role,” English said.

A large part of the credit to this win also goes to the Bucknell bench, who contributed 26 of the team's points. Coach Roussell credits such a strong second string to the way his team practices and says the intensity of it has changed his team, and that he couldn’t be more proud of their new-found style of play that appeared today and in Wednesday’s 66-60 win against Youngstown State.

“I don’t know if there have been two more satisfying wins that I can remember. They just came together. These have been the most exciting games I’ve ever coached,” Roussell said.