Game No. 5 Canisius (3-1) at
Eastern Michigan (4-2) Date: Monday, November 30, 2009 Time: 7 p.m. Audio: Golden Griffin Broadcast
Network Talent: Jay Moran (p-x-p) and Derrick
Russell (color)
FAST BREAK POINTS
The Canisius College men's basketball
team returns to the road tonight to meet the Eastern Michigan Eagles.
The Golden Griffins enter tonight's
game on a three-game winning streak and are off to their first 3-1 start since
the 2002-03 season.
The three wins in the month of November are the most for the program since
2000-01.
Canisius' 70-54 win over Howard Nov. 28, improved the Griffs to 10-8 when
playing home openers in the Koessler Athletic Center.
Canisius junior Julius Coles scored a career-high 27 points in the
win over Howard, the second time this season and fourth time in his career he's
been good for 20-plus points in a game.
Coles leads the Griffs in scoring
average at 20.3 points per game.
Senior guard Frank Turner leads
the Griffs with 27 assists and has been credited with seven assist in three of
the team's first four games.
Turner was credited with five steals
against Howard Nov. 28, matching his career high, which he previously set Dec.
2, 2006 against Fairleigh Dickinson.
Coles, Turner and Greg Logins
have all posted double figures in the scoring column in each of the Blue and
Gold's first four contests this year.
Junior Tomas Vazquez-Simmons enters
tonight's contest with 144 career blocks, one shy of moving into third-place on
the school's career blocked shots list.
ABOUT THE EAGLES
Eastern Michigan is 4-2 on the season
after the team came back to defeat NAIA power Davenport 76-66.
The Eagles are led by junior forward Brandon Bowdry,
who is averaging 19.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
EMU has three players averaging in double
figures, with Justin Dobbins (13.4) and Carlos Medlock
(12.0) helping lead the Eagles' offense.
As a team, Eastern Michigan is
averaging 72.7 points per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field.
The Eagles are playing their second
home game of the season tonight.
CANISIUS - EASTERN MICHIGAN SERIES
This marks the second time these two
schools have met, and the first since the 2004-05 campaign.
Eastern Michigan defeated Canisius
86-72 in the Convocation Center thanks to 25 points by former Eagle forward
Markus Austin.
The Griffs and the Eagles have never
played a game in Buffalo, N.Y.
CANISIUS vs. MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
Canisius is 48-32 all-time against
schools from the Mid-American Conference.
The Griffs have played more games
against Buffalo (42) than any other current member of this conference.
The Blue and Gold is 1-0 against MAC
schools this year, having defeated Buffalo 73-71 Nov. 24.
Canisius is also scheduled to meet MAC
member Bowling Green this year in a return of last year's ESPN BracketBuster
game.
Last season, Canisius was 1-2 against
MAC squads, defeating Bowling Green in overtime on the road.