The Bison men’s basketball team lost a nail-biter against Canisius, 83-81, on Nov. 16. In a back-and-forth game that featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties, the Golden Griffins won on a last-second layup to put them ahead.

The Bison led the game 39-38 at the end of the first half, hitting eight three-pointers. These three-pointers came from several different contributors, including Avi Toomer ’20 who went three for five, and John Meeks ’21 who hit two. Toomer had a career-high 20 points in his season debut after missing the first few games due to injury.

The second half proved to be as wild as the first. Canisius came out hot and took the lead after scoring the first seven points of the half. However, a layup and a three-pointer from Jimmy Sotos ’21 started a Bison 10-2 run that allowed them to regain the lead. Meeks went on to put the Orange and Blue up 67-63 with 5:45 left to play.

The score stayed within one possession for the rest of the game after another three-pointer from Canisius. The Golden Griffins tied the game at 81. After a timeout, the Bison attempted one more drive but turned it over. Canisius then took a timeout with 5.6 seconds left, and got free for a layup that put them ahead to win the game.

“We beat ourselves up in the Canisius game with turnovers. We just have to be more careful and pay more attention to the little details,” Meeks said.

Scoring leaders for the game were Toomer with 20, Andrew Funk ’22 with 15, Meeks with 12 and Walter Ellis ’22 with nine. Meeks led the team in rebounds with nine, followed by Funk with seven, Bruce Moore ’20 with six and Toomer with five.

On Nov. 19, the Bison played another game on the road against Penn State, ultimately losing 98-70. The Bison only trailed by three points at halftime, 45-42. However, the Nittany Lions came out sharp in the second half, with several large runs that put the Bison behind.

Stat leaders for the game included Funk with 15 points, Moore with 14 points, Paul Newman ’21 and Sotos with 10 points each.

The Bison will look to regroup and improve on their 2-3 record with a road game against Syracuse on Nov. 23.