(Austin James throws one down for Canisius)

 

If you're like I am, you wondered just how good a Canisius team that started five underclassmen in nearly every game last season could look a season later.  On Friday night, one of the area's best teams in Williamsville South visited Delaware Avenue to test the senior laden Crusaders and everyone in attendance quickly found out, these guys are for real.

 

Canisius had its talent, depth, and outside shooting on full display in the season opener for both teams, rolling past the visiting Billies 80-51.  The Crusaders drilled 12 treys and got scoring from nine different players in the victory.

 

"Certainly when you can make that amount of shots it's going to look pretty good," Canisius coach Kyle Husband said.  "I thought we did a tremendous job for this early in the season of moving the ball and finding the open man."

 

Austin James (team-high 23 points) and Nick MacDonald (17 points) combined for six 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes that saw Canisius race out to a 27-13 lead and seemingly make every shot that went up.  James turned a steal into a slam at the other end in the game's early going, which only fueled the momentum the Crusaders were riding. 

 

The ball movement by Canisius was crisp and purposeful, allowing shooters to receive wide open looks that become near automatic.  Williamsville South coach Gabe Michael was well aware of who the shooters to contain were, but stopping them was easier said than done.

 

"We made some mistakes on MacDonald and James,"  Michael said.  "We knew they could knock those down and they did – that's a layup for them.  That's why we play these games – you've got to toughen up and stop them from getting those looks."

 

Jayce Johnson scored nine of his 13 points in the second quarter on slick moves to the rim after South had trimmed the Canisius lead to 31-20.  The Crusaders used a 16-3 run to close out the first half for a commanding 47-23 lead at the break.

 

MacDonald and James combined for three more treys in the third quarter, which opened with nine straight Canisius points for its largest lead of the game at 56-23.  Jason Martin came in in the fourth frame to splash two more from long range.

 

Greg Dolan finished with a game-high 25 points for South in the loss.  

 

Canisius     27 – 2- – 19 – 14 = 80

Will South  13 – 10 – 17 – 11 = 51

 

Point Totals

Canisius:  Austin James 23, Nick MacDonald 17, Jayce Johnson 13, Ryan Bradley 7, Jason Martin 6, Connor McCaffrey 6, Jon Evans 4, Joe Jamison 4 

Will South:  Greg Dolan 25, Mike DiGiulio 8, Cody Sanford 7, Robert Richards 5, Devin Degree 4, John Goetzmann 2

 

-centercourt