Aurora, NY – Danny Santana and Andrew Fitch led the SUNY Canton men's basketball team as they opened their 2020-21 season with an 87-72 victory v. Wells College in an exhibition game Friday evening in Aurora.
 
THE BASICS

• Result: SUNY Canton 87, Wells 72
• Location: Farenthold Athletic Wing – Aurora, NY
• Records: SUNY Canton (0-0) | Wells (0-0)

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Santana paced the Roos with a team-high 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting, while Fitch tallied 14 points to go with game-bests of 16 rebounds and three blocks. The two-time North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Defensive Player of the Year also shot 6-for-8 from the field.
• Juztin Chambers-Phillips (13), DeMerrill Levy (12) and Quran DuBois (10) also scored in double figures for SUNY Canton, while Justin Omaga and Jake Hess tallied seven and six points, respectively, in their first games in a Canton uniform.
• SUNY Canton shot 55 percent from the field and 84 percent from the charity stripe in the contest.
• Ransel Rodriguez (23) and Jarek Feliz (21) led the Express as the lone scorer's in double figures.
• The Roos outscored Wells 22-14 in the paint and outrebounded the Express 35-30.
• Wells led 5-0 early but the Roos stormed back to take an 18-8 lead midway through the opening half. SUNY Canton took a 40-25 lead into intermission.
• SUNY Canton opened up a 20 point lead midway through the second half with their lead ballooning to as many as 23 on the way to the victory.

Note: Today's men's basketball contest was an exhibition and none of the statistics count towards career stats and the game is not considered a win/loss in each team's record and doesn't count in coaching records.

Today's game marks the first contest for any SUNY Canton varsity sports team in almost one year to the day (March 14, 2020) after play was halted last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 the State University of New York (SUNY) approved SUNY Canton along with five other SUNY schools to resume athletic competition. Click HERE to read that press release.

WHAT'S NEXT
The men's basketball team is scheduled to be back in action on Thursday when it visits Clarkson University at 3:30 p.m.
   

About SUNY Canton
SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and professional certificate programs. The college delivers quality hands-on programs in digital design, engineering technology, health, management and public service. Faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. As SUNY's leader in online education, SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as 21 online degree programs. The college placed first in 14 categories in a SUNY-Wide Student Opinion Survey, most notably in career services, tutoring, library resources, and classroom facilities. The college's 15 traditional athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division III level as part of the North Atlantic Conference. SUNY Canton also features varsity eSports and cheerleading. For more information, visit www.canton.edu.