2024 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championships Digital Program

2023–24 CANISIUS MEN’S & WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

®

PLAYER TO WATCH This season, Eleko currently leads the MAAC in double-doubles, total rebounds, defensive rebounds and rebounds per game. Last season, Eleko was a MAAC All-Rookie Team Selection, appearing in 29 games making 24 starts. She averaged a team-best 5.7 rebounds while chipping in 8.6 points. The Canisius forward was named MAAC Rookie of the Week on six occasions (Dec. 19, Dec. 26, Jan. 2, Feb. 20, Feb. 27, March 6), tying Amanda Cavo for the program record. Eleko finished the year ranked 10th in the MAAC for field goal percentage (.442). Eleko notched a team-best three double-doubles (Jan. 14 at Mount St. Mary’s, Feb. 25 at Iona and March 7 vs Mount St. Mary’s) and shot .442 (96-of-217) from the floor as a freshman, good for first on the team with a minimum of 100 shots attempted. NOTABLE ALUMNI Keia Clarke is Chief Executive Officer of the New York Liberty, where she leads all business aspects of the Liberty organization including oversight, business operations, and strategic planning. Clarke works with stakeholders on key elements of team business such as growing the fan base and fan engagement through optimizing business performance. Clarke successfully guided the Liberty’s transition to Barclays Center ahead of the 2021 season and oversaw the team during their WNBA finals run this past season against the Las Vegas Aces. Clarke will enter her 14 th season with New York, having also served as the Liberty’s Vice President for Team Business Development, Director of Marketing, and Marketing Manager. This summer, the Canisius women’s basketball team was able to take a trip to NYC to see a Liberty game and got to meet and speak with Clarke about her career.

QUICK FACTS LOCATION BUFFALO, NY NICKNAME GOLDEN GRIFFINS COLORS BLUE AND GOLD YEAR FOUNDED 1870 PRESIDENT STEVE K. STOUTE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR BILL MAHER HOME ARENA KOESSLER ATHLETIC CENTER (2,196)

MEN’S ROSTER

WOMEN’S ROSTER

No.

Name

Cl.

Pos.

Ht.

Wt.

Hometown/High School/Previous School

No.

Name

Cl.

Pos.

Ht.

Hometown/High School/Previous School

0 1 2 3 4 5

Tre Dinkins

Jr.

G 6-2 180 Chester, Pa./Cardinal O’Hara/Harcum Junior College G 6-3 180 Los Angeles, Calif./Narbonne/TMG Prep Academy

0 1 2 3 5

Saige Randolph

G 5-5 Fr. G 5-7 Fr. G 5-5 Sr. G/F 6-0 So.

Albany, N.Y./Albany Academy for Girls

Devean Williams

So.

Mary Copple

Brighton, Mich./Brighton

TJ Porter

Jr.

F

6-8 215 Atlanta, Ga./Grayson/Georgia Highlands College

Mackenzie Amalia

Beaver Falls, Pa./Robert Morris

Cam Palesse

So. So.

G 6-5 195 Waukesha, Wisc./Waukesha West/Valparaiso

Brooklyn Thrash

Wayne, Ohio/Elmwood

Youri Fritz

F

6-9 190 Tiel, Netherlands/Leidsche Rijn College

Athina Lexa

G 5-9 Jr.

Thessaloniki, Greece/Hellenic College

Siem Uijtendaal

Sr.

G 6-6 185 Haarlem, Netherlands/BC Apollo Amsterdam

10 11 13 14 20 22 23 34 45

Giana Hernandez-Boulden F

6-0 Sr.

Hamilton, N.J./Rhode Island

11 12 15 21 23 25 32 33 44

Davon Ware

Gr. G 5-10 170 Buffalo, N.Y./Niagara Wheatfield/Bryant & Stratton Buffalo

Grace Heeps

G 5-11 Gr. G 5-9 Jr.

East Greenbush, N.Y./UAlbany

Bryce Okpoh

Sr.

G 6-7 190 Dallas, Texas/The Colony/Clarendon Comm. College

Xanthippi Karatasiou

Katerini, Greece/High School of Kontariotissa Montreal, Quebec/New Hope Academy New Rochelle, N.Y./Vermont Highland, N.Y./Loyola (Md.) Philadelphia, N.Y./Indian River Johnstown, Ohio/Newark Catholic

Joe Jones III TJ Gadsden Frank Mitchell

Gr.

F

6-10 230 Buffalo, N.Y./Orangeville Prep/Georgia State

Sisi Eleko

F

6-2 So.

Jr. Jr. Jr.

G 6-7 195 New York, N.Y./St. Andrew’s Episcopal/George Mason

Jane McCauley

G 5-9 Gr. G 5-7 Gr.

F F F

6-8 240 Toronto, Ontario/Oakville Prep/Humber College

Bri Rozzi

Xzavier Long

6-7 190 Washington, D.C./Virginia Academy

Adrien LaMora

F F F

5-11 So. 6-3 Fr. 6-0 Gr.

PLAYER TO WATCH One of two players ranked among the top-10 in the MAAC in both scoring average and assists per game average, Canisius junior Tre Dinkins has had a breakout season in 2023-24. After playing in all 30 games during the 2022-23 season, where he averaged 5.9 points per game, Dinkins has asserted himself as one of the top scoring threats in the MAAC this season. On Jan. 7, he scored a career-high 30 points at Rider, making him just the sixth Canisius player to score 30-or more points in a MAAC road game in the last 20 seasons. One of the top-50 3-point shooters in the nation this season, Dinkins is closing in on 100-plus career 3-point makes. Moved to the team’s primary point guard role in mid-November, Dinkins ranks among the league’s leaders in assists per game average. On three occasions this season, he has been good for a career best eight assists. NOTABLE ALUMNI One of only three Canisius players to exceed 1,400 career points and 800-plus career rebounds, Darren Fenn was enshrined into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. A two-time All-MAAC honoree, Fenn is the last Canisius men’s player to average a double-double for the season, as he closed out the 1999-00 campaign averaging 17.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per contest. After graduating from Canisius, Fenn played professionally overseas for 14 years. Since retiring as a player, Fenn has returned to his native Western New York where currently owns and serves as the head trainer at WNY Premier Basketball Training.

Maji David-Maji Nicco DiGiulio Tahj Staveskie

So.

6-5 245 Kogi, Nigeria/Day Waterman/Erie Community College

Chloe Chard Peloquin

Fr.

G 5-10 155 Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South

Tihanna Fulton

Mason, Ohio/Miami (Ohio)

So.

G 6-0 165 Sandusky, Ohio/Sandusky/SPIRE Institute

Head Coach: Sahar Nusseibeh (American ‘09) – Third Season at Canisius Defensive Coordinator: Krista Beechy (Grove City ‘10) – First Season in Current Role, Third at Canisius Assistant Coach: Shareese Ulis-McBrayer (Cincinnati ‘11) – Second Season at Canisius, Meg Cunningham (West Chester ’17) – First Season at Canisius Director of Basketball Operations: Ja’Kye Womack (Canisius ’23) – First Season at Canisius Athletic Trainer: Andie Hill (California University of Pennsylvania ‘20) – First Season at Canisius

Head Coach: Reggie Witherspoon (Empire State, ’95) – Eighth Season at Canisius, Twenty-Second Season Overall Assistant Coach: Chris Hawkins (Radford, ’92) – Eigth Season at Canisius , Thurman Schaetzle (Mercyhurst, ’11) – Sixth Season at Canisius, Gravelle Craig (Cleveland State, ’99) – First Season at Canisius Graduate Assistant Manager: Jasper Torres (Canisius, ’23) – First Season at Canisius Volunteer Assistant Manager: Quinn Imiola (Canisius, ’22) – Second Season at Canisius Athletic Trainer: Adam Mourgas (Canisius, ’17) – Second Season at Canisius Student Managers: JayQuan Anderson ’24, Brandon DuFour ‘26, Ryan Jubulis ’25, Evan Flurie ‘27

HEAD COACH REGGIE WITHERSPOON A native of Buffalo, Reggie Witherspoon was named the 24 th head coach in Canisius program history on May 28, 2016. Since taking over the program prior to the start of the 2016-17 campaign, Witherspoon has guided the Golden Griffins to a winning record in MAAC play three times, highlighted by the 2017-18 squad which won a school-record 15 league games. He entered the 2023-24 campaign as the second-longest tenured MAAC head coach at his current school, trailing only Rider's Kevin Baggett in that category. In his eighth season as the head coach of Canisius, Witherspoon ranks in the top-five on the school’s career wins list with more than 100 victories to his credit. On Jan. 26, Witherspoon reached the 300-career win milestone, and that victory also served as his 68th career MAAC regular-season win, which ranks him first all-time in the school’s record book. His 2017-18 team won a MAAC regular-season championship and the Griffs have made two national postseason appearances under his direction. Additionally, 10 different Canisius players have earned All-MAAC honors in the last eight years, and he directly recruited eight of those student-athletes to Canisius.

HEAD COACH SAHAR NUSSEIBEH Sahar Nusseibeh (pronounced new-SAY-bay) enters her third season as the head coach of the Canisius women’s basketball program. Nusseibeh was officially named the 10th head coach in program history on July 23, 2021. A long-time assistant coach with 12 years of Division I coaching experience, Nusseibeh took over the Canisius program after spending the previous two seasons at Miami University where she also held the title of defensive coordinator. During her second season at the helm, Nusseibeh helped Canisius earn two all-conference accolades as Dani Haskell was named to the All-MAAC Third Team and Sisi Eleko was tabbed to the All-MAAC Rookie Team. In her first season on Main Street, Nusseibeh led the squad to a MAAC Women’s Basketball Championship opening round win, becoming the first No. 11 seed to win a game in the tournament’s history. Two Golden Griffins also received all-conference accolades with Dani Haskell and Athina Lexa. Individually, freshman Rhay Porter’s 43 blocks on the year were the most by a Canisius freshman in the Division I era.

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2024 | HERCULES TIRES MAAC MEN’S & WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 37