By Nick Veronica

Phil Valenti scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Canisius to a 64-50 win over Fairfield on Thursday, giving the Griffs their third straight conference win.

Canisius shot 48.1 percent from the field and led nearly the entire game while improving to 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the MAAC. Fairfield fell to 6-13, 4-5.

Canisius has a chance to sweep its second consecutive conference weekend on Saturday with a 7 p.m. game at Rider (12-8, 6-3).

Josiah Heath and Kassius Robertson added 11 points each for Canisius while Jamal Reynolds scored 10 and had eight rebounds. Marcus Gilbert led Fairfield with a game-high 18 points but was the only Stag in double-figures.

Zach Lewis, still marred in a season-long shooting slump, was 0-for-6 from the field and didn’t record a point until hitting a free throw with 45 seconds to play, although he did have five assists.

Canisius had 15 assists on 25 field goals.

“We can really pass the ball,” coach Jim Baron said during the postgame television interview. “It’s a very unselfish bunch of guys.

“We’re like junkyard dogs,” he added. “We call it ‘streetball.’ ”

Heath came out of the game after tweaking his left ankle with four minutes to go but the injury did not appear to be serious.

Bonnies come back for OT win

Marcus Posley scored 36 points as St. Bonaventure rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to beat Duquesne, 100-97, in overtime Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

Posley hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Jaylen Adams scored the go-ahead basket for the Bonnies in the final minute of overtime and followed it with two free throws that helped put the game away.

St. Bonaventure improved to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in the Atlantic 10 while Duquesne fell to 6-11, 1-5.

Youssou Ndoye had a double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Bonnies.

Six Dukes scored in double figures, led by 18 from Micah Mason and 17 from Derrick Colter.

St. Bonaventure travels to Rhode Island for a 2 p.m. Sunday contest.