He might want to add one more adjective to his resume.

How does “Mr. Clutch” sound?

The senior guard poured in 19 second-half points, including three free throws with one second remaining, to send the Crusaders to a 54-51 nonleague victory over Jamestown on Monday night at McElrath Gymnasium.

The win improved Canisius, the 27th-ranked Class A team in the state, to 9-4 on the season, while the Red Raiders, ranked No. 16 in Class AA, fell to 9-2.

Jamestown’s Jaydian Johnson is closely guarded by Luke Granto of Canisius during Monday night’s nonleague basketball game at McElrath Gymnasium. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Crusaders coach Kyle Husband couldn’t say enough good things about Granto.

“He is our senior leader” Husband said. ” … His work ethic, consistency and leadership goes unnoticed day in and day out. In the first half, he scored zero points, (but) he never took a bad shot, it never bothered him, he never wavered and then when it mattered, he scored 19 in the second half. … He’s a stud. He’s great.”

Granto was especially lethal in the final two minutes, drilling a pair of 3-pointers, the last with 1:07 remaining to give Canisius a 49-47 lead. Jamestown’s Trey Drake tied the game with a bucket from the low post 25 seconds later and then, after a Crusaders’ turnover, converted a pair of free throws after he was fouled with 8.6 seconds left to put the hosts in front 51-49.

All the Red Raiders needed was a defensive stop to win their sixth straight game.

They didn’t get it.

Granto was fouled on his 3-point attempt from in front of the Canisius bench with a second remaining and calmly drained all three charity tosses. After a Jamestown turnover on its ensuing inbounds pass, it was forced to foul and Jahyden Clark converted two more free throws to give the Crusaders an impressive road win.

For Jamestown coach Ben Drake, he felt like the Red Raiders let one get away.

“I’m hugely disappointed at this moment in time with losing,” he said, “because we had the game won.”

In addition to fouling Granto with a second left, Jamestown missed the front end of three 1-and-1s in the fourth quarter and failed to convert a layup that would have extended the lead to six points with about two minutes remaining. Granto then hit the back-breaking treys in what was a prelude to the dramatic finish.

In addition to Granto’s 19 points, Shane Cercone added 16, which was 14 below his average.

“Jamestown did a phenomenal job with the game plan to slow (Cercone) down,” Husband said. “People have tried it, but it just hasn’t worked. It’s the first time he’s scored under 20 in a game that wasn’t a blowout. (Jamestown) has the athletes, the size and the game plan.”

Trey Drake paced Jamestown with 22 points and Sean Paige added 12 — nine of which came in the fourth quarter.

“Overall, we played really, really hard, and defensively I thought we executed our game plan (with the matchup zone defense),” Coach Drake said. “We had a few breakdowns and those breakdowns are when (Granto) knocked down those 3s. … He’s a good player, he has a smooth shot.”

Both Husband and Coach Drake agreed the matchup between two of Western New York’s top programs was good for both.

“We’ve played Jamestown throughout the years and we’ve had some good teams,” Husband said. “It’s not always easy to get a Section VI team to play us, and Ben always has and we’ve never played here. I felt I owed him a trip, so here we are. I’m glad we did it. It’s a great nonleague game for both teams. Win or lose, this is going to make both teams better down the stretch.”

NOTES: Canisius led 10-7 after the first quarter, 21-20 at halftime and 38-33 heading into the final period. … Bishop Butts grabbed six rebounds for the Red Raiders, who shot 16 of 42 from the field and 14 of 22 from the foul line. Canisius was 16 of 44 from the field and 18 of 21 from the charity stripe. … The Crusaders held a 30-26 rebounding edge and committed 16 turnovers compared to Jamestown’s 12. … The Red Raiders return to action Wednesday when they entertain West Seneca West in an Erie County Interscholastic Conference Division 1 game. The varsity game tips off at 7:30 p.m.

CANISIUS (54)

Benzer 3 0 6, Graber 0 2 2, Clark 2 2 2, Cercone 6 4 16, Purdie 0 4 4, Culllinan 0 0 0, Esposito 1 0 2, Granto 5 6 19, MacDonald 1 0 3, Totals 16 18 54.

JAMESTOWN (51)

Melendez 0 1 1, Paige 5 2 12, Brumagin 1 0 3, Freeney 1 0 2, Drake 6 7 22, Butts 1 1 3, Johnson 2 3 8, Totals 16 14 51.

3-point goals — Granto 3, MacDonald, Brumagin, Drake 3, Johnson.

Canisius 10 11 17 16 — 54

Jamestown 7 13 13 18 — 51