“One, love of the game. He is someone that puts in the work, loves to put in the work and I think he’s only scratching the surface,” Husband said.

The junior guard lived up to that billing as he scored 20 points and consistently found open teammates to lead the Crusaders to a convincing 71-48 nonleague victory over Jamestown.

The win improved Canisius’ record to 3-1, while the Red & Green, who were playing their first game since losing at St. Joe’s two weeks ago, fell to 0-2.

“We scheduled these games, obviously, to challenge ourselves and to see what we need to do to, hopefully, win some games at the end of February and the beginning of March,” Jamestown head coach Billy Miley said. “They certainly showed us that we have to get a little bit tougher and a little bit stronger with the ball and, certainly, get a little better defensively to go beat the teams we want to compete with at the end (of the season).”

Jamestown’s Elijah Farmer puts up a shot in the lane over Canisius’ Jack Cullinan during Wednesday’s nonleague boys basketball game at McElrath Gymnasium in Jamestown. Photo courtesy of Steve Garvey

It didn’t take the Crusaders, who also received 15 points from TJ Askew, 12 from Darnell Galimore Jr. and 11 from Jack Cullinan, to feel comfortable at McElrath Gymnasium.

After Jamestown’s Dom Gonzalez opened the scoring with a layup in the first 35 seconds of the first quarter, Gill spearheaded a 19-2 Canisius run over the next five minutes.

By the end of the period, the Crusaders led 19-12, the gap closed only courtesy of a pair of 3-pointers by Gavin Johnson.

An 11-2 Red & Green run closed the deficit to 25-23 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half, but the Crusaders finished the second quarter by scoring the final eight points to take a 33-24 advantage into the locker room.

After the break, Jamestown got as close as 39-34 and 43-37 — thanks to three more 3-pointers by Johnson — but Gill scored 5 points and Askew drilled a trey to finish the period, pushing Canisius’ lead to 51-37.

The Red & Green didn’t get closer than 15 points the rest of the way, although Johnson, who nade six 3-pointers, finished with a game-high 22 points.

“He certainly can shoot it,” Miley said. “He knocked a couple down to keep us in it for a little while. We’re going to need more than one guy to win some games, especially against good teams like Canisius.”

Jamestown’s top-two returning scorers from last season’s state semifinal team, Gonzalez and Elijah Farmer, were limited to 12 and 9 points respectively.

“We had a lot of focus on Farmer and Gonzalez,” Husband said. “We did a nice job. … (It was a) great win, we played hard and we played tough. We just have to keep trying to get better. It’s fun, I’m glad we did it and we came here for the challenge, but we have a long road ahead of us.”

Meanwhile, the Red & Green return to action Saturday when they travel to Section V’s Rush-Henrietta, a team they beat in the Far West Regional last season.

“After a game like this, you can make excuses and point fingers or you can come back, get ready to work, improve on what we’ve seen, and I think we have the guys who are ready to do that,” Miley said.

NOTES: Canisius shot 28 of 45 from the floor, including 7 of 13 from 3-point range, and committed 10 turnovers. … Jamestown shot 17 of 45 from the floor, including 7 of 20 from the arc, held a 20-18 rebounding advantage and was guilty of 12 turnovers. … Johnson shot 6 of 12 from the arc. … In the junior varsity game, Canisius won 67-47. Blake Swanson led Jamestown with 12 points and six rebounds, and Ernie Alvira added 10 points.

CANISIUS (71)

Cullinan 5 0 11, Schuster 1 0 3, Jones 2 2 6, Gill 9 0 20, Frederick 2 0 4, Galimore Jr. 4 4 12, Badger 0 0 0, Cosgrove 0 0 0, Askew 5 2 15. Totals 28 8 71.

JAMESTOWN (48)

Farmer 2 5 9, Gonzalez 5 1 12, Johnson 8 0 22, Thagard 1 1 3, Barr 0 0 0, Brown 0 0 0, Salvaggio 0 0 0, Mims 0 0 0, Spencer 1 0 2, KarMilne 0 0 0, KamMilne 0 0 0. Totals 17 7 48.

3-point goals–Cullinan, Schuster, Gill 2, Askew 3, Gonzalez, Johnson 6.

Canisius 19 14 18 20 — 71

Jamestown 12 12 13 11 — 48