ALBANY — Frank Turner has played 125 games at Canisius, the most of any player in

school history. Turner rarely leaves the court, so he has played the most minutes of any

Golden Griffin. So you can imagine how crushing it was for Turner to spend the last five

minutes of his career in the locker room, watching.

"It hurt watching my team for those last five minutes in the locker room," Turner said late

Saturday night after the Griffs lost to Fairfield, 67-57, in the MAAC Tournament

quarterfinals. "I sat in there thinking, "I never thought I would be in here watching my team

for the last five minutes of my career.' "

Yes, it was a bizarre and disappointing ending for Turner and the Griffs, who battled back

from a 21-point second-half deficit and seemed on the verge of pulling off a big upset when

Turner was ejected for hitting Fairfield freshman Derek Needham in the groin with 5:13 left

and the Griffs down by seven.

Turner had just driven the lane for a basket, cutting Fairfield's lead to 50-43. After

scoring, he turned and threw out his arm, striking Needham in the groin and knocking him to

the floor. Turner helped Needham to his feet, explaining that he hadn't meant it.

The officials then went to the video monitor and reviewed the play. TV replays seemed to

show that the contact had been inadvertent. But the officials called a flagrant foul and

tossed Turner out of the game.

"I told the refs I didn't think it was an intentional foul," said Needham, who scored 29

points. "[Turner] helped me up. The refs went to the monitor and they told me, "If you saw it

on the monitor, you'd think it was intentional, too.' "

The truth might have been a little more complicated. In a statement released to the media,

official John Hughes said Turner hit Needham "in the testicles. It was an unintentional act."

But Brad Tracy, MAAC supervisor of officials, said that once the officials checked the

monitor, the rules required them to call either a flagrant foul or no foul. They lost the

option of calling a "common foul." which would have been the most sensible call.

So the officials took away the heart and soul of the Griffs, a gutsy 5-10 guard who spent

four years carrying a bad team through a transition. Turner was small. He wasn't a natural

point guard. He had a scorer's mentality, and too often he had to attempt the big shot when

his teammates weren't up to it.

Turner played every single game in his four years, and he did a lot of losing. The Griffs

were 44-81 in his career. Parrotta thanked Turner in an emotional post-game press conference,

crediting him with laying the foundation for the program.

Parrotta said the Griffs have improved by leaps and bounds in the last two seasons. That's

debatable. They are have gone eight years without a MAAC quarterfinal victory. The Griffs have

become the kings of the play-in game — good enough to beat the bottom-feeders, but not

good enough to win a quarterfinal.

People expected a lot more when Parrotta brought in his big recruiting class in 2007. But

they haven't gotten significantly better. As juniors, they still deferred toomuch to Turner,

who had to handle too much of the scoring load. So things haven't changed all that much since

Athletic Director Bill Maher fired Mike MacDonald four years ago. The Griffs have lost 81

games in Parrotta's four seasons. They finished 15-17 this year. At Canisius, that qualifies

as progress. Parrotta has one more year on his contract. But it's hard to justify an extension

when the coach hasn't made a tourney semifinal.

Last fall, Canisius hired John Hurley as the new president. Hurley was asked what he would

ask for if given three wishes. One of the three was "a 6-10 center who can shoot." When your

toughest player is 5-10, any quality big man is a welcome addition. If Hurley cares about

sports, he'll hold his basketball program to a higher standard. You can't continue to pretend

that making the MAAC semifinals is reason for celebration.

Parrotta will probably be a lame duck next year. The heat will be on him. Parrotta said

Turner leaves the team in capable hands. He can only hope.