St. Thomas Aquinas (7-8, 3-6 ECC) 16-49—65
Daemen (11-6, 8-3 ECC) 30-39—69
 
AMHERST, N.Y. –The Daemen College men's basketball team gutted out a 69-65 win today over East Coast Conference competitor St. Thomas Aquinas College at Lumsden Gymnasium tonight.

The win also extended Daemen's home winning streak to 27 straight.  The Wildcats have now gone 27-1 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season and have won 79-percent (83-21) of their home games over the past eight seasons. With the win the Wildcats improve to 11-6 on the year and 8-3 in conference play while the Spartans drop to 7-8 on the season and 3-6 in ECC.

Daemen head coach Don Silveri  was awarded for recording his 400th victory as Daemen head coach following the Wildcat's 99-92 win at Mercy on Jan 6. Senior point guard Mark Coppola was also honored before the game for breaking a school-record for most career assists as he now stands at 542 assists in 99 career games. Coppola was all over the stat sheet as he added five points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals to the Daemen win.

Junior Gerald Beverly (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) recorded his tenth double-double of the season as he was a block shy of a triple-double totaling 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine monstrous blocks. Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) added 14 points, four assists and two steals while teammate Aaron Davis (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) chipped in 11 points to the Daemen cause.  Senior forward Kadeem Johnson (Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger) also contributed eight points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Wildcats.

Marcus Henderson paced St. Thomas with 20 points while senior teammate Omar Kellman added a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Spartans.

Both teams struggled to score as the Wildcats connected on 24-of-63 shots (38-percent) while the Spartans shot 28-for-72 (39-percent) in the game. St. Thomas hit just 8-of-31 shots (26-percent) in the first half and made 6-of-11 (55-percent) from the free throw line.

The Wildcats started off strong with a 16-4 lead five minutes into the first half when a layup by Beverly capped the run. The Wildcats led by double digits for the rest of the first half as St. Thomas came no closer than ten points (18-8) after a layup by Kellman with 9:28 left to go until intermission. Neither team could find a basket over the final few minutes of the half as the Wildcats went into the locker room with a 30-16 lead.

The Wildcats came out strong in the beginning of the second half as they took an 18 point lead (38-20) after a jumper by Ogbonna with 17:13 to go in the game. The Spartans then picked up the pace as they slowly cut into Daemen's lead finding themselves within single digits (52-43) after a layup by Henderson at the 7:31 mark. St. Thomas then went on a 12-8 run to bring the score 60-55 with 3:16 left on the clock. Henderson then hit a three pointer to bring the Spartans within two (64-62, 00:52) but they were forced to foul as Daemen would then go 5-for-8 from the line in the final minute of the game. Daemen held onto their lead the entire ball game despite a good effort by the Spartans leaving the final margin 69-65.  

Daemen finished with a 17-10 edge in fast break points and had a 49-43 advantage on the glass. The Wildcats also held a 21-10 advantage in points off the bench.

Daemen will play ECC opponent Mercy College this Sunday (Jan. 26) at Lumsden Gymnasium for a 3 p.m. game.

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