Sophomore guard Nick Petrucelli and the Daemen men's basketball team open the regular season this weekend

Men's Basketball 11/12/2015 10:00:00 AM

Men's Basketball Opens Regular Season With ECC-CACC Challenge

THE LEAD: After playing a pair of exhibition contests, the Daemen College men's basketball officially tips off the 2015-16 season by hosting the ECC-CACC Challenge presented by WNY Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC this weekend...the event gets underway with Roberts Wesleyan of the ECC taking on Holy Family of the CACC Friday at 6 p.m., followed by Daemen of the ECC versus Wilmington of the CACC at 8 p.m....action wraps up on Saturday with Roberts Wesleyan versus Wilmington at 2 p.m., followed by Daemen versus Holy Family at 4 p.m....general admission is $5 per day ($3 for senior citizens and visiting students with ID)...Daemen students, faculty and staff, along with children under 12 will be admitted free of charge.

2015 ECC-CACC Challenge presented by WNY Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC
Friday, November 13 (at Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.)
Roberts Wesleyan vs. Holy Family, 6:00 p.m.
RWC ROSTER / HFU ROSTER
LIVE VIDEO / LIVE STATS

Daemen vs. Wilmington, 8:00 p.m.
DC ROSTER / WU ROSTER
LIVE VIDEO / LIVE STATS

Saturday, November 14 (at Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.)
Wilmington vs. Roberts Wesleyan, 2:00 p.m.
WU ROSTER / RWC ROSTER
LIVE VIDEO / LIVE STATS

Daemen vs. Holy Family, 4:00 p.m.
DC ROSTER / HFU ROSTER
LIVE VIDEO / LIVE STATS

DIVISION II DEBUT: Daemen successfully completed a three-year membership process and was approved for active membership status at the NCAA Division II level by the NCAA Membership Committee his past summer…Daemen was accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) in July of 2012 and began playing full regular-season conference schedules in the fall of 2013…the 2015-16 academic year will mark the first year Daemen will be eligible for ECC and NCAA post-season play.

MAC IS BACK: Local hoops fixture Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his second season as Daemen's head coach, and his 19th season overall as a collegiate head coach...in his first season at the helm, MacDonald led Daemen to a 21-10 campaign which concluded with the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national championship last March...by winning 20 games in his Daemen debut, MacDonald became one of the only active coaches in the country to achieve a 20-win season at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels of competition...prior to beginning his stint at Daemen, MacDonald transformed the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial power, averaging 18 wins a season and advancing to the postseason six times in his eight years as head coach...MacDonald made his head coaching debut at the Division I level, leading the program at Canisius from 1997-2006...while there, MacDonald's teams racked up 108 wins making him the third all-time winningest coach in the program's history...MacDonald enters the 2015-16 season with a career record of 277-236.

DAEMEN SCOUTING REPORT (0-0): Daemen returns nine players from last year's team that posted a 21-10 overall record and a 13-7 mark in the East Coast Conference, while capturing the USCAA Division I national championship in the team's final year of non-eligibility for ECC and/or NCAA Division II postseason play...in addition to the returners, head coach Mike MacDonald welcomes nine fresh faces to his 18-man roster...the big question heading into this season will be how the Wildcats can replace the consistent production of 6-foot-7 forward Gerald Beverly who was lost to graduation...the two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Year who is now playing professionally in Germany is arguably the most accomplished player in team history, and replacing the 20 points, 12 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game he produced will be a tall order early on...Daemen was picked fourth in the ECC preseason poll released late last month...MacDonald does welcome back a pair of starters in senior guard Supreme Hannah and senior guard/forward Torrence Dyck...Hannah was perhaps the most improved player in the ECC last season, averaging 10.5 points and a team-best 3.9 assists per game as he transitioned into the team's starting point guard...after playing just 494 total minutes in his first two seasons, Hannah racked up 936 minutes in his junior campaign to rank seventh in the ECC in minutes per game (33.4)...Dyck, a 6-foot-5 slasher, made an immediate impact in his first season for the Wildcats, averaging 19.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game en route to first-team All-ECC honors, before having his season cut short in early February due to an injury...also back is 6-foot-7 forward Arif Mehmetaj...an inside-outside threat, Mehmetaj started the first three games of the 2014-15 season, averaging 8.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, before having his season cut short by an injury...returning guard Nick Petrucelli (3.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg), guard/forward Jesse Lalka (3.6 ppg, 25-for-50 from three-point range) and forward/center Alex Borges (2.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg) figure to be in the rotation at the outset this year...among the newcomers expected to make an impact early this season are guards Jaleo Wilkes and Jay Sarkis, wing player Deion Hamilton and forward Ryan Grandits...Wilkes, a native of Niagara Falls, comes to Daemen after a two-year stint at Polk State College in Florida...Sarkis and Hamilton are both products of Rochester-area powerhouse Greece Athena High School, the same school that produced former Wildcat great Casey Sheehan...Grandits is a 6-foot-5 forward who competed for the last three years at Medaille where he made 80 appearances, including 41 starts, and averaged 8.7 points and 3. rebounds per game...Daemen won its exhibition opener, 102-95, over Brock, a Candian team with 13 games under its belt already this season, at Lumsden Gymnasium on October 30...the Wildcats went on to fall to Division I Buffalo, 87-68, in its final exhibition tune-up on November 6...Dyck connected of 53-percent of his field goal attempts, and averaged 21.5 points in the two exhibition contests, while Mehmetaj hit 5-of-11 shots from three-point range and averaged 16.5 points per game.

WILMINGTON SCOUTING REPORT (0-0): Wilmington is located in New Castle, Del. and the Wildcats are members of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference's South Division...second-year head coach Dan Burke returns after leading the Wildcats to an 11-20 overall record, the program's most wins since joining NCAA Division II, catching fire late in the year to advance to the CACC Tournament championship game for the first time...the Wildcats, who return seven players from last season, were picked fifth in the CACC South Division preseason poll...the Wildcats lost a pair of double-figure scorers in Valentino Thompson (11.9 ppg) and Kevin Ohen (11.1 ppg), but among the returners is WU's leading scorer from last season, 5-foot-10 junior guard Tyaire Ponzo-Meek...Meek led the team with 32.8 minutes per game and finished ninth in the CACC in scoring at 15.1 points per game...also back is 6-foot-7 senior forward Ta'Vaune Griffin who made 30 appearances and 18 starts last year, producing 4.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game...the Wildcats also retain the services of 6-foot-8 sophomore forward/center Paul Medlin (11 starts, 2.1 ppg) and 6-foot-4 senior guard/forward Shai Henry (8 starts, 7.2 ppg, team-leading 5.9 rpg).

HOLY FAMILY SCOUTING REPORT (0-0): Holy Family is located in Philadelphia, Pa. and the Tigers are members of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference's South Division...head coach R.C. Kehoe returns for his fifth season roaming the HFU sidelines, and he'll welcome back a veteran squad that features 10 returning players from the Tigers' 2014-15 team which advanced to the semifinals of the CACC Tournament, posting a 22-8 overall record, including a 15-4 mark in conference play...HFU has been picked first in the CACC South Division preseason poll and they are ranked No. 5 in the preseason D2SIDA East Region media poll...included among the team's returners are a pair of second-team All-CACC selections from last season in 6-foot-3 redshirt-senior guard Reggie Charles and 6-foot-8 senior forward Isaiah Gans...Charles led the team and ranked sixth in the CACC in scoring at 17.5 points per game, connecting on 51-percent of his field goal attempts (156-for-308) last season...he also led the entire league in total assists with 154...Gans, the inaugural recipient of the CACC's Defensive Player of the Year award, was productive at both ends of the floor, finishing second in the league in blocks (58), third in three-point field goals (77), sixth in rebounding (7.9 rpg) and ninth in scoring (15.1 ppg)...also back are incumbent starters Marvin Crawford, a 6-foot-5 senior guard/forward, and Eric Fleming, a 6-foot-2 redshirt-senior guard...Crawford produced 13.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, while Fleming knocked down 46 trifectas and averaged 5.9 points per outing...the Tigers lit it up from three-point range a season ago, knocking down 305 triples which was 101 more than the next team in their league...HFU's 914 three-point attempts were 339 more than anybody else in the CACC.

ROBERTS WESLEYAN SCOUTING REPORT (0-0): Roberts Wesleyan is located in Rochester, N.Y. and the Redhawks are members of the East Coast Conference...head coach Rob McCoy returns for his 14th season on the RWC bench...McCoy returns eight players, including two starters, from his 2014-15 roster which achieved an overall record of 10-16, including a 6-14 mark in ECC play...the Redhawks must overcome the graduation of second-team All-ECC performer Isaac Medeiros (15.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg)...the Redhawks were picked 11th in the ECC preseason poll this season...leading the group of returners are seniors Marcus Gooding and Tyrel Dixon...Gooding, a 5-foot-11 guard, knocked down 37-percent of his three-point attempts last season, finishing sixth in the league made three-pointers (72) as part of his 13.6 point-per-game average...Dixon is a 6-foot-3 guard/forward with the ability to play inside and out...in addition to averaging 12.7 points per game last season, Dixon led the team in rebounding (6.9 rpg), assists (61) and steals (32)...the Redhawks also welcome back guards Mike Stone and Jordan McBride who made 16 starts between them last year...Stone, who averaged 5.6 points per game last year, was a double-figure scorer in each of his first two seasons before missing the the 2013-14 season with an injury...McCoy's 2015 recruiting class includes four freshmen and a pair of junior college transfers...the headliner of the group has to be 5-foot-11 freshman guard Zack Panebianco, a Jamestown High School product who was named the 2014-15 Western New York Player of the Year by The Buffalo News.

THE HISTORY VS. WILMINGTON: The all-time series between Daemen and Wilmington is knotted 1-1...the teams were briefly part of the same conference during both teams' days as members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics...DC and WU last met on February 13, 2000, a 67-63 win for Wilmington.

THE HISTORY VS. HOLY FAMILY: The all-time series between Daemen and Holy Family is knotted 2-2...Saturday's game marks the second meeting in as many seasons for the Wildcats and Tigers...HFU came away with a 68-59 win in Philadelphia on November 22, 2014, handing Daemen its first loss of the 2014-15 season...it was one of just games in the first three months of the season in which Daemen was held below 75 points...Derrick Stewart led a quartet of double-figure scorers for HFU with a team-high 14 points, while Reggie Charles and Isaiah Gans tossed in 12 points apiece...Gerald Beverly pumped in a game-high 18 points and added 11 boards, while Jordan Greene notched 15 points in defeat for Daemen...Daemen was plagued by poor shooting against HFU's 2-3 zone defense, connecting on just 4-of-26 three-point attempts (15-percent)...last year's meeting was the first since February 19, 2000, an 88-73 Daemen victory in Amherst.

OPENING TOURNEY SUCCESS: This weekend's event marks the fifth time in the last six years that Daemen's regular season begins with a home tournament...in those games, Daemen holds a 7-1 record, part of the Wildcats' 56-10 home record since the start of the 2010-11 season...last season marked the first time that the event took the form of a conference challenge event, pitting Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan of the ECC against representatives from the CACC...Daemen picked up wins over Concordia (N.Y.) (85-50 on November 14, 2014) and Post (88-80 on November 15, 2014) last year...the Wildcats last lost an opening home tournament game on November 5, 2011 to York (Ont.), a 77-76 nail-biter which was Daemen's final home loss before embarking on a 44-game home winning streak which came to an end last season.

20/20: Daemen has reached the 20-win plateau in each of the last four seasons (and nine times over the past 13 seasons).

DID YOU KNOW?: Since Daemen announced its intentions to join NCAA Division II back in 2011, its men's basketball team has achieved a record of 89-34, giving the Wildcats more wins in that time span than any Division II team in New York State and the East Region.

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen continues its season-opening homestand by hosting Mercyhurst University on Tuesday, November 24 at 7 p.m....for a full look at what lies ahead, check out the Wildcats' complete 2015-16 schedule.

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College men's basketball on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics /@DaemenMBB) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics /www.facebook.com/DaemenCollegeMensBasketball) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.

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Players Mentioned

#55 Gerald Beverly: F; 6' 7"; Senior

#33 Jordan Greene: F; 6' 5"; Senior

#41 Alex Borges: F/C; 6' 6"; Junior

#4 Torrence Dyck: G/F; 6' 5"; Senior

#3 Supreme Hannah: G; 6' 0"; Senior

#11 Jesse Lalka: G/F; 6' 2"; Junior

#21 Arif Mehmetaj: F; 6' 7"; Junior

#24 Nick Petrucelli: G; 6' 3"; Sophomore

#25 Deion Hamilton: G/F; 6' 4"; Redshirt Freshman

#44 Ryan Grandits: F; 6' 5"; Graduate Student

Players Mentioned

#55 Gerald Beverly
: 6' 7"; Senior
: F

#33 Jordan Greene
: 6' 5"; Senior
: F

#41 Alex Borges
: 6' 6"; Junior
: F/C

#4 Torrence Dyck
: 6' 5"; Senior
: G/F

#3 Supreme Hannah
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G

#11 Jesse Lalka
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G/F

#21 Arif Mehmetaj
: 6' 7"; Junior
: F

#24 Nick Petrucelli
: 6' 3"; Sophomore
: G

#25 Deion Hamilton
: 6' 4"; Redshirt Freshman
: G/F

#44 Ryan Grandits
: 6' 5"; Graduate Student
: F