AMHERST, N.Y. – It was a successful regular season opener for the Daemen College men's basketball team as the Wildcats jumped out to an early 18-8 lead and never looked back, running past visiting Wilmington University, 109-87, in front of a packed Lumsden Gymnasium crowd on the opening day of the ECC-CACC Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC.  The two-day event pits teams from rivaling leagues of the NCAA Division II East Region - the East Coast Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference - in pre-determined matchups.

Senior guard/forward Torrence Dyck (Rochester, N.Y./San Jacinto College) netted a game-high 29 points, connecting on 10 of his 13 field goal attempts, to pace the Wildcats who saw five players reach double figures.  Redshirt-junior forward Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) caught fire early, knocking down three first-half three-pointers (4-of-8 in the game) en route to 20 points, while also grabbing a tram-high seven boards, and sharing team-high honors with four assists.

Sophomore guard Nick Petrucelli (Hicksville, N.Y./Thomasville Prep) came off the bench to spark the Wildcats.with a career-high 17 points, hitting 7-of-9 shots.  The Wildcats also got solid performances from senior guard Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) and graduate student Ryan Grandits (Kenmore, N.Y./Medaille College).  Hannah netted 16 points and dished four dimes while Grandits collected 12 points, four boards and three assists.

Tyaire Ponzo-Meek, an All-CACC performer last season, and Brian Adkins paced the Wilmington with 24 and 23 points, respectively.

In the Daemen spurt to open the game, Dyck netted the first four points before two Mehmetaj triples were sandwiched around a trifecta from Hannah.  A pair of Petrucelli jumpers capped the run, the second coming at the 14:03 mark which gave Daemen its second double-figure lead of the ballgame.  WU would temporarily stem the tide with five quick points, getting a dunk from Ta'Vaune Griffin and three-pointer from Ponzo-Meek to trail by five (18-13), but that's as close as the game would get for its entirety.

Daemen quickly pushed the lead back to double figures, outscoring WU 12-3 over the next several minutes.  Another Hannah three-pointer ignited the spurt which saw two more Petrucelli jumpers and an old-fashioned three-point play by Dyck to cap it at the 8:51 mark of the opening frame to put the Wildcats ahead 30-16.  

After four-straight points for WU, Daemen would go on to outscore the visitors 18-7 in the final 7:37 of the period, extending to a lead as big as 25 points (48-23) before taking a 48-27 edge into halftime.  Dyck and Mehmetaj split 26 points in the period for the Wildcats, while Ponzo-Meek netted more than half (15) of WU's points.

Daemen extended to a 29-point lead early in the second half, opening the frame on a 12-4 spurt which was capped by another Mehmetaj three-pointer to lead 60-31 at the 16:20 mark.

From there, WU would cut the lead to 19 on three ocassions, but they never seriously threatened to get back in the game.  The Daemen lead swelled to as many as 30 points as the Wildcats cruised to victory in front of their home crowd.\

Daemen shot 59-percent from the field in the ballgame, hitting 38-of-65 shot attempts, including 12-of-24 from three-point range.  Wilmington shot 58-percent in the second half (23-for-40), but the guests couldn't overcome their slow start (9-for-33 shooting in the first half).

The 109 points is Daemen's highest output since going over the century mark in back-to-back outings last February (103-93 versus Dowling College on February 13; 102-74 versus University of the District of Columbia on February 6). It's also the second time in the last three years that Daemen has gone over 100 points in their season opener, doing so last in their 2013-14 opener versus Ohio Valley University (111-90).

The win tonight also pushed Daemen to 8-1 in early-season tournament games since the start of the 2010-11 season, and it's the Wildcats' 13th consecutive win in a regular-season opener.

In today's first game of the ECC-CACC Challenge, regionally-ranked Holy Family University of the CACC took down Roberts Wesleyan College of the ECC, 79-61.  The Tigers, ranked No. 5 in the preseason D2SIDA East Region media poll, hit 13-of-37 three-point attempts, getting double-figure scoring from Isaiah Gans (17 points, six boards), Derrick Stewart (16 points, nine rebounds), Marvin Crawford (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Xavier Williams (13 points, six assists) in the victory.  Tyrel Dixon was the lone double-figure scorer for the Redhawks with a team-high 16.

The ECC-CACC Challenge wraps up tomorrow with two afternoon games.  Roberts Wesleyan and Wilmington both seek their first wins of the season, while today's victors, Daemen and Holy Family, square off in what should be a good one.  The RWC-WU game tips at 2 p.m. with DC and HFU to follow at 4 p.m.