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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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mbb vs dominican 11.12.16
Supreme Hannah notched the third 20-point game of his career today vs. Dominican
49
Dominican DOMIN-M 1-1
60
Winner Daemen DAEM 2-0
Dominican DOMIN-M
1-1
49
Final
60
Daemen DAEM
2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Dominican DOMIN-M 22 27 49
Daemen DAEM 34 26 60

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Hannah Leads Daemen To Second Win In As Many Days

Redshirt-Senior Guard Collects MVP Honors At The ECC-CACC Challenge

AMHERST, N.Y. - Redshirt-senior guard Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) canned 9-of-15 field goal attempts and totaled a game-high 21 points to lead the Daemen College men's basketball team to a 60-49 win over Dominican College in the final game of the 2016 ECC-CACC Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC.  The conference challenge event pits teams from the East Coast Conference against their counterparts from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference on the opening weekend of the college basketball season.

Daemen, which led for over 32 minutes in the contest, improves to 2-0 on the young season.  The Wildcats opened tournament play with a 75-64 defeat of Caldwell University yesterday.  The early results mark the 12th time in the last 15 seasons that Daemen has opened the season with two straight wins.

Hannah, who scored 14 points in his return to the lineup after nearly a full calendar year yesterday, was named the tournament M.V.P.  He logged a game-high 37 minutes and knocked down 3-of-7 shots from long range while adding four assists, three rebounds and a steal today.  The production today marked the third 20-point outing of his career.

Hannah was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) and Aleks Miljenovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Roberts Wesleyan College).  Hamilton, who led Daemen with 18 points in the win over Caldwell, scored all 11 of his points today in the first half.  Miljenovic chipped in with 11 points for his second straight double-figure scoring game.

Junior forward/center Gerrel Irvin (Bay Shore, N.Y.) was saddled by first-half foul trouble, but managed 12 points, 14 boards, four blocks and three steals to pace the Chargers.  He was named to the all-tournament team after posting 22 points and 15 rebounds in Dominican's 74-66 win yesterday over Roberts Wesleyan College.  His 29 total rebounds set a new tournament record.  The previous mark of 24 rebounds was set last season by Daemen's Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi).

Freshman guard Daraja Rodwell (Baldwin, N.Y.) was the only other Dominican player to reach double figures with 11, although it came on just 4-of-15 shooting.

Trailing 11-10, it was a three-pointer by sophomore guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) at the 11:48 mark which sparked a 17-6 spurt for the Wildcats that covered the next eight-and-a-half minutes.  Garvin's trifecta came just over 30 seconds after Irvin was forced to the bench with his second personal foul, and the 6-foot-7, 235-pound big man would remain there for the rest of the half.  Hannah accounted for seven points in the run which was capped by Hamilton's old-fashioned three-point play (on a Hannah assist) at the 3:13 mark to open up the hosts' first double-digit lead of the game at 27-17.

Daemen would take a 12-point lead (34-22) into the locker room at halftime.  Dominican was limited to just 27-percent shooting (7-for-26) in the frame.

Another Garvin jumper to start the second half would result in Daemen's largest lead of the game (36-22), before the Chargers embarked on a 12-4 run of their own to pull back within six at 40-34.  Irvin scored at the 16:07 mark, his first field goal since the 18-minute mark of the first half.  Rodwell's three-pointer with 14:32 to play capped the run.  It was met with a three-pointer at the other end by Miljenovic to quickly push the Daemen lead back to nine (43-34).

From there, the Daemen edge would fluxuate between seven and 11 points for the next seven-plus minutes.  Xavier Long's (Brooklyn, N.Y./Williamsburg Prep) driving layup at the 8:08 mark put Daemen up 11 (51-40).  But, the Wildcats would go scoreless over the next four minutes, providing an opportunity for the Chargers to climb back in.  Back-to-back buckets by Irvin, including a rim-rocking breakaway slam, brought the guests within seven at 51-44 with 6:47 remaining, but that's as close as they would get despite six shot attempts which came with the opportunity to draw closer.

Hannah narrowly beat the shot clock with a runner and added his third triple of the game to re-establish the Wildcats' double-figure advantage at 56-44 with 2:54 to play.  The lead would grow to as many as 13 points late in the game as the Wildcat defense continued to clamp down in crunch time, ultimately allowing just five points in the final 6:47.

Daemen shot 49-percent for the game (24-for-49) and turned 19 Dominican turnovers into a 19-7 edge in points off miscues.  The Chargers finished just 17-of-53 from the field (32-percent), including a chilly 5-of-21 from long distance (24-percent).

The defensive effort marked the first time that Daemen has held an opponent under 50 points since a 97-42 dismantling of the University of the District of Columbia in ECC action back on January 12, 2014 - some 76 games ago.

Offensively, the result marked just Daemen's fifth win since the start of the 2014-15 season when failing to score at least 70 points.  The Wildcats, who ranked at or near the top of the conference in scoring the last two seasons, entered the game with a 4-11 record and a four-game losing streak in such contests.    Ironically, Daemen's last win when scoring in the 60's came at Dominican last January (69-60).

Daemen is now 5-1 at this season-opening tournament which took on its current format during the 2014-15 season.  Also, since joining the ECC in the 2013-14 season, Daemen is 9-3 in all games vs. CACC opponents.  Three of those wins have come against Dominican.

The two wins this weekend put Daemen at a full 50 games over .500 at Lumsden Gymnasium since the start of the 2011-12 season.  Daemen is 58-8 at home in that span.

In today's other tournament game, Caldwell scored an 85-80 victory over Roberts Wesleyan in overtime to even up their record at 1-1.  The Redhawks, who led by six points with under six minutes to play, fell to 0-2 this season with the loss.  It was the first-ever overtime game in this tournament's brief history.

Freshman guard Vaughn Covington (Sicklerville, N.J.) was named to the all-tournament team for Caldwell after posting 20 points, six assists and five rebounds.  His three-pointer at the 1:01 mark of overtime broke an 80-80 tie.  Fellow freshman Zay Jennings (Allentown, Pa.) led the Cougars with 24 points and set the tourney record with six three-pointers in the game.

RWC's all-tournament team representative was big man Malik Dare (Cohoes, N.Y.) who converted 7-of-10 shots as part of a 16-point, nine-rebound effort.

Daemen plays its third straight home contest next Saturday, November 19 when St. Edward's University of the Heartland Conference makes the long journey from Austin, Texas to Lumsden Gymnasium for a 1 p.m. matinee.

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