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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
mbb vs st mikes 12.19.16
Darius Garvin has reached double figures in four straight games following his career-high 22-point outing today
69
St. Michael's STM 1-9
92
Winner Daemen DAEM 7-4
St. Michael's STM
1-9
69
Final
92
Daemen DAEM
7-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
St. Michael's STM 38 31 69
Daemen DAEM 41 51 92

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

Garvin's Career Day Powers Wildcats Past Purple Knights

Daemen Puts Five Players In Double Figures For Second Straight Game, Scores Season-High 92 Points

AMHERST, N.Y. - Sophomore guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Daemen College men's basketball team to a 92-69 win today in a non-conference matchup with St. Michael's College at Lumsden Gymnasium.

Garvin, who shot 8-for-13 from the field while adding eight rebounds, six assists and three steals in 34 minutes worth of work today, paced five double-figure scorers for the Wildcats who improved to 7-4 overall this season, and to 6-1 in non-league games.  The Wildcats established new season-highs for points in a game, and points in a half, erupting for 51 in the final 20 minutes today.   SMC, an affiliate of the Northeast-10 Conference, fell to 1-9 this season with the loss.

Redshirt-freshman forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y../Batavia) connected on 5-of-9 from three-point range and totaled 19 points today.  Redband, who leads all East Coast Conference freshman in scoring (11.5 ppg) and three-pointers (30), is shooting 59 percent from long distance (13-for-22) over the last three games, and today's output marked his third game of the season with at least five triples.

Also tickling the twine from long distance was redshirt senior guard/forward Jesse Lalka (Tonawanda, N.Y./Tonawanda) who canned 4-of-6 from deep while registering 15 points - one shy his career-high - while making his second consecutive start (the seventh of his career).  Lalka, who led the ECC in three-point field goal percentage last season, was just 4-for-11 from long distance through the first nine games of the year.  Since being inserted into the starting lineup, he's averaging 14.0 points per game and shooting 70 percent from the land of plenty (7-for-10).

Daemen also got double-figure scoring today from redshirt-seniors Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) and Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi).  Hannah totaled 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Mehmetaj posted his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 boards.

Senior forward Matt Bonds (Accokeek, Md.) led the Purple Knights with 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists in defeat.  The 6-foot-5 Bonds came in as one of just five players in the NCAA Division II East Region to be averaging a double-double this season at 22.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.  He started 7-for-7 from the field today, powering SMC to an eight-point first-half lead, before being limited to just six points in the second half.

Stan Foster (Rochester, N.Y.) came off the bench to score a season-high 15 points for SMC, making 5-of-8 shots from three-point range, while adding six rebounds, four assists and three blocks.  Foster came in averaging just 3.1 points per game and with only three makes from long distance this season.

Senior guard David Sullivan (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) also reached double figures (10 points) for SMC which played without the services of Levi Holmes III (East Brunswick, N.J.), the team's second-leading scorer at 16.1 points per game.

The guests used an 8-0 run midway through the first half to establish the first real separation in the game, turning a 16-16 tie into a 24-16 lead following back-to-back three-pointers by Thomas Jackson III (Middletown, Conn.) and a short jumper by Bonds.  Daemen chipped away and eventually trailed by three points (31-28) after a jumper by Garvin with 4:42 to go in the period, but Foster and Bonds combined for five quick points to run the SMC lead back to eight (36-28) at the 4:06 mark. 

The SMC lead was seven points (38-31) at the 3:27 mark following another bucket by Bonds, before Daemen took control with a 10-0 run to end the period, taking a 41-38 lead into the locker room at halftime.  Garvin and Redband accounted for five points apiece in the run, with Redband's triple at the 1:45 mark giving Daemen its first lead (39-38) since it was 16-14.

The Wildcats run extended to 16 unanswered with six more points to open the second half, before Bruno Becca (Zagreb, Croatia) stopped the bleeding with a layup off a feed from Bonds.  It was a short-lived respite for the Purple Knights however, as Daemen opened up a 12-point gap (56-44) with 14 minutes to play on another Redband three-pointer.

SMC continued to hang around though, outscoring Daemen 14-5 over the next five minutes to pull within three points (61-58) on a layup by reserve guard Colin Richey (Upton, Mass.) with 9:03 remaining.  Richey was fouled on the play, but couldn't complete the old-fashioned three-point play at the charity stripe.

That's as close as the guests would get as Daemen took off on a 24-4 run which spanned the next six minutes of the contest.  Five SMC turnovers in that stretch turned directly into nine points for the Wildcats who led 85-62 with 2:43 to play at spurt's end.  Hannah scored all eight of his second-half points in the run, including a two-handed breakaway slam.  Garvin scored seven points in the spurt, including his own fast-break jam, and a three-pointer to cap it.

The Wildcat lead would swell to as many as 28 points, as Daemen ultimately outscored SMC 31-11 over the final nine minutes of the game.

Daemen enjoyed 46.5 percent shooting from the field (33-for-71), including a 13-for-32 showing from three-point range (40.6 percent).  It's the fourth time this season the Daemen has made at least 10 three-pointers in a game.  SMC was about even with 46.7 percent shooting overall (28-for-60) and 44.4 percent from deep (8-for-18), but were hurt by a 26-12 disparity in second chance points and a 23-11 edge for the hosts in points off turnovers.  Daemen dominated the backboard to the tune of 46-33, including 19 offensive caroms.

The offensive production today for Daemen marked the seventh time this season that SMC has surrendered at least 90 points.  The Purple Knights came into today's game ranked 300th (out of 306 Division II teams) in scoring defense, allowing 90.8 points per contest.

Today's game was Daemen's first against an NE-10 opponent since defeating Le Moyne College 73-63 way back on December 30, 2004.  It was the first-ever meeting on the hardwood between Daemen and SMC, and the Wildcats improve to 3-2 all-time vs. NE-10 opponents.

The Wildcats are now idle until another NE-10 foe, regionally-ranked College of St. Rose, comes to Lumsden Gymnasium for a noon tip-off on New Year's Eve.







 
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