D2SIDA MEN'S BASKETBALL
EAST REGION MEDIA POLL
WEEK 13 - FEBRUARY 15, 2016 |
| Rank | School | Pts. | Record | Previous |
| 1. | Saint Anselm (5) | 57 | 20-5 | 6 |
| 2. | Southern Connecticut State | 53 | 21-6 | 2 |
| 3. | Holy Family (1) | 50 | 22-5 | 1 |
| 4. | Stonehill | 39 | 19-7 | 3 |
| 5. | Saint Thomas Aquinas | 36 | 22-4 | 4 |
| 6. | Philadelphia | 31 | 21-6 | 7 |
| 7. | Bentley | 28 | 18-7 | 6 |
| 8. | Southern New Hampshire | 16 | 17-10 | 8 |
| 9. | Adelphi | 13 | 19-8 | 9 |
| T-10. | DAEMEN | 3 | 17-8 | 10 |
| T-10. | Franklin Pierce | 3 | 14-11 | RV |
| ( ) - denotes first-place votes |
AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's basketball team is ranked in the latest version of the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region media poll. Released yesterday afternoon, Daemen is tied for 10th in the rankings, and it marks the third-straight week the Wildcats have been voted into the poll. Daemen made its debut at No. 9 in the February 8 poll, and they were No. 10 last week.
The East Region of NCAA Division II is comprised of teams from the East Coast Conference (ECC), the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), and the East Region media poll is voted on by sports information professionals from around the region.
Under the guidance of second-year head coach
Mike MacDonald, the Wildcats stand at 17-8 overall and 12-5 in ECC play. Daemen, which clinched its-first ever ECC Tournament berth last week, sits alone in second place in the
current league standings. MacDonald's team can clinch the No. 2 seed to the tournament and a bye into the semifinal round with a win in either of their final two regular season games.
Daemen, which garnered three points in this week's poll, went 2-1 last week. The Wildcats opened the week with a 96-88 victory against their longtime rivals from Roberts Wesleyan College last Wednesday. It was the 10th-straight win for Daemen in the all-time series with the Redhawks. That was followed by an 88-76 loss to Long Island University Post last Friday. Daemen closed the week with a 93-68 defeat of N.Y. Institute of Technology last Sunday. It marked the 12th time this season the Wildcats have scored 90 or more points in a game. Daemen currently ranks first in the ECC and 21st among all NCAA Division II schools in points per game (86.5).
Senior guard
Torrence Dyck (Rochester, N.Y./San Jacinto College) and redshirt-junior forward
Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) have led Daemen's high-scoring attack. Dyck has scored over 25 points in a game 11 times this season and ranks fourth among the region's scoring leaders (22.2 ppg). He is also contributing 6.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. In Sunday's win over NYIT, he became just the fourth two-year player in team history to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his career. Mehmetaj erupted for a career-high 30 points, and added 13 rebounds in a recent win over Dowling College and is averaging 15.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game with a team-high 41 three-pointers.
Additional production has come from first-year players
Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena),
Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) and
Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame). Hamilton has started the last 13 of the last 14 games and is averaging 11.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game over that stretch. Her scored a career-high 24 points in the win over RWC last week. Sarkis is a four-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection and is averaging 8.2 points and 2.5 assists per game. He matched a career-best with 19 points in Sunday's win against NYIT. Garvin has started the last nine games and has averaged 7.8 points per game with three-double figure outings during that stretch.
The greenhorns have played a central role of late for the Wildcats who have lost veteran backcourt starters
Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) and
Nick Petrucelli (Hicksville, N.Y./Thomasville Prep) for the season due to injuries. The Wildcats have picked up 16 wins in their last 19 games, dating back to an
88-79 non-conference victory over Edinboro University.
The Wildcats close the regular season this weekend with road tilts versus Molloy College (Feb. 26) and Queens College (Feb. 28). Daemen will be looking for season sweeps against both opponents. The Wildcats scored an 81-64 win over Molloy at Lumsden Gymnasium last month behind 39 points combined from Dyck and Mehmetaj. Two days later, the Wildcats placed six players in double figures, led by Mehmetaj's 25, in a 107-96 win over Queens.
Saint Anselm College (20-5), an NE-10 affiliate returned to the top spot in this week's poll after gaining five of the six first-place votes.
