Sarkis Earns League-Best Fourth Rookie Of The Week Selection

Freshman Guard Led Daemen To Defeats Of Dowling & Bridgeport Last Week

AMHERST, N.Y. - Daemen College men's basketball player Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) has been named the East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week for games played February 1-7. The official announcement came via the ECC's weekly men's basketball report released this afternoon from conference heaquarters in Central Islip, N.Y. It's the second-straight week that Sarkis has earned the honor and he now leads the league with four Rookie of the Week selections, one better than Jeffrey Hayden of N.Y. Institute of Technology.

Sarkis, a 6-foot-1 freshman guard, helped Daemen (14-6, 10-3 ECC) continue its recent winning ways, extending to a season-best nine-game winning streak with home victories over Dowling College (106-102 last Friday) and University of Bridgeport (78-69 yesterday) last week. Sunday's win over Bridgeport broke a tie between the Wildcats and Purple Knights who each entered the game at 9-3 in the league, giving the Wildcats sole possession of second place in the current ECC standings, and vaulting them into the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region media poll for the first time this season. For the week, Sarkis averaged 14.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.

In the win over Dowling, Sarkis canned 3-of-6 three-point attempts and totaled 15 points while matching his career-high with six assists. He also logged a career-best 37 minutes in helping Daemen fend off the Golden Lions by four points.

Against Bridgeport, Sarkis notched 13 points, nine of which came from the charity stripe, and he matched a career-high with six rebounds. Sarkis shot 7-of-9 from the free throw line in the pivotal second half, and his layup at the 13:57 mark of the period provided the 14th and final lead change in the game as Daemen held the lead from there on out.

Last week's efforts give Sarkis seven double-figure scoring games this season, including the last four in a row. For the season, he is contributing 8.5 points, 2.6 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game, and he's second on the team in steals (18). He ranks sixth in the ECC three-point field goal percentage, knocking down 43-percent of his attempts so far (25-for-58), and he also ranks 12th in the league in assist/turnover ratio (1.9).

Sarkis has started the last 17 games, giving him the most starts of any Daemen freshman since Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) made 21 during the 2010-11 season. Daemen carries a 13-4 record since he entered the starting lineup.

Sarkis had previously earned ECC Rookie of the Week honors for games played November 23-29, December 28-January 3 and January 25-31. It also marked the third-straight week that a Daemen player has earned the honor; redshirt-freshman guard/forward Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) earned the accolade for games played January 19-24 and Daemen is the only team in the league with multiple players having been selected for Rookie of the Week honors. Daemen's five overall selections leads the league.

Sarkis and the Wildcats are back in action with a pivotal ECC showdown at league-leading Saint Thomas Aquinas College this Thursday (February 11) before closing the week at Mercy College on Saturday (February 13).

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Players Mentioned

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

#5 Jay Sarkis: G; 6' 1"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

#5 Jay Sarkis
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: G

Players Mentioned

#25 Deion Hamilton

#5 Jay Sarkis

Players Mentioned

#25 Deion Hamilton

#5 Jay Sarkis