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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
garvin mbb vs edinboro 11.28.17 (2)
82
Daemen DAEM 5-6
83
Winner St. Michael's SMCM 4-8
Daemen DAEM
5-6
82
Final
83
St. Michael's SMCM
4-8
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen DAEM 26 56 82
St. Michael's SMCM 53 30 83

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Second-Half Rally Comes Up Just Short For Men's Basketball

COLCHESTER, Vt. - A wild second-half comeback by the Daemen College men's basketball team came up just short this afternoon as St. Michael's College escaped the Ross Sports Center with an 83-82 non-conference victory. Daemen trailed by 27 points at halftime but outscored SMC 56-30 in the final 20 minutes, and held three possessions inside of 1:30 remaining with a chance to take the lead.

With the win, Northeast-10 Conference affiliate SMC improves to 4-8 on the season. The Purple Knights have won three-straight games and are now 2-2 this season in games against East Coast Conference opponents. Daemen dropped its second-straight, and fourth in their last five, to fall under .500 for the season (5-6). 

Junior guard Levi Holmes III (East Brunswick, N.J.) led a balanced scoring effort the hosts with 17 points. Junior guard Derek Cheatom (Buffalo, N.Y.), who prepped at The Park School just minutes from Daemen's campus, scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half, and added six boards and four steals. Senior guard Colin Richey (Upton, Mass.) also notched 16 points, while sophomore guard Jordan Guzman (Staten Island, N.Y.) reached double figures with 11. Guzman added a team-high seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Eli DiGrande (Essex Junction, Vt.) and sophomore guard Thomas Jackson III (Middletown, Conn.) chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively.

Junior guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y.) scored a career-high 24 points (18 in the second half) to lead the Wildcats. Garvin, whose previous career-high (22) came in last season's 92-69 win over SMC, knocked down five three-pointers for the first time in his career as part of an 8-for-18 shooting performance. Redshirt freshman center Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) was nearly unstoppable down low as he connected on 11-of-12 field goal attempts while posting the first double-double of his career (23 points, 11 rebounds). Sischo has now gone over 20 points in two of the last three games, and he's shooting 79.4 percent from the field in that span (27-for-34). Today's game marked Daemen's first with two 20-point scorers since then-seniors Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y.) and Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 26 and 23 points, respectively, in the 2016-17 regular season finale (80-71 win at Roberts Wesleyan).

Redshirt sophomore forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) totaled 15 points, five boards and three blocks for the Wildcats. Sophomore guard Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) logged a career-high 32 minutes and contributed six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

While Daemen was shaking off the rust from a 13-day layoff between games (30.8% FG, 14.3% 3PT, 10 turnovers in the first half), SMC came out firing on all cylinders. The Purple Knights connected on 18-of-35 field goal attempts (51.4%), including 9-of-18 from long distance (50%), and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the opening period. 

After Redband evened the score at 7-7, the Purple Knights embarked on a 21-3 run that spanned more than six minutes to seize control. Cheatom's back-to-back-to-back three-pointers highlighted the run and prompted a Daemen timeout at the 10:25 mark.

The SMC lead was 37-19 when the hosts came up with another three-point barage, making four-straight during a 14-2 spurt. A layup by redshirt sophomore forward Stan Foster (Rochester, N.Y.) capped the run and put the Purple Knights ahead by 30 points (51-21) with 1:46 remaining in the period. Daemen outscored SMC 5-2 in the final 90 seconds, getting two free throws from redshirt sophomore guard Melvin Grayson (Rochester, N.Y.) and an old-fashioned three-point play by junior forward Giambattista Davis (Buffalo, N.Y.) to send the teams to the locker room with the score 53-26. 

Whatever head coach Mike MacDonald said at halftime must have struck a chord because the Wildcats came storming out of the locker room with a 28-7 spurt, scoring more points in just over seven minutes than they had the entire first half. Garvin (11), Sischo and Redband (6 each) combined for 23 points in the run which was capped by a three-pointer from redshirt sophomore guard Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) at the 12:29 mark which made it just a two-possession deficit at 60-54. 

After trading baskets for a few minutes, the SMC lead ballooned back to double figures when a jumper by junior forward Winston Jones II (Valley Stream, N.Y.) was good at the 6:16 mark, making the score 76-66. Daemen responded with an 11-2 run over the next three-plus minutes, pulling within one point (78-77) with Harris' steal and subsequent layup at the 2:39 mark. Cheatom connected on a pair of freebies on SMC's next possession, but Daemen cut it to one again (80-79) with Redband's tip-in at the 1:52 mark. 

That's where the comeback would stall, however, as Daemen committed three turnovers in the final minute (two of which were offensive fouls) while holding possession each time with a chance to take the lead. SMC hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final nine seconds, the last of which made it an insurmountable four-point lead (84-79). Garvin canned a three-pointer from just inside of half court as the buzzer sounded to provide the final margin. 

Sticking with the tale-of-two-halves theme, Daemen shot 62.9 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range in the second. SMC managed just 30 percent shooting overall and 14.3 percent from three-point range in the period.

For the game, Daemen connected on 32-of-68 from the field (48.1%), 8-of-26 from deep (30.8%) and 10-of-11 at the line (90.9%). St. Michael's went 27-of-65 from the field (41.5%), 11-of-32 from three-point land (34.4%) and 18-of-20 at the charity stripe (90%). 

The Wildcats return to action tomorrow with a New Year's Eve matinee against regionally-ranked College of St. Rose. Tip-off is slated for noon at Nolan Gymnasium in Albany. 



 
 
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