OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – The Daemen College men's basketball team rallied from a double-digit, second-half deficit for the third-straight game en route to a key 80-72 victory over New York Institute of Technology here tonight.
Daemen ran its winning streak to six-straight games and improved to 16-6 overall and 10-4 in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats remain in second place in the ECC standings and take another big step towards clinching their second-straight appearance in the ECC Championship Tournament. NYIT dropped to 6-16 overall and 4-10 in the league.
Daemen is 9-1 over its last 10 games and has won 10 of its last 11 league games.
The Wildcats have battled back from early deficits in each of their last three games. They trailed Mercy College by 17 points in the first half and were down by 12 points early in the second half before rallying for an 82-72 win over the Mavericks on Jan. 28. This past Thursday Daemen found itself trailing the University of Bridgeport by 15 points midway through the first half, but the Wildcats outscored the Purple Knights 48-31 in the second half en route to an 82-73 win. Tonight the Wildcats trailed by 16 points, 54-38, in the second half, but outscored the hosts 42-18 over the final 14 minutes.
Five players scored in double figures for the Wildcats. Red-shirt senior Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Red-shirt sophomore Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) connected on 5-of-10 shots and totaled 15 points and five rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench. Senior Jaleo Wilkes (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Polk State College) was a clutch 8-for-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch and finished with 14 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Freshman Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) went 3-for-5 from three-point land and totaled 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while red-shirt senior Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) hit a huge three-pointer late in the game and contributed 10 points.
Graduate student Jon Feiler (Smithtown, N.Y.) paced a balanced NYIT attack with 14 points and 15 rebounds, while sophomore Walter King (Peekskill, N.Y.) added 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Kieran Hamilton (Queens Village, N.Y.) drilled three three-pointers and finished with 13 points for the hosts.
NYIT connected on four of its first six shots and opened a 9-0 lead after Hamilton drilled a three-pointer following a steal by classmate Jeffrey Hayden (New York, N.Y.). Daemen scored the next five points and eventually cut the lead to two points, 11-9, following a layup by Mehmetaj four minutes into the game. The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes and NYIT was up 18-16 when a three-pointer by senior Henrik Davidsen (Oslo, Norway) sparked the hosts on a 17-6 run. A tip in by senior Leonard James (Brooklyn, N.Y.) capped the run and gave the Bears a 35-21 lead with 7:24 left in the half.
The lead was 13 points, 36-23, when a jumper by Hamilton ignited a half-ending 9-2 run by Daemen. A layup by Hamilton with 1:48 left in the half capped the run for the Wildcats and made the score 38-32. Neither team scored the rest of the half.
The teams traded baskets over the first three minutes of the second half and the NYIT lead was 43-38 when the hosts ran off 11 unanswered points. Feiler scored six points during the run, and a triple by Hamilton capped the rally and gave the Bears a 54-38 lead with 13:57 left to play.
The Wildcats managed to get the lead down to 11 points over the next four minutes, and then cut it to six points, 56-50, after Hannah drilled a three-pointer and then canned a jumper following a turnover by the Bears. NYIT regained a double-digit lead after two free throws by Feiler and a layup by Leonard, but a three-pointer by Hannah would start a 10-0 run by the Wildcats. Another triple by Hannah with 4:48 left capped the run and knotted the game at 62-62.
A layup by James with 3:28 left gave the hosts a 67-64 lead, but the Wildcats cut the lead to one following a steal and layup by Wilkes and the visitors then took their first lead of the game after Mehmetaj drilled a three-pointer with 2:07 left. A NYIT turnover led to two free throws by Hamilton with 1:28 to play, before King cut the Daemen lead to two points following a jumper with 57 seconds left. Wilkes canned two free throws with 40 seconds left, and after NYIT came up empty on its next possession Wilkes buried two more from the charity stripe to make it 75-69 with 29 seconds left. Feiler made one-of-two free throws four seconds later, but Wilkes came up big again with two free throws to make it a three possession game with 24 seconds left. In all, the Wildcats went 11-for-12 from the charity stripe over the final 1:28 to secure the win.
Daemen shot 41.5-percent (27-65) from the field overall and canned 7-of-17 from behind the arc. Daemen, which entered the game ranked first among ECC teams in three-pointers made per game, connected on 6-of-9 from downtown after halftime after making just 1-of-8 from behind the arc in the first half. Daemen made 16-of-21 free throws in the second half and finished 19-of-28 from the charity stripe overall. NYIT shot 42-percent (29-69) from the field overall, but was just 5-of-20 from behind the arc. The Bears attempted just 15 free throws in the game and made nine.
NYIT finished with a 48-38 edge in total rebounds, but the hosts turned the ball over 16 times and Daemen converted those miscues into a 19-12 advantage in points off turnovers. The Wildcats also finished with a 38-19 edge in bench points.
Daemen is idle until next Wednesday (Feb. 15) when it travels to league-leading St. Thomas Aquinas College.
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