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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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Remainder Of Men's Basketball Non-Conference Schedule Announced

By: Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications
mbb 2017-18 non-league schedule

Men's Basketball | 8/2/2017 11:15:00 AM

AMHERST, N.Y. - Daemen College Head Men's Basketball Coach Mike MacDonald released the remainder of his team's non-conference opponents, bringing the total number of such contests to 10 for the 2017-18 season. Five of the matchups, including four-straight to open the campaign, will come at the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium where Daemen went 14-2 last season.

"We have always taken great pride in playing a very competitive out-of-conference schedule, and this upcoming year will be no different," said MacDonald who enters his fourth season on the Daemen bench, and his 21st overall as a collegiate head coach.  "By playing teams from the CACC, the PSAC, the Great Midwest and the Northeast-10, we will face off against teams from each of the most powerful conferences in our region, and we will definitely be ready when the East Coast Conference season starts."

Today's announcement comes just days after MacDonald announced the matchups for the season-opening East Coast Conference-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (ECC-CACC) Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC on November 10-11. After facing Felician University and Nyack College in that event, the Wildcats play host to Mercyhurst University out of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference on Tuesday, November 14. It'll mark the fifth-straight season that the Wildcats and Lakers have met with Daemen looking to snap a three-game slide in the series. One year after winning the program's first PSAC championship, Mercyhurst went 14-14 overall and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the PSAC Tournament last season.
 
2017-18 Non-Conference Schedule
Day Date Opponent Conference All-Time Series
Fri. 11/10 vs. Felician CACC 1-0
Sat. 11/11 vs. Nyack CACC 2-1
Tue. 11/14 vs. Mercyhurst PSAC 1-7
Sat. 11/18 vs. Wilmington CACC 2-1
Sun. 11/26 @ Slippery Rock PSAC 1-1
Tue. 11/28 vs. Edinboro PSAC 2-0
Sat. 12/2 @ Lake Erie GMAC 0-0
Sat. 12/30 @ St. Michael's NE-10 1-0
Sun. 12/31 @ St. Rose NE-10 0-1
Wed. 1/3 @ Salem International Independent 3-0
Daemen closes out its season-opening four-game home-stand by hosting Wilmington University (Del.) on Saturday, November 18. Wilmington, out of the CACC, will be making their first trip to Lumsden Gymnasium since falling 109-87 in both teams' 2015-16 season opener. Wilmington is coming off the most successful season of the program's NCAA Division II era which began with the 2004-05 season, posting a 19-10 overall record and hosting their first-ever CACC Tournament contest. They'll enter the 2017-18 season looking to replace the CACC Player of the Year, 5-11 guard Tyaire Ponzo-Meek who was lost to graduation. Daemen enters the season with a 9-3 mark against CACC opponents since 2013-14.

Daemen's first road game comes on Sunday, November 26 at PSAC-affiliate Slippery Rock University. The two teams have split a pair of meetings against one another over the last two seasons with each winning on their home floor. Daemen drew last blood with a 69-57 win at Lumsden Gymnasium last November. SRU went 14-15 overall and 10-12 in PSAC play last season, ultimately falling in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament.

Two days later (Tuesday, November 28), Edinboro University visits Lumsden Gymnasium, marking the third-straight season that Daemen has met the PSAC affiliate. The Wildcats have emerged victorious in each of the previous two meetings, including a 90-79 road win last season which marked the 300th victory of MacDonald's head coaching career. The Fighting Scots are looking to rebound from an 8-18 campaign last season, marking the first time since 1980-81 that they failed to reach the 10-win plateau. All-PSAC selection Jaymon Mason (Sr., G, 6-3, Edinboro, Pa.) returns for his final collegiate season after leading the PSAC in minutes per game (38.2) and ranking second in points per game (23.0) as a junior.

The Wildcats play their third game of the week when traveling southwest to face Lake Erie College on Saturday, December 2. It'll mark the first-ever meeting on the hardwood between Daemen and Lake Erie, an affiliate of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

Returning from the NCAA-mandated holiday break, the Wildcats will play back-to-back road games against Northeast-10 Conference opponents, beginning on Saturday, December 30 when they'll face St. Michael's College. The Wildcats and Purple Knights met for the first time ever last season with the Wildcats scoring a 92-69 home-court victory. It was Daemen's first victory against an NE-10 opponent since the 2004-05 season.

For the second-straight year, Daemen will meet the College of St. Rose on New Year's Eve, this time in Albany at Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium. The Golden Knights were one of the top teams in the East Region last season, finishing the year at 26-8 overall and 15-5 in NE-10 play. After advancing to the semifinal round of their conference tournament, the Golden Knights were awarded the 13th NCAA Tournament bid in team history. In NCAA Tournament play, St. Rose advanced to the East Regional finals where they succumbed to East Coast Conference champ St. Thomas Aquinas College. The Golden Knights are set to return three of their top five scorers, including honorable mention All-NE-10 selection Mical-Ryan Boyd (Sr., G, 6-2, Hempstead, N.Y.).

Daemen's final non-league contest of the 2017-18 regular season occurs on Wednesday, January 3 when the Wildcats visit NCAA Division II independent Salem International University.  The Tigers won just two games last season, but they'll surely be on the upswing with former Division I player and assistant Adam Williams now entering his second season as the team's head coach.  Daemen and SIU have met three times before, all of which came during the 2012-13 season - Daemen's first in its transition to NCAA Division II.  The Wildcats emerged victorious in all three meetings en route to a 27-6 record that season.

Daemen, which will play an exhibition contest at Division I University at Buffalo on November 3, returns three of its top five scorers from last season, headlined by red-shirt sophomore forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) who canned 68 three-pointers to rank third among all East Coast Conference players last season.  Also back is red-shirt junior wing Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) who averaged 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, and junior guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) who has made 40 starts in his first two collegiate seasons.

The Wildcats are coming off a 19-9 season in 2016-17 - the program's sixth consecutive year with at least 19 wins.  In the four seasons since Daemen joined the East Coast Conference and began playing a full Division II schedule, the Wildcats are 80-36 which ranks second among all Division II teams in the state of New York and all East Coast Conference teams for total wins.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen men's basketball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenMBB on Twitter.
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Players Mentioned

Darius Garvin

#12 Darius Garvin

G
6' 1"
Junior
Jeff Redband

#44 Jeff Redband

F
6' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Darius Garvin

#12 Darius Garvin

6' 1"
Junior
G
Jeff Redband

#44 Jeff Redband

6' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
F