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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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Men's Basketball Ranked Ninth In First NCAA East Region Rankings

By: By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications
mbb regional rankings feb 14 2018 revised

Men's Basketball | 2/14/2018 3:15:00 PM

Indianapolis, Ind. - The Daemen College men's basketball team is ranked ninth in the first NCAA Division II East Region rankings of the 2017-18 season, as announced today by the NCAA Men's Basketball Regional Advisory Committee. It marks the first time in Daemen's brief history as an NCAA program that the team has been included in the official regional rankings. 

The East Region of NCAA Division II is comprised of teams from the East Coast Conference, the Northeast-10 Conference and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. The NCAA announces the 10-team regional rankings each of the three Wednesdays prior to the NCAA Championships selection announcement, which will be made this year on Sunday, March 4. Subsequent rankings will be announced on February 21 and February 28. The eight-team NCAA Championships East Regional will consist of three automatic berths and five at-large selections.

Daemen (17-7, 11-3 ECC) has won 12 of their last 13 games, and the Wildcats have already clinched their third straight East Coast Conference Tournament berth. Daemen can finish no worse than fourth in the ECC standings, and they presently sit in third place, just half a game behind second-place Saint Thomas Aquinas College (21-6, 12-3 ECC) which is ranked third in the regional rankings. East Coast Conference-leading University of Bridgeport (21-4, 14-1 ECC) is ranked second, and the rankings are topped by Northeast-10 Conference affiliate Le Moyne College (19-5, 16-1 NE-10). 

Also included in the rankings are: No. 4 College of Saint Rose (18-7, 13-4 NE-10), No. 5 Bloomfield College (20-5, 15-1 CACC), No. 6 Saint Anselm College (18-6, 13-5 NE-10), No. 7 Dominican College (17-7, 11-4 CACC), No. 8 Stonehill College (15-9, 11-7 NE-10) and No. 10 Merrimack College (16-9, 12-6 NE-10).

Daemen holds a 2-3 record this season against teams included in the regional rankings. Both Daemen wins came on the road as they defeated Saint Rose 68-60 on December 31, and Saint Thomas Aquinas 73-66 on February 2. The New Year's Eve win snapped Saint Rose's 14-game home winning streak, and the latter victory over STAC snapped the Spartans' region-best 19-game home winning streak, as well as a 20-game home conference winning streak. Daemen is one of just four teams to hold at least two true road wins against fellow ranked opponents.

Four regular season games remain on the docket for coach Mike MacDonald's Wildcats, beginning with a pair of home contests this weekend. Molloy College (Friday, February 16) and Queens College (Sunday, February18) visit Lumsden Gymnasium where Daemen is 9-3 this season, and 79-13 since the start of the 2011-12 season. Daemen will close the regular season with road games at Long Island University Post (Friday, February 23) and New York Institute of Technology (Sunday, February 25). The ECC Tournament begins with first round games on Wednesday, February 28. The tournament semifinals (Saturday, March 3) and finals (Sunday, March 4) will be held at the Voller Athletic Center on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester. 

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



 
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