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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
sarkis mbb @ rwc 2018 8
92
Winner Daemen DAEM 21-7, 15-3 ECC
68
NYIT NYITM 5-25, 3-15 ECC
Winner
Daemen DAEM
21-7, 15-3 ECC
92
Final
68
NYIT NYITM
5-25, 3-15 ECC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen DAEM 43 49 92
NYIT NYITM 33 35 68

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

Wildcats Close Regular Season With Road Win Over NYIT

Daemen Earns No. 3 Seed In Upcoming ECC Tournament

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. - Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) matched his career-high with 24 points to lead a quintet of double-figure scorers as the Daemen College men's basketball team scored a 92-68 victory over New York Institute of Technology in their regular season finale at Recreation Hall today. Daemen, which is ranked in eighth in the latest NCAA East Region poll, improved to 21-7 overall and 15-3 in East Coast Conference play. The Wildcats have now won seven straight, and 16 of their last 17 games. NYIT saw its modest two-game winning streak snapped, ending their season at 5-25 overall and 3-15 in the league.

Today's win propelled Daemen into a tie with Saint Thomas Aquinas College (24-6, 15-3 ECC) for second place in the final ECC standings. Because the tie could not be broken by the conference's tiebreaker system, a coin flip was won by STAC for the No. 2 seed in the upcoming ECC Tournament. STAC and top-seeded University of Bridgeport (24-4, 17-1 ECC) receive byes into the semifinal round. Daemen is seeded third and will host No. 6 Roberts Wesleyan College in the first round this Wednesday, Feb. 28 at Lumsden Gymnasium. Fourth-seeded Long Island University Post hosts fifth-seeded Molloy College in the other first round game Wednesday.

Sarkis shot 8-for-13 from the field, including 6-for-9 from three-point range en route to his fifth 20-point game of the season. The six three-pointers are the most Sarkis has ever hit in a game for the Wildcats, and he ends the regular season with 63 triples, tied for third in the league. The redshirt sophomore guard also matched his career-high with six rebounds, and he tallied four assists to bring his season total to 100. He's the first Daemen player with 100 assists in a season since Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y.) totaled 109 during the 2014-15 season.

Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.), Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.), Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) and Aleks Miljenovic (Belgrade, Serbia) also reached double figures for the Wildcats. Redband hit 6-of-11 field goal attempts and 4-of-7 three-pointers as part of his second straight 18-point outing. The 6-foot-7 redshirt sophomore has made at least four three-pointers in back-to-back games, and he finishes the regular season with 64 triples, second-best in the league. Harris notched 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and added four assists and three steals. Sischo narrowly missed a double-double (12 points, nine rebounds) while posting his 20th consecutive game with at least 10 points. Miljenovic came off the bench to score 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. The Wildcats also got a solid floor game from junior guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y.) who recorded eight points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.

The loss spoiled a tremendous effort by NYIT junior forward Jeffrey Hayden (Harlem, N.Y.) who posted a game-high 29 points. Hayden, who finished the season as the ECC's leading scorer (23.2 ppg), shot 13-for-27 from the field and added nine boards. Senior forward Domonic Josephs (Far Rockaway, N.Y.), playing in the final game of his career, was the only other NYIT player to reach double figures, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Sarkis and Sischo combined for 12 points in a game-opening 15-2 run which saw the Wildcats establish a lead that it would never relinquish. Daemen went on to lead by as many as 19 points in the period before NYIT closed on a 12-3 run of their own to trim the Daemen lead to 43-33 at halftime.

The Daemen lead ballooned to 21 points, first on Sarkis' layup at the 14:10 mark (62-41) and again on a Garvin jumper with 13:35 to go (64-43). NYIT responded with a 16-2 run over the next four minutes. Josephs and Hayden scored six points apiece in the spurt. Hayden's layup at the 9:42 mark brought NYIT within seven points, trailing 66-59. Daemen quickly regained control as Garvin's jumper on the ensuing possession ignited an 8-0 run which re-established a double-figure advantage. NYIT never got closer than 12 points for the remainder of the contest, and Harris' dunk at the 1:33 mark provided the exclamation point as the Daemen lead bulged to its widest margin at 92-68.

After shooting under 40 percent in Friday's win over LIU Post, the Wildcats regrouped offensively to shoot 52.2 percent from the field today (35-for-67), including a stifling 13-for-27 (48.1%) from three-point range. NYIT managed 43.7 percent shooting (31-for-71), but they were a chilly 4-for-14 (28.6%) from downtown and just 2-for-5 from the charity stripe. 

The defensive effort helped Daemen end the regular season as the ECC's leader in points per game allowed (71.2), field goal percentage defense (41.2%) and three-point field goal percentage defense (32.9%). The Wildcats are 12-1 this season when holding teams to less than 70 points.

The offensive output marked Daemen's fourth game with at least 90 points this season. The Wildcats are 63-2 since the start of the 2009-10 season when scoring at least 90 points. 

Today's win gives Daemen a 10-4 mark in road games this season. It also extended the Wildcats' winning streak in the all-time series with NYIT to six straight. Daemen owns a 7-3 edge in the all-time series.

Daemen returns to action Wednesday when they'll officially make their third consecutive ECC Tournament berth. The Wildcats have won 14 consecutive meetings with Roberts Wesleyan, and the longtime rivals will be meeting in postseason play for the first time since the 2011-12 season when both were members of the now-defunct American Mideast Conference. Tip-off Wednesday is slated for 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the semifinals on Saturday, March 3 at the Voller Athletic Center on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan. 
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