AMHERST, N.Y. – Daemen College basketball standouts
Sarah Saba (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster) and
Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) have been named the College's Student-Athletes of the Month presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC for January 2018.
Saba collects the honor for the second straight month. A six-foot senior guard, she averaged 18.8 points and 7.6 rebounds during a 5-3 month. She opened the month by playing 47 minutes and totaling 23 points, five rebounds and seven assists in a triple overtime loss to rival Roberts Wesleyan College. Additional highlights of the month included back-to-back double-doubles during wins over New York Institute of Technology and Molloy College, and a 21-point effort in a win over Mercy College. She played all 40 minutes and totaled 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 79-76 win over NYIT—Daemen's first-ever win over the Bears. She once again played all 40 minutes in a 55-50 win over Molloy five days later and totaled 24 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. She also contributed 21 assists, 13 blocks and 11 steals during the month.
Saba has scored in double figures in 20 consecutive games this season, the longest streak of her career, and she leads the East Coast Conference in scoring average at 18.2 points per game. She leads the team in rebounds per game (7.2), field goals made (137) and attempted (335), free throws made (85) and attempted (118), steals (30) and minutes (694).
A two-time first-team all-conference selection, she became the sixth player in program history to score 1,500 career points during the triple overtime loss to Roberts Wesleyan. She has played in all 102 games over the past four seasons (98 as a starter) and has totaled 1,640 points (16.1 ppg), 719 rebounds (7.0 rpg), 206 assist, 148 blocks and 135 steals. She ranks sixth in career points, 10th in career rebounds and seventh in career blocks among Daemen's all-time leaders. She has scored in double figures in 88 of her 102 career games and has registered 22 career double-doubles.
Daemen (9-12, 6-5 ECC) has won four of its last five games and returns to play tonight (Feb, 2) with an ECC game at regionally-ranked Saint Thomas Aquinas College.
Harris, a 5-foot-9 sophomore guard, shot 59-percent (50-for-85) from the field overall and connected on 12-of-28 (43%) three-point attempts, while averaging 14.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.0 steals during an 8-1 month. He opened the month with 15 points in a non-league win over Salem University, and would go on to earn ECC Player of the Week honors after averaging 16.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.7 steals during league wins over the University of the District of Columbia, Long Island University Post and NYIT. He played 36 minutes, went a perfect 9-for-9 from the field and totaled 23 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals in a 93-82 win over NYIT. His most impressive effort of the month came in a loss to nationally-ranked University of Bridgeport this past weekend when he single-handedly sparked the Wildcats back from a 24-point deficit, as he scored 22 points in the final 13:17 of the game, during which Wildcats outscored the Purple Knights 33-15. Harris finished the game 10-of-16 from the field with a career-high 28 points. He also added seven rebounds, six steals and two assists.
Daemen stood at 5-6 on the year before Harris was inserted into the starting lineup prior to a 68-60 win at regionally-ranked College of Saint Rose on Dec. 31. The Wildcats are 9-1 with Harris in the starting five, and have appeared in the D2SIDA East Region poll the past three weeks. Harris has averaged 14.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.8 steals as a starter.
For the season, he has played in all 21 games and is averaging 8.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.2 steals. He ranks third among all ECC players in steals (47).
Daemen (14-7, 8-3 ECC) returns to play tonight (Feb, 2) with an ECC game at regionally-ranked Saint Thomas Aquinas College.
Additional student-athletes considered for Athlete of the Month honors included Katja Meyer (Verona, N.Y.) of the women's track and field team,
Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) of the men's basketball team, Rodney Corbin (Williamsville, N,Y.) of the men's track and field team and Alonzo Rodriguez-Spencer (Buffalo, N.Y.) of the men's track and field team.
