ERIE, Pa. - In what has become a disturbing trend, the Daemen Wildcats found themselves in a big hole early in the second half tonight to NCAA Division II Northern Michigan before mounting a near-impossible comeback, turning a laugher into a tight ball game in the opening round of the 27th Annual Gary Miller Classic hosted by Gannon University. When the final buzzer sounded, Northern Michigan walked off with an 82-80 win dropping Daemen to 2-5 on the season. The Wildcats, who found themselves down by as many as 27 points, were given a standing ovation by the Gannon fans for their second half comeback attempt.
Northern Michigan gained control of the game in the first half as they put together a 15-0 run over the course of five minutes, making the score 27-8. Daemen's Dominic Mazzocchi hit a layup and was fouled on the play to stop the bleeding, but only temporarily. NMU would score the next eight points, pushing their lead to 36-11 at the 7:04 mark of the first half. Daemen would string a few buckets together towards the end of the half, which saw NMU lead 46-24. All-in-all, Daemen wouldn't have hit water had they fallen out of boat, so-to-speak, in the opening stanza as they shot a paltry 7-for-38 (18%) from the field, including 2-for-15 (13%) from three-point range.
The second half was a different story as the underdog Wildcats erupted for 56 points. Daemen was able to get their deficit to a somewhat manageable level on the strength of a 10-0 run from 13:35 to the 12:00 minute mark, cutting the NMU edge to 13 points at 56-43. The lead stayed in the teens as the team's traded baskets for essentially the next eight minutes before Daemen put together another run.
With NMU up 73-58 with 4:12 remaining, Daemen rattled off 15 unanswered, capped by a three-point basket by freshman
Aaron Davis with 1:12 to go which knotted the score at 73-73.
NMU responded with a bucket by Matthew Craggs to end the Daemen spurt and regain the lead at 75-73 with 0:50 left. Freshman guard
Casey Sheehan had a good look at a three-pointer on Daemen's next possession which would have given Daemen its first lead of the game, but it was for naught as it caromed off the rim into the waiting arms of NMU's Raymont McElroy. From there, McElroy went 6-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to ice the game for NMU.
6'10" Jared Benson paced NMU, who moved to 3-1 on the season, with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting. McElroy, thanks to his clutch free throw shooting, was next with 14 points to go with seven assists. Mylan Murphy and DeAndre Taylor put home 13 points apiece while Murphy added a game-high 16 rebounds. Chris Paquin, who made his first start of the season, rounded out the NMU double figure scorers with 10 points along with six steals.
Mazzocchi pumped in a game-high 32 points for Daemen, giving him his second 30+ point performance of the season.
Jim Regan and
Moustapha Baidy reached double figures with 10 points apiece while Baidy added a career-high 14 rebounds. Sheehan suffered through a tough shooting night but still managed nine points, seven rebounds and five assists. Davis chipped in with eight off the bench, six of which came during the key run late in the ballgame. Freshman guard
Mark Coppola was flying around the court as usual as he finished with eight points and five assists.
Daemen moves on to the consolation game of the tournament-style Gary Miller Classic at Gannon's Hammermill Center where they'll face AMC foe Cedarville who currently sits at #14 in the NAIA II poll. Cedarville was an 84-71 loser to the host Golden Knights in the nightcap on Friday. Tip-off Saturday is slated for 6pm.
