MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - Daemen's six-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday night as the host Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars rode some consistent shooting to an 87-72 victory over the Wildcats. The loss drops Daemen to 9-8 overall and 4-2 in American Mideast Conference play while the Cougars snap a three-game slide to improve to 10-6, 3-1.
After leading by as many as 11 points in the first half, Daemen slowly saw it's lead evaporate as they went cold from the field while Mount Vernon remained relatively consistent throughout. The Cougars hit on 27 of their 50 field goal attemps (54%) while also knocking down 8-of-13 from three-point range (62%) and 25-of-31 from the charity stripe (81%).
The visiting Wildcats did not enjoy the same consistency and it cost them as they managed to shoot just 35% for the game (24-for-68), including a dismal 28% showing (10-for-36) in the pivotal second half. To compound matters, the Wildcats launched a season-high 37 three point attempts and only connected on 10 (27%).
With Daemen enjoying its' largest lead of the ballgame at 26-15 with 8:39 to go in the first half, the Cougars outscored the visitors 26-11 in the remainder of the half to establish a four-point halftime lead (41-37). Junior forward Dominic Mazzocchi canned 14 of his team-high 20 points in the opening half but he was matched by Cougar guard Robbie Taylor who hit two three-pointers in the final 48 seconds of the half to put his team ahead.
From there, the Cougars would never relinquesh the lead. After Daemen cut the deficit to one at 58-57 on a jumper by senior
Mujeeb Oridami, the Cougars responded with a game-changing 11-0 run which included back-to-back threes by Taylor and Danil Zakhlebnyy and an old-fashioned three-point play by Brandon Short. The Wildcats never got closer than nine points the rest of the game.
Taylor came through for the Cougars with a game-high 26 points to go with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Short put up a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards while also dishing a game-high seven assists. Freshman big man Jordan Heatherly and freshman wing Austin Semple also came up big with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Mazzocchi's 20 points paced the Wildcats in defeat. Sophomore
Jim Regan came off the bench to notch 14 points - his fourth consecutive game in double figures - to go with seven boards and three blocked shots. Oridami added a double-double of his own with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Little time remains for the Wildcats to lick their wounds as they head to Cedarville on Saturday in another key AMC contest. Tip-off is slated for 3:30pm.
