FORT WAYNE, IN - The Hoosier State proved to be an inhospitable place for the Daemen Wildcats again today as the defending national runner-up St. Francis Cougars topped Daemen 73-59, employing a 3-2 matchup zone defense to hold the Wildcats to their lowest point total of the season. The Cougars improved to 7-5 on the season and picked up their second straight win. Daemen, which managed just 39% shooting for the game (22-for-57), closes out a season-long eight-game road stretch at 4-4 putting them at 5-5 overall.

"We came out flat today and I was worried about that given the effort we put forth last night (71-69 loss at #6 Grace)," said Daemen head coach Don Silveri. "Playing the way we did to open the game usually spells disaster when you're on the road playing a quality opponent who was well-rested after not playing last night.  That's not an excuse though - we need to come ready to play and we didn't do that today."

The Wildcats looked out of sorts to open the game and immediately trailed 14-4 in the opening minutes prompting Silveri to call a timeout. It took some time but the team did respond with a little spurt to get themselves going, but still trailed 35-22 at the half.

To open the second half, Daemen got the ball rolling and erased more than half the deficit in the first 5:30 of the period, trailing by six at 41-35. It was then that a personal foul and subsequent technical foul whistled on Daemen paved the way for a four-point Cougar possession, stretching the lead back to 10, and began an extended spurt by the home team to put the game out of reach. Daemen never seriously threatened the Cougar lead from that point on.

Q Owens, a returning 2nd Team NAIA All-American, was as good as advertised as he pumped in a game-high 28 points while shooting 4-for-5 from three-point range and 10-for-11 from the charity stripe. Kevin Dawson chipped in 12 points to the Cougar cause.

The lone bright spot for Daemen was the play of sophomore guard Casey Sheehan (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena HS) who looked unguardable at times on his way to a team-best 24 points. Senior Devon Dawson (Buffalo, NY/St. Joe's HS) added 10 points while freshman Gerald Beverly (Rochester, NY/Gates Chili HS) tied Sheehan for the team lead with five rebounds.

After an extended period away from home, the Wildcats will return to the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium next week, albeit against another highly ranked opponent. The Wildcats host #3 Davenport at 3pm on Saturday, December 17 in a rematch of a November 17 game that saw the Wildcats lose by 10 in Grand Rapids, MI.

"I'm certainly looking forward to playing a home game for a change," Silveri added. "We're getting doubled up from the free throw line every game right now. Maybe we can reverse that trend in our own gym."