HOUGHTON, N.Y. - The Daemen Wildcats rebounded from a tough loss in their last outing to blast the Houghton Highlanders 101-41 in a matinee tilt at Houghton's Nielson Center today.  After establishing a 19-point halftime lead, Daemen was able to seal up the victory in the second half as they outscored the home-standing Highlanders 58-17 in the period.  With the win, Daemen ups their record to 14-13 and 9-7 in conference play.  Houghton falls to 6-18, 1-14.

With the game knotted at 7-7 early on, Daemen caught fire as they went on a 21-2 run over the course of five minutes.  The Wildcats made an incredible eight consecutive shots during the run including three 3-point baskets from senior Mujeeb Oridami and two from junior Dominic Mazzocchi.

Houghton did not fold up their tents just yet, however, as they buckled down and responded with a 14-4 spurt of their own.  The Wildcat offense cooled off as they managed just one field goal from the 12:06 mark until 2:41 when Chandler Williams finally broke up the shooting slump.  Williams' bucket sparked the Wildcats as they closed the half on with an 11-1 spurt, capped off by a Jim Regan three-point bomb at the buzzer.

The Wildcats sealed the deal early in the second half as they extended their pre-halftime spurt with an 18-4 run to open the second half, leading 61-28 at that point.  The Daemen lead never got below 30 points from that point on and the largest margin during the game was represented by the final score.

Oridami torched the nets to the tune of 7-of-10 shooting and 4-of-6 from 3-point range to tie a career high with 20 points.  Mazzocchi was next with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, including a 3-for-4 showing from deep.  Mazzocchi added six rebounds as well.

Sophomore Jordan Nolan chipped in with 10 points marking the first double-figure scoring game of his career.  Jim Regan contributed nine points and all 13 Daemen players scored in the game.

Senior Moustapha Baidy and freshman Kadeem Johnson shared the team-lead with seven rebounds apiece.

Mike Munoz led the Highlanders with nine points and four rebounds.  The Daemen defense did a quality job of containing Houghton's leading scorers, Devin Paige and Ryan Shay, who were held to nine points and 3-for-19 shooting combined.

Today's win at Houghton, combined with the other action around the American Mideast Conference, sets up a huge late season matchup when the Wildcats host Roberts Wesleyan in their final regular season home game this coming Tuesday, February 15.

Roberts Wesleyan pulled off the biggest upset of the season thus far as they handed #1 Walsh University its' first loss of the season today, 72-63.  The Raiders sit at 15-11 overall and are a 1/2 game ahead of Daemen in the conference standings at 9-6.  The Raiders will put their six-game winning streak on the line on Tuesday night in a game with big repercussions in the chase for AMC playoff bids.  Tip time is scheduled for 7:30pm.