HOUGHTON, NY - For the third time this season the Daemen Wildcats have established a three-game winning streak after using a strong second half effort to defeat the host Houghton Highlanders 75-59 at the Nielsen Athletic Center tonight. The win has Daemen sitting at a season-best five games over .500 (14-9) as they match their win total from a season ago (14-15) with five regular season games still to play. More importantly, the win keeps Daemen (6-1 AMC), whose now won six of their last seven, locked in a first place tie with Walsh in American Mideast Conference play (Walsh plays at Wilberforce later tonight). The win also marks Daemen's 15th consecutive over the Highlanders as the Wildcats now lead the all-time series 25-2. Houghton, meanwhile, falls to 7-11, 0-5.

After leading by just two at intermission (34-32), the Wildcats seemed like a more determined team in the pivotal second half. Daemen out-rebounded 22-13 in the opening stanza and failed to grasp a single offensive rebound, but toughened up on the interior and won the battle of the boards with a 27-14 effort in the second half.

"We talked at halftime about 'manning up' and playing tougher, especially with our rebounding," said Daemen head coach Don Silveri. "I was much happier with our effort all the way around in the second half and the proof is in the pudding - it shows on the scoreboard."

Senior forward Dom Mazzocchi paced the Wildcats with a game-high 18 points to go with five rebounds and two blocked shots. Junior Jim Regan was next with 13 points while also keying Daemen's second half rebounding surge, finishing the game with eight boards.

Freshman forward Gerald Beverly came off the bench to toss in 11 points including two on a thunderous put-back slam in the second half. Sophomore guard Casey Sheehan added 10 points and four rebounds and four assists.

Chris Confair led the Highlanders with 11 points, albeit six points less than his season average. Mike Munoz added nine points and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action. Munoz, the leading rebounder in NAIA II, fouled out with over 11:47 remaining after being whistled for his fourth personal foul and a subsequent technical foul with his team trailing by just three at that point (47-44).

Daemen will look to gain their first four-game winning streak of the season this Saturday when they travel to Point Park for a key conference contest and their final game of this current stretch of five-in-a-row on the road. Tip-off on Saturday is set for 5:30pm.