AMHERST, NY - In a back-and-forth affair it was the Daemen Wildcats who made the plays down the stretch to pull out a hard fought 80-73 victory over the visiting Walsh Cavaliers at Lumsden Gymnasium today. The win snaps Daemen's three-game losing skid and keeps the Wildcats (9-8, 2-0 AMC) unbeaten in conference play. Walsh falls to 12-3, 3-1.
"This is exactly the reason why we play the schedule that we play," said a jubilant Don Silveri afterwards. "We may be one game over .500 overall but those games against those tough teams that we've played in our non-conference schedule has prepared us for our conference season and games like today vs. Walsh."
In a game that featured 11 ties and 16 lead changes, the Wildcats were left as the "last man standing", as they used a 14-2 run to close things out, erasing what was a five point deficit, 71-66, with 3:07 to play.
Senior forward
Dom Mazzocchi (Geneva, NY/Finger Lakes CC) and junior forward
Jim Regan (Williamsville, NY/Nichols HS) led the way for Daemen as each canned 20 points on identical 9-for-16 shooting performances. Regan added nine rebounds and three blocked shots as his fine play of late continued. Mazzocchi also contributed five boards and a team-high six assists.
Daemen also got a stellar effort from senior guard
Devon Dawson (Buffalo, NY/St. Joe's HS) who came off the bench and put forth his finest effort of the season. Dawson finished with 18 points and six rebounds while also picking up two steals. By doing so, Dawson moved past Therreon Blackwell (2002-2006) as the team's all-time record holder for career steals with 185.
Sophomore guard
Casey Sheehan (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena HS) returned to the lineup after missing the last three games with an injury and sparked the team in the second half with his usual array of drives and dishes as well as a couple of three-point bombs. Sheehan finished the night with 15 points and four assists.
Walsh got a game-high 21 points from their top gun, forward Ron Kinney. Forward L.J. Sutton added 15 points and 10 rebounds while point guard Brad DuPont also registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists.
Next up for Daemen is a date with conference rival Roberts Wesleyan on Tuesday night at 8 in Rochester, before returning home to face Wilberforce on Thursday at 7:30pm.
