Daemen (7-1) 34-41—75
Taylor (3-3) 34-38—72

UPLAND, Ind. - The Daemen College men's basketball team got 21 points, four rebounds and three steals from junior guard Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) en route to a hard fought 75-72 victory over the host Taylor Trojans tonight at Oble Arena.

With the win, Daemen improved to 7-1 on the season, jumping back into the win column after a heartbreaking 80-79 defeat at Molly College (N.Y.) in their last outing.  Taylor, of the NAIA's Crossroads League and receiving votes in the pre-season NAIA Division II National Poll, fell to 3-3 on the season with the loss.

"This was a solid road victory tonight against a quality opponent," said Daemen head coach Don Silveri.  "We weathered the storm early on and responded with quality play, especially from our starting unit."

The Wildcats managed to withstand a barrage of three-point shooting from Taylor as the Trojans connected on 13-of-29 (45%) from the land of plenty in the contest. 

The Trojans, playing their second home game of the week, opened up a 32-21 lead with 4:37 remaining in the first half on a free throw by senior guard Casey Coons (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) before Daemen closed the half on a 13-2 run to tie the score at 34-all.  Daemen got three-point baskets from senior Jim Regan (Williamsville, N.Y./NIchols) and juniors Mark Coppola (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) and Alvin Satram (New Port Richey, Fla./Pasco-Hernando CC) during the spurt.

After the teams traded baskets on their opening possessions of the second half, Daemen used a 15-5 run to establish a 10-point lead at 51-41 with 14:14 remaining on a bucket by Regan.  Keying the run was sophomore center Gerald Beverly (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) and Sheehan who combined for 11 points in the run.

Taylor jumped back into it with a 8-1 spurt of their own, thanks in large part to two Coons' three-pointers, cutting the Daemen lead to 54-51 with 9:55 to play.

Sheehan then rattled off six-straight points to put Daemen back ahaead 60-51 with 7:14 remaining in the pivotal second half.

The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes before back-to-back layups by Daemen's Beverly and Satram ran the Wildcat edge back to double figures at 66-55 with 3:52 to go.

Then, after the Wildcats led by 11 with 1:18 to play, shaky Daemen free throw shooting saw the visitors' lead shrink from 11 to two with 16 seconds left. 

Daemen missed four straight free throws in the span while the hosts just would not go away.  Two free throws from senior big man Nate Kasper (Valparaiso, Ind./Wheeling) cut the deficit to nine with 1:01 to play.  Taylor's Tyler Waite (Pittsboro, Ind./Tri-West) then scored a putback on the Trojans' next possession, finally converting after Daemen surrendered four offensive rebounds on the possession.  A three-pointer from Tommy Peller (Valparaiso, Ind./Chesterton) and another two-pointer from Peller saw the Daemen lead extinguished to just two at 73-71.

Coppola, fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass, converted his two freebies to more-or-less seal the deal for Daemen.

Sheehan scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half.  Beverly was equally as good in the second stanza with 12 of his 16 points while also collecting six boards in the contest.  Beverly's night was punctuated on an alley-oop slam dunk off a Sheehan feed in the final minutes.

Regan finished with 11 points and six boards for Daemen.  The Wildcats also received nine points, five rebounds and three assists from junior forward Kadeem Johnson (Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger).  Coppola finished with eight points and a game-high five assists.

Coons led the Trojans with a game-high 25 points after converting on 7-of-15 from three-point range.  Peller and Kasper notched 17 points apiece but the hosts managed no more than six points from any other player.

Daemen has a short turn-around time before facing Indiana Wesleyan tomorrow (Nov. 17) at 3pm.  IWU is ranked #4 in the latest NAIA Division II National Poll.