Casey Sheehan was honored for scoring his 1,000th point against Point Park on Feb. 13, 2013

AMHERST, N.Y. - Before a standing-room-only crowd at Lumsden Gymnasium tonight, the Daemen College men's basketball team scored an 87-75 victory over Medaille College in the Wildcats' final exhibition game of the preseason as they tune up for next weekend's regular season openers in the Knee Center of Western New York Tip-Off Classic.
 

Daemen made 49-percent (33-67) of its shots in the contest, with a 51-percent clip (16-for-31) in the first half. The Wildcats also went 86-percent (19-22) from the free-throw line.
 

Four players reached double figures for the Wildcats. Junior forward Gerald Beverly (Rochester, NY/Gates Chili) led the way for Daemen as he connected on 11-15 from the field, finishing with 25 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Greene (Fort Edward, N.Y./South Glens Falls) added 11 points for the hosts, while senior Uchechi Ogbonna (Hicksville, N.Y./Erie CC) netted 22 points and 8 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench for the Wildcats. Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) turned in a solid all-around effort with 18 points, six assists and two steals.
 
Jammal Coleman, the Preseason Player of the Year in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, paced the Mavericks with 20 points and 4 assists.
 
The Wildcats led the entire ball game. The two teams traded baskets in the opening stanza until Daemen went on a 7-0 run which was led by Sheehan and Beverly. The Wildcats picked up the momentum off an alley-op from Sheehan to Beverly with 12:10 left to go in the half. Beverly then hit a jumper the next time down the court to put Daemen up 19-13. The run was capped when Sheehan hustled after his own rebound and connected on a three-point play putting the Wildcats up 22-13.  The Mavericks hit three-pointers on three different occasions to keep themselves into the game, cutting the hosts' lead to eight (34-26) at the 3:43 mark.

Greene opened up the second half with a triple for Daemen, but the teams once again traded baskets, leaving the score at 53-45 with 14:23 left to play. The Wildcats would slowly but surely make a gap in which the Mavericks were not able to come back from. With 8:10 left in the game, Daemen found themselves up twelve after a monstrous Ogbonna dunk assisted by senior guard Mark Coppola (Williamsville, N.Y. / Williamsville South). The Mavericks came no closer than 10 points down the stretch leaving the final score at 87-75.
 
"I'm pretty pleased with how we played tonight," said veteran bench boss Don Silveri.  "Medaille is good, well-coached team that will be right in the mix for their conference championship so anytime you can pick up a win against a team like that you have to be happy.  We have some things to work on before our next game.  It's early and we're a work in progress but we'll get there."

Silveri was also pleased with the atmosphere that tonight's game provided.

"I think tonight may have been the biggest crowd we've ever had here in my 25 years," he said.  "It certainly didn't feel like an exhibition game.  The crowd was into it and it gave the game more of a playoff-type atmosphere.  With two good local teams going at it, this was a win-win for the community.  Plus, with how well we played at Canisius on Monday night, I think the word is getting out around town that we have a quality team that's pretty fun to watch."

Daemen forced 17 turnovers in the game, which resulted in 20 points for the hosts. The Mavericks connected on just 12-of-28 shots in the opening half and finished 27-of-55 (49%) for the game. The hosts also held a 54-28 advantage in points in the paint.

Sheehan was also honored before the game for scoring his 1,000^th point in last year's final regular season game against Point Park University.

Daemen is idle until next weekend when it hosts the Knee Center of Western New York Tip-Off Classic.  The Wildcats open their regular season on Friday (Nov. 8) against Ohio Valley University (8 p.m.) before taking on Goldey-Beacom College on Saturday (Nov. 9, 4 p.m.).  East Coast Conference member Roberts Wesleyan College will also partake in the weekend's activities, facing Goldey-Beacom on Friday (6 p.m.) and Ohio Valley on Saturday (4 p.m.) at Lumsden Gymnasium.