AMHERST, NY - The Daemen College men's basketball team snapped a two-game losing skid and jumped back over the .500 mark for the season (3-2) with a hard-fought win over Mercyhurst University, a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), winning 69-63, before a packed Lumsden Gymnasium.  This marked Daemen's first win in the all-time series against Mercyhurst (15 meetings).

The win also extended Daemen's home winning streak to 25 straight.  The Wildcats have now gone 26-1 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season and have won 79-percent (82-21) of their home games over the past eight seasons.

Senior guard Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) scored a team-high 19 points and collected five rebounds and five assists to lead the Wildcats. Junior Gerald Beverly (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) and senior Uchechi Ogbonna (Hicksville, N.Y./Erie CC) both contributed 15 points and seven rebounds to the Daemen cause.

The two teams traded baskets in the first few minutes of the game as Mercyhurst found their only lead of the night (6-4) at the 16:01 mark off a layup by Callon Dailey. The Wildcats then claimed the lead for the rest of the game after going on a 9-1 run. An alley-oop pass from Sheehan who found Beverly for a monstrous two-handed jam capped the spurt and gave the hosts a 13-7 lead with 13:44 left before halftime. 

Senior forward Kadeem Johnson (Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger) knocked down a three-pointer at the 6:12 mark putting Daemen up 28-24. Johnson saw his first action of the season as he returned from an injury that caused him to miss the first four games this year. Despite shooting just 38-percent (12 –for-32), the Lakers kept the score within reach for the rest of the first half. The hosts led by double digits (39-29) after a Tom Escott (Amherst, N.Y./St. Joseph's) layup with thirty-six seconds to go but Mercyhurst's Jonathan Ouegnin answered with a quick layup of his own leaving the score 39-31 at intermission.

The Lakers were able to weather the initial storm and fought back in the beginning of the second half to cut the Daemen lead 41-39 after a layup by Andy Hoying with 16:53 left to go in the game. Once again the two teams traded baskets until Daemen found their largest lead of the night after going on a 10-0 run midway through the second half (55-44, 9:17).

From there, the remainder of the game was essentially a back-and-forth affair until the Lakers seized the momentum and brought the game back within three points after a layup by H'ian Hale with under a minute to go. Mercyhurst was then called for a foul and a technical in which Daemen would go 3-for-4 at the free throw line leaving the final margin at 69-63. 

Daemen held the visitors to 37-percentshooting from the field (25-for-67) while the Wildcats went 22-for-46 (48-percent). The Wildcats also went 50-percent (4-for-8) from three-point range while the Lakers went 4-for-12 (33-percent).  Daemen outscored Mercyhurst 21-9 at the free throw line as well.

Hoying, a sophomore forward, scored a team-high 13 points and had five rebounds while teammate Jean Onana chipped in 11 points and four steals for the Lakers.

Daemen remained without regular starter Mark Coppola (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) who continues to work his way back from an injury as well. Today's game was designated "Amherst Youth Basketball Day" at Lumsden Gymnasium as AYB teams treated the fans in attendance to a mini-game at halftime.

Next up for Daemen is a date with East Coast Conference rival Roberts Wesleyan College on Tuesday night (Nov. 26) at 8 p.m. in Rochester at the Voller Athletic Center which will mark Daemen's first-ever ECC game. Daemen's next home game is not until Jan. 12 when it hosts the University of the District of Columbia in an ECC game at 3 p.m.