Box Score

Daemen (24-5) 43-35--78
Salem International (9-15) 30-38--68

SALEM, W. Va. - One of the oldest cliches in sports is that it's difficult to defeat the same team three times in one season, a feat that the Daemen College men's basketball team pulled off, albeit not as convincingly as in previous games, with a 78-68 victory over Salem International University at T. Edward Davis Gymnasium today.

The Wildcats owned a pair of 20-plus point victories against SIU already this season, defeating the Tigers 86-66 on Dec. 7 in the opening round of the Tigers' Joe Manchin Classic, before posting a 113-90 win in the team's home finale on Jan. 26.

With the victory today, Daemen (24-5) ties the team record for wins in a season held by head coach Don Silveri's 1999-00 and 2003-04 teams.

"It was ugly at times today but we'll take it," Silveri said.  "We competed much better at the defensive end today which is something we've been stressing recently.  We can't just rely on outscoring teams."

On tying a prestigious team record, Silveri said, "This team works as hard as any team I've ever had.  The proof is in the pudding.  They've had a spectacular year so far and they deserve to be mentioned as one of the best teams Daemen has ever had.   We're not done though.  We've got one more regular season game and hopefully some national tournament games still to come."

The Daemen defense was stingy at the outset as SIU (9-15) misfired on 26 of its first 29 shots, allowing Daemen to open up a 30-10 lead.

Shots started to drop for the hosts as they outscored Daemen 20-13 in the final 6:29 of the opening half, cutting the Wildcat lead to just 13 at the break (43-30).

A quick 7-2 spurt at the start of the second half gave Daemen some more breathing room as they led by 18 with 18:29 left to play (50-32).  The run featured a dunk and a layup by sophomore forward Gerald Beverly (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) and an old-fashioned three-point play from junior forward Uchechi Ogbonna (Hicksville, N.Y./Erie CC).

The Tigers responded with a 9-1 run of their own to pull within 10 points (51-41) with 13:44 remaining on a pair of free throws by Walter Brock (Brooklyn, N.Y.).

Daemen got two free throws from Ogbonna to interrupt the Tiger run but a basket by Brock on their next possession put the deficit at 10 once again (53-43) with 13:14 remaining.

Junior guard Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) banged home a three-pointer on Daemen's next possession to push the lead back to 13 with 12:58 left (56-43).

Brock would hit two more freebies to cut the Daemen lead back to 10 again  at 57-47 with 10:29 left before Daemen got a jumper by Sheehan and a dunk by senior forward Jim Regan (Williamsville, N.Y./Nichols) to run it back up to 14 (61-47) with under 10 minutes to play.

SIU's Kenneth McCornell (Cleveland, Ohio) hit a three-pointer to cut the Daemen lead to 11 (61-50) at the 8:53 mark but the Wildcats rattled off eight straight points including four on free throws by sophomore forward Jordan Greene (Fort Edward, N.Y./South Glens Falls) to lead 69-50 with 5:49 remaining.

SIU would not go away, however, as McCornell snapped their three minute scoring drought with two free throws to spark a 14-3 run that saw them cut the deficit to just seven (72-65) with 1:54 to go.  McCornell, who scored a game-high 27 points, accounted for eight points in the spurt which was capped by a trey-ball from Alex Webb (Pineville, W. Va.).  The Widcats missed three throws, two layups and a dunk during the SIu spurt, allowing the hosts to get back into the game.

Sheehan then drove baseline and found Regan for a clutch basket at the 1:45 mark and, after a key defensive stop, Greene added two more from the chairty stripe, pushing the Daemen lead back to double figures (76-65) with 1:13 to play.

SIU's David Williams (Canonsburg, Pa.) would hit a three-pointer with 22 ticks remaining but junior guard Mark Coppola (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) quieted the raucous home crowd with two free throws in the waning seconds to provide the winning margin.

Beverly paced the victors with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting.  He hauled in nine rebounds and blocked three shots as well.

Regan, Coppola and Ogbonna scored 11 points apiece for Daemen.  Regan added a career-best 14 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.  Coppola added five assists and Ogbonna's points came in a reserve role, helping Daemen outscore SIU 24-16 off the bench.

Sheehan chipped in with 10 points and three steals while junior forward Kadeem Johnson (Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger) had 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals.

After McCornell's 27 which came on 7-of-19 from the field (5-for-12 from three-point range), Brock contributed 13 points for the Tigers.

Dexter Batts, Jr. (Clinton, Md.) was just 1-for-14 from the field but did haul in 14 rebounds.  Jonathan Roper (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) added eight points and 11 boards.

With 54 fouls called when the teams last met, it figured to be a physical, intense affair and the two teams lived up to their billing in that regard.  52 fouls were whistled and the teams combined to attempt 76 free throws.

Daemen connected on 33-of-50 (66-percent) from the free throw line and held a 56-52 advantage in the rebounding column.  Daemen collected 25 offensive rebounds in the game but surrendered a season-high 29 offensive boards to SIU who converted them into 21 points.

The Wildcats also overcame 25 turnovers which resulted in 17 Tiger points.

Daemen will close out its 2012-13 regular season when it visits former American Mideast Conference rival Point Park University next Wed. (Feb. 13).  The Wildcats and Pioneers have developed quite a rivalry through the years with Daemen owning a 12-11 edge in the all-time series, including a season sweep last year.  Tipoff on Wed. is set for 7pm from the CCAC-South Gymnasium in West Mifflin, Pa.  After that, the Wildcats will await their postseason fate with bids to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division I National Tournament expected to be announced on Friday, Feb. 15.