Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 - 8 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
Live Stats / Live Video

Mercy vs. Daemen
Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 - 3 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
Live Stats / Live Video

THE MATCHUPS: The Daemen College men's basketball team kicks off a stretch of seven-straight home games by hosting St. Thomas Aquinas (Jan. 24) and Mercy (Jan. 26) in East Coast Conference (ECC) action…Daemen is currently in third place in the ECC standings, while STAC is tied for seventh and Mercy is 11th…complete ECC standings can be accessed HERE.

THE COACHES: Don Silveri is in his 25th season as head men's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 403-343 (.540) record during his time with the Wildcats...his Daemen record boasts eight 20-win seasons, including four consecutive from 2002-06 and seven in the last 11 years...he has guided the Wildcats to four conference championships (1999-2000, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2011-12), four appearances at the NAIA Division II National Tournament and one appearance at the USCAA National Tournament...2012-13 was a season for the record books as Silveri guided the Wildcats to a team-record 27 wins and a runner-up finish at the USCAA Tournament...he also spent time as head coach at Villa Maria College (1976-80) and Erie Community College (1982-86)…Tobin Anderson is in his first season as head men's basketball coach at STAC…he spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Siena College and also previously served as head coach at Clarkson (1999-04) and Hamilton (2004-11)…he entered the 2013-14 season with a career coaching record of 185-129 (.589)…Adam Parmenter is in his fourth season as head men's basketball coach at Mercy…he previously served as an assistant coach at Daniel Webster College.

SILVERI NOTCHES 400TH WIN: Daemen head coach Don Silveri recorded his 400th victory as Daemen head coach following DC's 99-92 win at Mercy on Jan 6.

THE SERIES vs. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: Friday's game will mark the third all-time meeting between Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas…the Wildcats suffered a 55-53 loss to the Spartans in the first-ever meeting on Jan. 28, 2000…Daemen posted a 79-75 victory over the Spartans three weeks ago at STAC…Daemen led by 13 points at halftime, but the Spartans opened the second half with a 13-6 run that cut the lead to six points…STAC trailed by just one point, 74-73, with a half minute to play, but Daemen secured the win by hitting 5-of-6 three throws down the stretch…Gerald Beverly totaled 25 points, six rebounds and eight blocks for Daemen, while Aaron Cust scored 26 points for STAC.

THE SERIES vs. MERCY: Sunday's game will mark the second all-time meeting between Daemen and Mercy…Daemen prevailed in the first-ever meeting, 99-92, three weeks ago at Mercy…Daemen led by 19 points (78-59) with just over eight minutes to play before the Mavericks put together a 22-10 run and cut the lead to seven points with  just under three minutes left…Daemen scored the next four points and secured the win by hitting 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch…six players scored in double figures for Daemen…Beverly led the way with 18 points, seven rebounds and a career-high 11 blocks…five players scored in double figures for STAC…Kirk Bailey (25 pts, 10 rebs) and Olajide Keshinro (24 pts, 14 rebs, 6 blks) led the way for the Mavericks.

NCAA DIVISION II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Two of the NCAA Division II membership process...Daemen has been accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and will play full regular-season conference schedules beginning this fall...the College will also maintain its affiliation with the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) for postseason opportunities, as it will not be eligible for the ECC or NCAA postseason during Candidacy Year Two.

DAEMEN vs. NCAA DIVISION II OPPONENTS: The Wildcats went 6-3 against NCAA Division II opponents last season and are 16-8 against Division II teams since the start of the 2012-13 season.

USCAA RANKINGS: Daemen is ranked No. 1 in the USCAA Division 1 poll released last week…the Wildcats were ranked third in the previous poll, but jumped ahead of Victory University and Washington Adventist University…eight teams will be selected to participate in the USCAA Championship Tournament, which will take place March 5-8 in Uniontown, Pa…Daemen advanced to the USCAA Tournament championship game last winter.

THE WILDCATS (10-6, 7-3 ECC): Daemen returns 11 players and four starters from last year's team that set a program-record for wins in a season (27) and advanced to the championship game of the USCAA Tournament…the Wildcats are undefeated in their last six ECC games…Daemen handed Dowling its first league loss (79-72 OT) last Friday and completed the weekend sweep with a 90-79 win at Bridgeport…Daemen has won six of its last seven games and has averaged 89.6 points over that stretch…ECC wins have come over Roberts Wesleyan (77-72 OT), Queens (90-77), STAC (79-75), Mercy (99-92), District of Columbia (97-42), Dowling (79-72 OT) and Bridgeport (90-79)…ECC losses have come against LIU Post (93-85), New York Tech (84-79) and Molloy (78-69)…junior forward Gerald Beverly and senior guard Casey Sheehan have paced an offense that is averaging 81.6 points a game…Beverly has scored in double figures in all 16 games and has recorded nine double-doubles…a two-time ECC Player of the Week selection, he is averaging 18.1 points and leads the ECC in rebounding (10.2 rpg), blocks (3.4 bpg) and double-doubles (9)…Sheehan scored a season-high 28 points and also dished out seven assists in a 98-93 OT loss to Dominican…he is averaging 14.5 points and 4.2 rebounds and leads the team in assists (72) and steals (28)…senior forward Uchechi Ogbonna has started all 16 games and is averaging 13.0 points and 9.1 rebounds…he has recorded five double-doubles and equaled his career-high for points (20) and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win over Queens…senior point guard Mark Coppola totaled a season-high 15 points in the win over Mercy and registered 10 assists and no turnovers in the win over UDC…he leads the league in both assists per game (5.8) and assist/turnover ratio (2.7)…senior forward Kadeem Johnson scored a season-high 15 points in the win over Mercy and is averaging 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds….junior sharpshooter Jordan Greene also returns after averaging 11.3 points with a team-high 69 three-pointers last year…he is averaging 11.9 points with a team-high 33 three-pointers this season…he canned five three-pointers and equaled his career-high for points (28) in the win at Dowling…sophomore guard Supreme Hannah equaled his career-high for points (13) in the win over UDC and senior Kyle Clifford went 4-for-5 from three-point land and scored a career-high 16 points in the win over Bridgeport…junior Aaron Davis is averaging 14 minutes off the bench and scored a season-high 12 points in the wins over UDC and Bridgeport…Daemen is shooting 45-percent from the field overall, 30-percent from three-point land and 67-percent from the charity stripe…the Wildcats are scoring 81.6 points and allowing 76.6 points per game…Daemen owns a +2.2 rebounding margin (41.0 / 38.8).

COPPOLA SETS CAREER ASSIST RECORD: Senior point guard Mark Coppola has established a new school-record for most career assists…he entered this season ranked second in career assists behind Rob Robinson, who totaled 503 assists from 1988-92…Coppola broke the record during the win over Mercy on Jan. 6 and enters this weekend's action with 538 assists in 98 career games (5.5 per game)…he leads the conference in assists per game (5.8) this season and has totaled 30 assists and just five turnovers over the last four games…he tied the school-record for assists in a season (203) last year.

HOME SWEET HOME: Daemen was undefeated at Lumsden Gym last year (12-0) and takes a 26-game home winning streak into this weekend's action…the Wildcats have gone 27-1 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season and have won 80-percent (83-21) of their home games over the past eight seasons…Daemen will play nine of its final 10 games in the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium.

THE SPARTANS (7-7, 3-5 ECC): St. Thomas Aquinas returns six players and two starters from last year's team that finished 5-23 (5-13 ECC)…STAC was voted 10th in the ECC preseason poll…the Spartans won six of their first eight games, but are just 1-5 over their last six…STAC snapped a three-game losing streak following a 78-65 win over Queens on Jan. 8, but suffered loses to NYIT (79-70) and LIU Post (92-90) last week…the Spartans own league wins over District of Columbia (67-63), Mercy (77-71) and Queens (78-65) and have suffered ECC losses to Bridgeport (83-60), Dowling (76-65), Daemen (79-75), NYIT (79-70) and LIU Post (92-90)…senior forward Omar Kellman and freshman guard Chaz Watler have paced the Spartans thus far…Kellman had 16 points in the loss to LIU Post and leads the team in field goal percentage (.573), scoring (14.8 ppg) and rebounding (7.8 rpg)…Watler is a five-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection and has scored 20 or more points seven times…he is averaging 14.7 points and 3.2 assists with a team-high 23 steals…junior transfer Marcus Henderson (12.3 ppg, 4.8 apg, 25 3pt fgs) and freshman guard Aaron Crust (10.8 ppg) have also produced…Henderson had 19 points and five assists in the loss to LIU Post…STAC is shooting 45-percent from the field overall, 32-percent from three-point land and 70-percent from the charity stripe…the Spartans are scoring 73.6 points and allowing 74.6 points per game…STAC owns a +1.1 rebounding margin (35.4 / 34.3).

THE MAVERICKS (1-14, 1-8 ECC):  Mercy returns seven players and three starters from last year's team that finished 4-22 (3-15 ECC)…Mercy was voted 11th in the ECC preseason poll…the Mavericks opened the year with nine-straight losses before upsetting ECC preseason favorite Bridgeport (85-84) on Dec. 21…the Mavericks have dropped five-straight since then and are coming off losses to LIU Post (95-63) and NYIT (83-71) last week…MC's ECC losses have come against STAC (77-71), District of Columbia (83-66), Dowling (77-63), Daemen (99-92), Molloy (94-72), Queens (73-69), LIU Post (95-63) and NYIT (83-71)…Mercy plays at Roberts Wesleyan Friday before facing Daemen Sunday…senior forward LaBrandon Smith has returned to the lineup after redshirting the 2012-13 season…he netted 21 points in the loss to Dowling and is averaging a team-high 12.3 points…he did not play in the loss to Daemen…senior forward Kirk Bailey had a double-double (21 pts, 13 rebs) in the win over Bridgeport and is averaging 10.5 points and 8.3 rebounds… senior center Olajide Keshinro totaled 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in the loss to Daemen…he is averaging 10.4 points and leads the team in rebounding (8.8) and blocks (41)…additional production has come from sophomore guard Nate Stitchell (9.3 ppg, 4.2 apg, 39 stls) and senior guard Chaz Morrish (8.7 ppg, 27 3pt fgs)…Mercy is shooting 39-percent from the field overall, 31-percent from three-point land and 66-percent from the charity stripe…the Mavericks are scoring 70.9 points and allowing 84.5 points per game…Mercy owns a -6.4 rebounding margin (36.8 / 43.2).

ECC RANKINGS: Here is how the teams rank among ECC teams in selected statistical categories.

LEAGUE LEADERS: Here is how players from each of the three teams rank among the ECC leaders…Gerald Beverly leads the league in rebounding (10.2), blocks (3.4) and doubel-doubles (9) and ranks fifth in both scoring (18.1) and field goal percentage (53.5)…Casey Sheehan ranks 14th in points per game (14.5), third in assists per game (5.4), fifth in steals per game (1.9) and 13th in free throw percentage (72.9)…Uchechi Ogbonna leads the league in field goal percentage (57.7) and ranks fifth in rebounding (9.1) and 16th in scoring (13.0)…Mark Coppola leads the league in both assists per game (5.8) and assist/turnover ratio (2.7)…he also ranks seventh in steals (1.7)…Jordan Greene ranks fourth in three-point field goals made (33) and eighth in free throw percentage (76.3)…Omar Kellman of STAC ranks 12th in both scoring (14.9) and rebounding (7.8) and second in field goal percentage (57.3)…Chaz Watler of STAC ranks 13th in scoring (14.7), first in free throw percentage (86.9), eighth in steals (1.6) and 11th in assists (3.2)…also from STAC, Marcus Henderson ranks third in assists (4.8), Alushula Odongo ranks fourth in field goal percentage (56.0) and Aaron Cust ranks seventh in free throw percentage (78.6)…Olajide Keshinro of Mercy ranks second in blocks (3.2), sixth in rebounding (8.8) and ninth in field goal percentage (51.5)…Nate Stitchell of Mercy ranks second in steals (2.6) and sixth in assists (4.2), while Kirk Bailey ranks eighth in rebounding (8.3).

DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen is 5-1 this season and 31-2 since the start of the 2009-10 season when it scores 90 or more points…Daemen had won 13-straight games when scoring at least 90 points before suffering its 98-93 OT loss at Dominican on Jan. 7…Gerald Beverly has recorded at least one block in 21-straight games (and 30 of the last 31 games) dating back to the end of last season…Beverly has totaled 37 blocks over the last eight games (4.6 pg) and swatted a career-high 11 shots during DC's win at Mercy on Jan. 6…he has moved into second place in career blocks (164) among Daemen's all-time leaders…Beverly recorded his 900th career point during the win over UDC two weeks ago and his 500th career rebound during the win at Dowling last weekend…Casey Sheehan has moved into the Top-10 in career points at Daemen with 1,274…he also ranks fourth in career assists (417) and third in career steals (167)…Jordan Greene recorded his 100th career three-pointer during the win over UDC.

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen returns to action Tuesday (Jan. 28) when it hosts long-time rival Roberts Wesleyan College in an ECC game at 8 p.m.

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College men's basketball on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics or @DaemenMBB) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics or www.facebook.com/DaemenCollegeMensBasketball) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.