DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - It was a milestone kind of evening for the Daemen College men's basketball team as the Wildcats outraced Mercy College, 99-92, in a fast-paced East Coast Conference duel tonight at Mercy Gymnasium.  The Wildcat victory was the 400th in the 25-year tenure of head coach Don Silveri while senior point guard Mark Coppola (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville South) passed Rob Robinson to become Daemen's all-time assists leader.  The win was also Daemen's third straight on the road in conference play, running their record to 7-5 this season (4-3 in ECC play).

Silveri, who took the reins of the program in 1989 after head coaching gigs at Villa Maria College and Erie Community College, has seen it all over the last quarter-century while roaming the Wildcats' sidelines.  Tonight's win makes his record 400-343 at Daemen while he also sports over 500 wins in a 38-year career as a whole (570-383).

Coppola entered tonight's game with 502 assists in his career, one behind the all-time record holder Robinson who is also Daemen's all-time leading scorer, having played from 1988-92.  Coppola tied the record on a fastbreak feed to classmate Uchechi Ogbonna at the 10:08 of the first half, and later broke the mark with an assist on a Jordan Greene (Fort Edward, N.Y./South Glens Falls) three-pointer with 7:24 remaining in the opening period.

Junior forward Gerald Beverly (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) continued his dominant play of late and paced a balanced Daemen scoresheet in the win with 18 points - 14 of which came in the second half.  He added seven rebounds and a career-high 11 blocked shots for his sixth double-double of the season.  Beverly, who hours earlier was named the ECC Player of the Week for Dec. 29-Jan. 5, has now recorded at least one blocked shot in 17 straight games and has a staggering 19 blocks in the last two games alone.  With 154 career blocks, Beverly moved past 1999 graduate Brian Pettit for second on the all-time list tonight.

Senior guard Casey Sheehan (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) notched 17 points, six rebounds and three assists.  He was followed by Coppola who turned in a season-high 15 points, including 8-for-10 shooting from the foul line, along with seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.  Classmate Kadeem Johnson (Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger) chipped in with a season-best 15 points of his own while Greene (14 points) and Ogbonna (10 points, seven rebounds) reached double figures as well.

The interior tandem of Kirk Bailey and Olajide Keshinro was impressive for Mercy (1-10, 1-4 ECC).  Bailey scored a game-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds while Keshinro went for 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks.  Chaz Morrish (18 points), P.J. Walters (11 points) and Dan Pierrot (10 points) all reached double figures for the Mavericks as well.