THE LEAD: The Daemen College men's basketball team travels to Philadelphia, Pa. to take on Holy Family University of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) in a non-conference game Saturday (Nov. 22)…it marks the first of three games in the span of nine days for the Wildcats, who travel to Mercyhurst University Tuesday (Nov. 25) and host Dominican College Nov. 30.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014
Daemen at Holy Family - 4 p.m.
Campus Center Gymnasium, Philadelphia, Pa.
LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / DAEMEN ROSTER / DAEMEN STATS / HFU ROSTER / HFU STATS
THE COACHES: Mike MacDonald is entering his first season as head men's basketball coach at Daemen College after spending the past eight years at Medaille College where he transformed the program into a regional contender at the NCAA Division III level…inheriting a program that went 4-46 in the two years prior to his arrival, MacDonald's version of the Mavericks averaged 18 wins a season, while advancing to the postseason six times…Medaille's emergence as a Division III power in the Northeast was cemented in the last five seasons, as MacDonald led the Mavericks to more wins (101) than any other Division III team in New York State, while ranking 17th nationally in wins during the same time frame…MacDonald was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year on four occasions (2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12)…he left Medaille as the school's all-time leader in wins (149) and winning percentage (.671)…prior to his stint at Medaille, MacDonald served as the head coach at Canisius College from 1997-2006, guiding the Golden Griffins to 108 wins which ranks him third in program history for coaching victories…in 17 seasons as a collegiate head coach, MacDonald has achieved a record of 259-225 (.535 winning percentage)…RC Kehoe is entering his fourth season as head men's basketball coach at Holy Family…he has led the Tigers a 51-34 record (.600) and three-straight appearances in the CACC Tournament over the past three seasons.
MOVE TO II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Three of the NCAA Division II membership process…Daemen was accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and began playing full regular-season conference schedules in the fall of 2013…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 Three.
DAEMEN vs. NCAA DIVISION II OPPONENTS: The Wildcats went 20-5 against NCAA Division II opponents last season and are 28-8 against Division II teams since the start of the 2012-13 season.
THE HISTORY: Saturday's game will mark just the fourth all-time meeting between Daemen and Holy Family and the first since the 1999-00 season…Daemen has prevailed in two of the previous three meetings…the Wildcats posted an 88-73 victory over the Tigers the last time the teams met on Feb. 19, 2000 at Daemen.
THE WILDCATS (2-0): Daemen returns eight players and just one starter from last year's team that posted a 21-7 overall record and claimed the East Coast Conference regular-season championship (17-3) in its first season as a league member…Daemen was voted third in the 2014-15 ECC preseason poll…the Wildcats earned a bid to the USCAA Championship Tournament for the second-straight year last year and suffered a 58-57 loss to eventual champion Washington Adventist in the semifinals…first-year head coach Mike MacDonald must overcome the graduation of senior guards Casey Sheehan and Mark Coppola…Sheehan averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists last year and collected first-team All-ECC honors…Coppola was a three-year starter at point guard and closed out his career with a school-record 623 assists…the Wildcats opened the season with wins over Concordia (85-50) and Post (88-80) during the Knee Center of WNY / ECC-CACC Challenge at Daemen last weekend…senior forward Gerald Beverly tops the list of returning players…the 2013-14 ECC Defensive Player of the Year and 2014-15 ECC Co-Preseason Player of the Year, Beverly led the team in scoring (18.9 ppg), rebounding (10.0 rpg) and blocks (111) last year…he was named MVP of the Knee Center of WNY / ECC-CACC Challenge for the second-straight year after shooting 77-percent (13-17) from the field and totaling 38 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks over the two games…senior sharpshooter Jordan Greene also returns after averaging 10.5 points with a team-high 52 three-pointers last year…he drained four three-pointers and totaled 18 points in the win over Post…junior Supreme Hannah will take over at point guard following the graduation of Coppola…he played 32 minutes and totaled eight points and three assists in the win over Post…junior transfers Torrence Dyck, Jr. and Arif Mehmetaj and freshman Nick Petrucelli are expected to make immediate contributions…Dyck collected second-team all-state honors following his senior year at East High School in Rochester and played at San Jacinto College last year…he scored 22 points in the win over Post…Mehmetaj played two seasons at SUNY Delhi and was named Mountain Valley Conference Player of the Year last winter after averaging 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds…he was named to the all-tournament team last weekend after totaling 20 points and a team-high 21 rebounds over the two games…Petrucelli is a 2013 graduate of Hicksville (N.Y.) High School and spent last year at Thomasville Prep in North Carolina…he earned all-county honors following his senior year at Hicksville High and averaged 18 points a game at Thomasville last year…he played 17 minutes in the season-opening win over Concordia and contributed 10 points, six boards and three assists…sophomore Alex Borges played 21 minutes and established career-highs for points (14) and rebounds (5) in the win over Concordia, while senior Kyle Clifford scored 13 points in 13 minutes in the season-opening win.
HISTORIC WIN OVER CANISIUS: Daemen kicked off the 2014-15 season in historic fashion with an 83-81 (OT) win over Canisius College in an exhibition game last week…it marked the program's first-ever win against an opponent from the NCAA Division I level….Rochester-natives Torrence Dyck and Gerald Beverly led the way for Daemen…Dyck, a newcomer, totaled 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting…Beverly, the Co-Preseason Player of the Year in the ECC, rang up 20 points, nine rebounds and four blocks…Jordan Greene as contributed with three three-points, 11 points and a team-high seven assists…click HERE for a complete recap of the game.
THE TIGERS (1-1): Holy Family was voted second in the 2014-15 CACC South preseason poll…the Tigers return six players and three starters from last year's team that finished 21-10 overall (13-6 CACC) and advanced to the championship game of the CACC Tournament…the Tigers opened the season with a 71-55 loss to Merrimack and a 68-67 win over Bentley at the Bentley Tip-Off Classic last weekend…HFU must overcome the graduation of its top three scorers from last year, including All-CACC performers Ervin Ezell and Alberto Munoz…Ezell averaged 13.4 points and a team-high 5.2 assists last year, while Munoz drained 79 three-pointers and averaged a team-high 13.8 points…junior forwards Isaiah Gans and Derrick Stewart and junior guard Turhan Griffin top the list of returning players…Gans averaged 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds last year and also posted a team-high 59 blocks…Stewart averaged 8.5 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds, while Griffin contributed 5.6 points per game…transfers Reggie Charles, Marvin Crawford and James McDonnell have already made immediate impacts…Charles, who started at Division II Shippensburg last year, totaled 13 points and three steals in the win over Bentley…Crawford, a junior college transfer from Raritan Valley CC, scored a team-high 16 points against Bentley and totaled 12 points and nine rebounds in the loss to Merrimack…McDonnell, a 7-footer who played at Division I UMass Lowell last year, contributed 15 points and six boards off the bench against Merrimack.
CONFERENCE CHAMPS: Daemen claimed the East Coast Conference regular-season championship last year in its first season of eligibility after posting a 17-3 league mark…the Wildcats, who were voted seventh out of 11 teams in the 2013-14 ECC preseason poll, closed out the regular-season by winning 16 consecutive league games.
HOME SWEET HOME: Daemen extended its home winning streak to 37-straight games (dating back to the start of the 2011-12 season) after posting wins over Concordia and Post during the Knee Center of WNY / ECC-CACC Challenge last weekend…Daemen's home winning streak ranks as the second longest in the nation among all NCAA men's basketball programs…only Division III Albertus Magnus College (42) owns a longer home winning streak than Daemen…the top five home winning streaks among NCAA men's basketball programs as of games played Nov. 20 included Albertus Magnus (42), Daemen (37), Duke (35), Amherst (29), Gonzaga (28), Central Missouri (28) and Centre (28)…the Wildcats have gone 38-1 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season and have won 82-percent (94-21) of their home games over the past nine seasons.
MORE STREAKS: Daemen posted a school-record 14-game winning streak last year and will enter the 2014-15 season riding a 16-game conference winning streak.
20/20: Daemen has reached the 20-win plateau in each of that last three seasons (and eight times over the past 12 seasons).
BEVERLY'S BLOCK PARTY: Gerald Beverly has recorded at least one block in 35-straight games (and 44 of the last 45 games) dating back to the end of the 2012-13 season…he has already become the first player in program history to total 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 blocks in a career…he enters Saturday's game with 1,217 career points and needs just 65 points to crack the Top-10 in career points at Daemen…he already ranks fourth in career rebounds (644) and second in career blocks (225)…he stands just nine blocks shy of replacing 2006 graduate Ron Wright as the program's leader in career blocks.
DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen was 11-1 last season and is 37-2 since the start of the 2009-10 season when it scores 90 or more points.
WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen returns to The Quaker State Tuesday (Nov. 25) when it heads to Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa. for a non-conference game…Daemen's complete 2014-15 schedule can be accessed HERE.
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.
