Arif Mehmetaj ranks third among ECC players with a .442 three-point shooting percentage

Men's Basketball 1/11/2016 2:20:00 PM

Men's Basketball Visits Thruway Rival To Start Busy Week

THE LEAD: The Daemen College men's basketball team renews its long-standing rivalry with Roberts Wesleyan College on Tuesday night in Rochester.

Tuesday, January 12 (at Voller Athletic Center, Rochester, N.Y.)
Daemen at Roberts Wesleyan, 8:00 p.m.
DC ROSTER / DC STATS / RWC ROSTER / RWC STATS / VIDEO / LIVE STATS

DIVISION II DEBUT: Daemen successfully completed a three-year membership process and was approved for active membership status at the NCAA Division II level by the NCAA Membership Committee his past summer…Daemen was accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) in July of 2012 and began playing full regular-season conference schedules in the fall of 2013…the 2015-16 academic year will mark the first year Daemen will be eligible for ECC and NCAA post-season play.

MAC IS BACK: Local hoops fixture Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his second season as Daemen's head coach, and his 19th season overall as a collegiate head coach...in his first season at the helm, MacDonald led Daemen to a 21-10 campaign which concluded with the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national championship last March...by winning 20 games in his Daemen debut, MacDonald became one of the only active coaches in the country to achieve a 20-win season at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels of competition...prior to beginning his stint at Daemen, MacDonald transformed the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial power, averaging 18 wins a season and advancing to the postseason six times in his eight years as head coach...MacDonald made his head coaching debut at the Division I level, leading the program at Canisius from 1997-2006...while there, MacDonald's teams racked up 108 wins making him the third all-time winningest coach in the program's history...to date, MacDonald owns a career record of 283-242.

DAEMEN SCOUTING REPORT (6-6, 2-3 ECC): Daemen returns nine players from last year's team that posted a 21-10 overall record and a 13-7 mark in the East Coast Conference, while capturing the USCAA Division I national championship in the team's final year of non-eligibility for ECC and/or NCAA Division II postseason play...in addition to the returners, head coach Mike MacDonald welcomes nine fresh faces to his 18-man roster...Daemen was picked fourth in the ECC preseason poll released in late October...MacDonald welcomes back a pair of starters in senior guard Supreme Hannah and senior guard/forward Torrence Dyck...Hannah was perhaps the most improved player in the ECC last season, averaging 10.5 points and a team-best 3.9 assists per game as he transitioned into the team's starting point guard...Dyck, a 6-foot-5 slasher, made an immediate impact in his first season for the Wildcats, averaging 19.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game en route to first-team All-ECC honors, before having his season cut short in early February due to an injury...also back is 6-foot-7 forward Arif Mehmetaj...an inside-outside threat, Mehmetaj started the first three games of the 2014-15 season, averaging 8.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, before having his season cut short by an injury...after going 1-3 over their first four games of the season, Daemen has gone 5-3 in their last eight, dating back to an 88-79 non-conference win over Edinboro on Dec. 12...since then, the Wildcats have added non-league victories over Dominican (69-60) and Felician (94-71), while league wins have come at Dowling (97-80) and at home versus Mercy (94-81)...last Saturday's win over Mercy snapped Daemen's two-game home losing skid which featured ECC defeats to District of Columbia (89-84) and Saint Thomas Aquinas (85-66)...the loss to STAC last Thursday was Daemen's first by a doube-figure margin at home since Feb. 15, 2011...Dyck went for 27 points in the loss, and followed that with a season-high 30 points on Saturday against the Mavericks...sophomore guard Nick Petrucelli, who scored a career-high 20 points in the win over Felician, chipped in with 17 against Mercy...the duo of Dyck and Mehmetaj continue to pace an explosive Daemen offense which ranks first in the ECC in scoring (82.7 ppg)...Dyck (21.8 ppg) has eight games of 20+ points this season, and he's presently tied with Dowling's Chris Millender for the ECC scoring lead...Mehmetaj started the season with six 20-point outings in the team's first eight games, and is averaging 17.6 points along with a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game...additional production has come from Hannah (11.5 ppg, 3.0 apg), although he has missed the last eight games with an injury, as well as from Petrucelli (9.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg), Ryan Grandits (7.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg), and Jay Sarkis (6.8 ppg, 2.1 apg, 41% 3pt fg).

ROBERTS WESLEYAN SCOUTING REPORT (4-7, 1-4 ECC): The Redhawks are led by veteran head coach Rob McCoy who is in his 14th season on the RWC bench...a native of Kenmore, N.Y. and a 1981 RWC graduate, McCoy has led the Redhawks to 168 wins in his tenure to date...the Redhawks are coming off a 10-16 campaign in 2014-15, and they return eight players from that roster, although second-team All-ECC performer Isaac Medeiros was lost to graduation...RWC was picked 11th in the ECC preseason poll released in late October...among the Redhawks' returners is senior guard/forward Tyrel Dixon (12.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 61 assists, 32 steals) who led the team in rebounding, assists and steals last season...Dixon is diong more of the same this season, presently leading the team in scoring (16.8 ppg), rebounding (7.5 rpg), assists (46), blocks (7) and steals (18)...he scored 31 points in an early season non-league loss to Adelphi (86-82) and has totaled three double-doubles...also back is senior guard Marcus Gooding who made a team-high 72 three-pointers and averaged 13.6 points per game last season...Gooding missed the first seven games of this season, making his season debut on Dec. 18 at Bridgeport...since coming back to the lineup, Gooding has come off the bench to average 6.5 points per outing...the Redhawks have relied heavily on a pair of freshman in Zack Panebianco and Quinn Carey who have combined to be the ECC's top scoring freshman duo...Panebianco, a Jamestown High School product who was The Buffalo News' pick as WNY Player of the Year last winter, has started all 11 games thus far, averaging 11.7 points per game while shooting 36-percent from three-point range...Carey is a 6-foot-3 guard who started his scholastic career in the Buffalo area at Grand Island High School before finishing at Ponte Vedra High School in Florida...he's totaled a team-best 37 three-pointers and is averaging 11.6 points per game..Carey hit eight three-pointers and totaled 33 points in an 85-82 win over SUNY Geneseo on Dec. 5...he leads the ECC and ranks 11th in the country in made three-pointers per game (3.36)...additional production has come from returners Malik Dare (9.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and Mike Stone (8.3 ppg)...the Redhawks opened the season by splitting their first six games, but are just 1-4 in their last five...RWC picked up its first ECC win of the season last Friday, defeating Mercy by seven (72-65)...the Redhawks are coming off a 90-68 loss to Saint Thomas Aquinas last Saturday...additional league losses have come against District of Columbia (90-77), Bridgeport (69-51) and Dowling (97-88).

THE SERIES VS. ROBERTS WESLEYAN: Tuesday's game marks the 40th all-time meeting between Daemen and RWC...the Wildcats hold a 28-11 edge in the series, including wins in eight-straight and 15 of the last 16 meetings...Daemen's recent dominance dates back to the 2007-08 season, and includes eight consecutive wins in matchups at RWC's Voller Athletic Center...the Redhawks last win in the series came on Feb. 15, 2011 (73-54) at Lumsden Gymnasium behind the dual 15-point outings of Jordan Heath and Dan Foley...RWC's last home win came on Feb. 21, 2007, a 77-74 victory in the quarterfinal round of the American Mideast Conference Tournament during both teams' days as NAIA affiliates...games in Rochester have been especially tight of late...the average margin has been just 5.3 points per game in the last three meetings at RWC...that includes a 77-72 overtime game on Nov. 26, 2013 (Daemen's first-ever ECC victory), and a 59-54 decision in the teams' last meeting (Feb. 24, 2015)...Kyle Clifford went 9-for-12 from the field, including 6-for-8 from three-point range, en route to 24 points when the teams' last met...Tyrel Dixon notched a double-double (17 pts, 12 rebs) to pace the Redhawks.

DOMINANT DYCK: Senior guard/forward Torrence Dyck is putting up big numbers for the Wildcats again this season...after earning first-team All-ECC honors last season, Dyck has put himself in the early running for ECC Player of the Year this season...he enters this week's games ranked among the ECC leaders in scoring (21.8 ppg - tied for first), made free throws (55 - second), made field goals (93 - fourth) and field goal percentage (.554 - fifth)...Dyck has scored in double figures in all but one game this season, including eight games of 20 or more points...he opened the season with a bang, netting a season-high 29 points on 10-for-13 shooting in Daemen's 109-87 defeat of Wilmington...he followed that up with a 23-point outing, including a career-high four three-pointers, in a three-point loss to regionally-ranked Holy Family...for his efforts in Daemen's season-opening games, Dyck was named to the all-tournament team for the ECC-CACC Challenge...Dyck would go on to be named ECC Co-Player of the Week for games played Dec. 7-15 after posting back-to-back 26-point games vs. Edinboro and District of Columbia...he added a season-high 11 rebounds in the loss to UDC for his first double-double of the season...Dyck would add a second-straight double-double (21 pts, 10 rebs) in leading Daemen past Dowling on Dec. 18...Dyck hit a career-high five three-pointers and scored a season-high 30 points in last Saturday's ECC victory over Mercy...he presently ranks 30th in the country in scoring.

SUPREME LOSS: Daemen has been without the services of starting guard Supreme Hannah for the last eight games, and his status moving forward is unknown at this point...Hannah, a 6-foot senior, had emerged as not only the team's primary ball-handler, but also a viable scoring threat from the perimeter since being inserted in the starting lineup to begin his junior season...last year, Hannah started all 28 games that he played in (he missed three games with an injury), averaging 10.5 points and a team-high 3.9 assists while seeing 33.4 minutes per game...prior to going out of the lineup this season, Hannah was posting another solid season with 11.5 points and 3.0 assists per game...incredibly, in his absence, the Wildcats have posted a 7-4 record in the last two seasons, including a 5-3 mark this year.

FANTASTIC FROSH: Daemen has looked to freshman guard Jay Sarkis to help shoulder some of the load in the backcourt created by the recent loss of Supreme Hannah to injury...Sarkis has made nine-straight starts heading into this week's games, giving him the most starts of any Daemen freshman since Gerald Beverly made six during the 2011-12 season...Sarkis has produced, averaging 6.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game since being inserted into the starting lineup...he has twice been named ECC Rookie of the Week, earning the honor for games played Nov. 23-29 and Dec. 28-Jan. 3...Sarkis scored nine of his career-high 15 points in the final 3:39 of the Wildcats' 69-60 win over Dominican, adding a career-high six rebounds as well...the following day, Sarkis notched a career-high six assists in Daemen's 94-71 rout of Felician...his 14 three-point baskets rank third on the team thus far...for the season, Sarkis' average of 6.8 points per game ranks fifth among all ECC freshmen.

ITALIAN STALLION: Also stepping up of late has been sophomore guard Nick Petrucelli...since entering the starting lineup eight games ago, Petrucelli has upped his production, averaging 11 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while helping Daemen to a 5-3 record in those outings...four of Petrucelli's five double-figure scoring games this season have come in the last six, including a career-high 20-point outing in Daemen's 94-71 rout of Felician...after making multiple three-point baskets once in the first 38 games of his career, Petrucelli has done so twice in the last three games, shooting 57-percent (8-for-14) in that recent span...for the season, the Long Island native is shooting 50-percent from the field (47-for-94) and producing 9.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 24 minutes per game.

20/20: Daemen has reached the 20-win plateau in each of the last four seasons (and nine times over the past 13 seasons).

DID YOU KNOW?: January has been a great month for the Wildcats in recent years...since the 2011-12 season, Daemen is 34-7 (.829 winning percentage) in January games...that includes a 20-5 road record in January games in that span.

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen closes a rare three-game week by visiting league-leading Long Island Post on Friday (Jan. 15), and N.Y. Institute of Technology on Sunday (Jan. 17)....for a full look at what lies ahead, check out the Wildcats' complete 2015-16 schedule.

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

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Players Mentioned

#55 Gerald Beverly: F; 6' 7"; Senior

#10 Kyle Clifford: G; 5' 11"; Senior

#33 Jordan Greene: F; 6' 5"; Senior

#4 Torrence Dyck: G/F; 6' 5"; Senior

#3 Supreme Hannah: G; 6' 0"; Senior

#21 Arif Mehmetaj: F; 6' 7"; Junior

#24 Nick Petrucelli: G; 6' 3"; Sophomore

#44 Ryan Grandits: F; 6' 5"; Graduate Student

#5 Jay Sarkis: G; 6' 1"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#55 Gerald Beverly
: 6' 7"; Senior
: F

#10 Kyle Clifford
: 5' 11"; Senior
: G

#33 Jordan Greene
: 6' 5"; Senior
: F

#4 Torrence Dyck
: 6' 5"; Senior
: G/F

#3 Supreme Hannah
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G

#21 Arif Mehmetaj
: 6' 7"; Junior
: F

#24 Nick Petrucelli
: 6' 3"; Sophomore
: G

#44 Ryan Grandits
: 6' 5"; Graduate Student
: F

#5 Jay Sarkis
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: G