BROOKVILLE, N.Y. - Riding the momentum from their incredible come-from-behind victory at Roberts Wesleyan College on Tuesday night, the Daemen College men's basketball team chalked up another one for the win column tonight, defeating Long Island University Post 91-82 at Pratt Recreation Center to deal the host Pioneers their first East Coast Conference loss of the season.

Daemen held the lead for over 35 minutes and converted 30-of-40 attempts from the free throw line tonight.  The number of free throw makes and attempts are both season-highs, and it's the most charity-stripe action for the Wildcats since they went 34-for-43 in a 93-75 home win over Queens College on December 13, 2014.  The Wildcats had not attempted 40 free throws in a road game since going 25-for-41 during a seven-point overtime victory (79-72) at Dowling College nearly two years ago to the day (January 17, 2014).

The win, Daemen's third-straight, pushes the Wildcats to 8-6 overall and 4-3 in ECC play this season.  The regionally-ranked Pioneers (No. 8 in the latest D2SIDA East Region media poll) fall to 12-4 overall and 7-1 in the league.  The loss snapped LIU Post's nine-game ECC regular-season winning streak dating back to the end of the 2014-15 season.

Torrence Dyck (Rochester, N.Y./San Jacinto College), the ECC's leading scorer, continued his hot streak for the Wildcats, netting 27 points tonight while adding a team-high eight rebounds.  It was the 10th game of 20 or more points this season for the 6-foot-5 senior, including the last four in a row in which Dyck is averaging 29.8 points per game.

The Wildcats also got double-figure scoring from sophomore guard Nick Petrucelli (Hicksville, N.Y./Thomasville Prep) and redshirt-freshman guard/forward Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena).  Petrucelli went a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line as part of his 16-point outing, and he's now scored in double figures in six of the last nine games.  Hamilton made his third-straight start and connected on a pair of three-pointers in the first two minutes of the game en route to a career-best 13 points.

Junior guard Jared Hall posted a double-double (21 points, 10 rebounds) while classmate Greg Dotson had 21 points and seven boards to pace the Pioneers.  Senior point guard Dillon Burns chipped in with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Behind Hamilton's on-point shooting, the Wildcats established control early and held the lead over the first seven-plus minutes of the ballgame.  LIU Post wouldn't grab their first lead until a pull-up jumper by Burns in transition at the 12:34 mark of the opening period made the score 20-19 in favor of the hosts.  The teams traded baskets over the next several minutes until LIU Post's Barrington Alston scored in the paint to put his team ahead 29-28 with 8:02 left in the first.

A pair of Petrucelli free throws at the 6:41 mark sparked a 20-8 spurt for the Wildcats to end the half, giving Daemen a lead that it would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.  A three-pointer by the Pioneers' Hunter Powell at the 3:46 mark pulled the hosts within three (38-35), but Hamilton scored a layup on Daemen's next possession and the Wildcats would outscore LIU Post 10-2 in the final 3:23, capped by a steal and layup from reserve guard Jaleo Wilkes (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Polk State College) just before the buzzer.  Daemen took its largest lead of the game into halftime with the score 48-37.

The Pioneers, who came into tonight's game leading the country in field goal percentage defense (36.5-percent), allowed the Wildcats to shoot 49-percent from the field (16-for-33) in the opening 20 minutes, including 7-for-13 from long range (54-percent).  

LIU Post would cut the Daemen lead to four (52-48) following a trifecta by Hall less than five miutes into the second half.  But, as would become the theme for the rest of the night, Daemen responded with five-straight points to keep the hosts at bay, getting a pair of freebies from freshman guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) and a three-pointer by fellow greenhorn Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) to extend back to a nine-point gap (57-48).

The Pioneers would score the next six points to draw within three at 57-54 following a Dotson jumper at the 12:12 mark.  Dyck burried a big three-pointer on the next Daemen possession and LIU Post would not bring the deficit to a single possession's worth for the rest of the game.  Daemen maintained a lead between 5-10 points and every time it appeared as if the Pioneers would make a serious run, the high-powered Daemen offense would come through with points.

Daemen's field goal shooting dropped off in the second, converting just 10-of-33 attempts from the floor, including 2-for-11 long-range shooting, but the Wildcats went 21-for-30 from the charity stripe in the period.

The key stat of the game was in the turnover column.  After committing 19 turnovers in their last trip to Pratt Recreation Center, resulting in a 79-56 loss late last season, the Wildcats turned the ball over just three times today and enjoyed a 12-2 boon in points off turnovers.

Daemen also held a 25-18 edge in bench scoring.  Wilkes scored eight points and added three assists to lead the Daemen bench mob.  Graduate student Ryan Grandits (Kenmore, N.Y./Medaille College) returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with an injury.  Grandits, who had started the first 11 games of the year, came off the bench tonight and hit a three-pointer on his first possession, ultimately playing 13 minutes.

The 91 points allowed by the Pioneers are a season-high for games played at Pratt Recreation Center where Daemen was 0-3 all-time heading into tonight's game.  The Daemen win was the first by any road team in the all-time series which is now knotted at 3-3.  The Wildcats have now gone over 90 points in three-straight games, the first time that's happened since early January of 2014.  Daemen is now 49-2 since the start of the 2009-10 season when scoring 90 or more points.

Daemen looks to keep the momentum rolling when they visit N.Y. Institute of Technology on Sunday (January 17) to close out a rare three-game week.  The Bears (2-13, 1-7 ECC) picked up their first ECC win of the season, snapping an overall 13-game skid by defeating Roberts Wesleyan tonight, 75-69.  Sunday's tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. from Recreation Hall on the NYIT campus.