| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College men's basketball team plays its third straight home game when St. Edward's University visits Lumsden Gymnasium this weekend...Daemen, which opened the season with two wins at its own tournament - the ECC-CACC Challenge - last weekend, is seeking its first 3-0 start since the 2012-13 season when the Wildcats rattled off six straight victories to start the year. |
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| TOURNAMENT INFORMATION & LINKS |
 Â Â Â Â VS Â Â Â  Â Â Â Â Â |
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Date:
Saturday, November 19 |
Time:Â
1:00 p.m. |
Location:Â
Lumsden Gymnasium - Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
St. Edward's Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
St. Edward's Schedule |
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| Daemen Stats |
St. Edward's Stats |
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| LIVE STATS |
LIVE VIDEO |
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| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter:Â |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenMBB |
| Daemen Hashtags:Â |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| St. Edward's Twitter:Â |
@SEUAthletics, @SEUMBasketball |
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| RETURN OF THE MAC |
| Local hoops fixture Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his third season as Daemen's head coach, and his 20th season overall as a collegiate head coach...in his first two seasons on the job, MacDonald has led the Wildcats to a 40-20 overall record...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...he followed that up by leading Daemen to a 19-10 record and the program's first-ever postseason berth at the NCAA Division II level, qualifying for and advancing to the finals of the East Coast Conference Tournament...prior to beginning his stint at Daemen, MacDonald transformed the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial power, averaging 18 wins per 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...the longtime bench boss opens the 2016-17 season with a career record of 296-246. |
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| DAEMEN SCOUTING REPORT (2-0, 0-0 ECC) |
| Daemen returns 12 players from its 2015-16 team which went 19-10 overall and 14-6 in East Coast Conference play, finishing second in the final regular season standings to earn the No. 2 seed in the ECC Tournament as the Wildcats made their first-ever postseason appearance at the NCAA Division II level...after receiving a bye into the semifinal round of the tourney, Daemen scored a wild 103-102 (OT) victory over sixth-seeded Mercy to advance to the ECC Tournament finals where their season came to an end with an 80-63 loss to top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas...for the second straight year, the Wildcats open the season after graduating one of the top players in team history...last year at this time, the Wildcats were learning about life without two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Year Gerald Beverly...this time around, the Wildcats are without 6-foot-5 wing Torrence Dyck who led the ECC in scoring last season (21.9 ppg)...among the team's returners are five players who started at least 12 games last season, and a sixth - redshirt-senior guard Supreme Hannah - who was limited to just four games last year after making 28 starts in 2014-15...the group of returners is headlined by redshirt-senior forward Arif Mehmetaj who earned second-team All-ECC honors last season after averaging 15.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game...Mehmetaj posted nine 20-point games and a team-best seven double-doubles last season while leading the team with 47 three-point field goals...he finished 12th in the league in scoring, 14th in rebounding and ninth in free throw percentage (80.2)...Hannah was averaging 11.5 points and 3.0 assists per game before he went down with a season-ending injury...he logged 33.4 minutes per game in 2014-15, averaging 10.5 points and 3.9 assists per game that season...redshirt-sophomore wing Deion Hamilton was a two-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection last season...he chipped in 8.0 points per game, including an average of 11.2 points in his 17 starts...among the team's new additions this season, redshirt-freshman Jeff Redband is expected to make an immediate impact...the Wildcats were picked fifth in the ECC preseason poll...Daemen opened the 2016-17 season with a pair of wins at last weekend's ECC-CACC Challenge...a 75-64 win over Caldwell on Nov. 11 was Daemen's 15th straight win in a season opener...a 60-49 defeat of Dominican followed on Nov. 12, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 start for the 12th time in the last 15 seasons...Hannah collected tournament MVP honors after posting 17.5 points and 4.0 assists per game...he matched a career-high with nine field goals in the win over Dominican, producing 21 points - the third 20-point game of his career...Hannah was joined on the all-tournament team by Hamilton (14.5 ppg, 69% FG) and Aleks Miljenovic (11.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg)...additional production has come from Darius Garvin (10.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.5 apg) and Redband (5.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg). |
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| ST. EDWARD'S SCOUTING REPORT (1-1, 0-0 HC) |
| St. Edward's is located in Austin, Texas and the Hilltoppers are a member of the Heartland Conference...SEU is led by head coach Andre Cook, a native of Watervliet, N.Y., who is in his eighth season at the helm, and his 13th season overall as a collegiate head coach...Cook, who came to SEU from Hudson Valley Community College, has posted a 220-138 career record to date...the Hilltoppers have advanced to the semifinal round of the Heartland Conference Tournament in each of the last two seasons...their 2015-16 season ended there in an 82-79 loss to top-seeded Arkansas-Fort Smith...the Hilltoppers return nine players, including three starters, from that team which went 18-12 overall and 10-10 in Heartland Conference play...the group of returners are headlined by honorable mention all-league picks Ramir Burton and John Gramlich...Burton, a native of Niagara Falls, led the Hilltoppers and ranked 14th in the league with 14.4 points per game last season...getting to the charity stripe is a big part of Burton's game as he ranked third among all Heartland Conference players in free throw attempts with 197...Gramlich posted 12.3 points per game and finished second on the team (12th in the league) with 55 three-point field goals...also back is 6-foot-5 senior forward Ethan Gilbert who registered 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game last season...junior guard Sean Watkins steps into the starting point guard role this season after seeing action in all 30 games last season...Division I transfer Landon Goesling (Appalachian St.), a 6-2 sophomore guard, is among the newcomers expected to contribute...SEU was picked fifth in the Heartland Conference preseason poll...the Hilltoppers opened the 2016-17 season by splitting a pair of neutral site games at the Heartland/Rocky Mountain Conference Tip-Off event last weekend...Burton (22) and Gramlich (18) combined for 40 points in the Hilltoppers' 93-91 (OT) loss to Colorado Christian on Nov. 11...Gilbert led the way with 19 points and seven boards, while Burton added 12 points, six rebounds and six assists the following day as SEU downed Colorado Mesa 71-66...through two games, Burton leads the team in scoring (17.0 ppg)...Gilbert is getting 14.0 points per game and converting 53-percent of his field goal attempts...Gramlich (13.5 ppg) and Watkins (10.5 ppg) are also averaging in double figures, and the latter has posted a team-best 11 assists...additional production has come from Cory McKendree (8.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and James Taylor (8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg)...Watkins' three-pointer as time expired was disallowed as the Hilltoppers dropped an exhibition contest at Division I Incarnate Word earlier this week, falling 93-90...Burton's 23 points led SEU in the loss...the Hilltoppers host Division III Southwestern in their home opener Thursday evening before heading out to Western New York. |
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| DAEMEN VS. ST. EDWARD'S: THE HISTORY |
| All-Time: Saturday's game marks the first-ever meeting between the Wildcats & Hilltoppers |
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| A MOST VALUABLE RETURN |
| Last weekend's season openers marked the return of redshirt-senior guard Supreme Hannah to the Daemen lineup...Hannah, who missed the final 25 games last season and both exhibition contests in early November, did not disappoint as he collected Most Valuable Player honors for the ECC-CACC Challenge...in last Friday's 75-64 win over Caldwell, Hannah scored 14 points and dished a team-high four assists in helping Daemen capture its 15th consecutive win in a season opener...he followed that with a 21-points, four-assist outing in an 11-point dispatching of Dominican on Saturday, while logging a game-high 37 minutes...the output marked the third 20-point game of his career and he tied a career-high with nine field goals...Hannah has made 34 consecutive starts in games that he's appeared in, dating back to the 2014-15 season...since the start of that season, Hannah is averaging 11.1 points and 3.8 assists per game. |
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| BULLISH EFFORTÂ |
| In an exhibition game vs. Division I Buffalo on Nov. 4, Daemen led for more than 12 minutes in the second half before falling by five (87-82) in overtime...it marked the second time in the last three seasons that Division II Daemen has taken a Division I opponent to overtime in exhibition action...the last time ended in an 83-81 win in Mike MacDonald's Daemen debut which just happened to come in his return to the Koessler Athletic Center where he coached Canisius for 18 seasons, including nine as the head coach...this time around, redshirt-freshman Jeff Redband hit his sixth three-pointer with 26 ticks remaining to erase the Bulls' three-point lead and send the game to overtime...Redband finished with a team-high 22 points...in the overtime period, Darius Garvin hit a three-pointer with 1:15 left to pull the Wildcats within one (82-81) but, after a UB turnover, his go-ahead jumper attempt was off the mark, and the Bulls answered with an old-fashioned three-point play to essentially put the game out of reach...Deion Hamilton netted 16 points for the Wildcats, while Arif Mehmetaj and Jaleo Wilkes chipped in with 15 and 12 points, respectively. |
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| THE FRIENDLY CONFINES |
| Last Friday's game vs. Caldwell marked the 13th consecutive home season opener for the Wildcats...Daemen's last road season opener was on Oct. 24, 2003 vs. Brock...since 2011, Daemen is 58-8 at Lumsden Gymnasium (.879 winning percentage). |
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| 20/20 |
| Daemen's 19-win season in 2015-16 snapped a string of four-straight 20-win seasons...the Wildcats have registered at least 20 wins nine times in the last 14 seasons...the high-water mark in that stretch was the Wildcats' 27-6 campaign in 2012-13 when they played an independent schedule while transitioning to NCAA Division II. |
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| DID YOU KNOW? |
| Saturday's game marks Daemen's first-ever against an opponent from the state of Texas. |
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| ON THE HORIZON |
| Thanksgiving week has the Wildcats playing three games over five days, all against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference opponents...a home game vs. Slippery Rock (Friday, Nov. 25) is sandwiched between road tilts with Edinboro (Wednesday, Nov. 23) and Mercyhurst (Sunday, Nov. 27). |
