| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College men's basketball team puts its unblemished record on the line when Slippery Rock University comes to Lumsden Gymnasium on Friday...the Wildcats close out Thanksgiving weekend by visiting Mercyhurst University on Sunday for their third game of the week against a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference foe...Daemen is coming off a 90-79 win at Edinboro University on Wednesday which gave the Wildcats their first 4-0 start since the 2012-13 season, as well giving head coach Mike MacDonald the 300th win of his career. |
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| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
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Date:
Friday, November 25 |
Time:Â
2:00 p.m. |
Location:Â
Lumsden Gymnasium - Amherst, N.Y. |
| Daemen Roster |
Slippery Rock Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
Slippery Rock Schedule |
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| Daemen Stats |
Slippery Rock Stats |
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| LIVE STATS |
LIVE VIDEO |
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   VS     |
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Date:
Sunday, November 27 |
Time:
3:00 p.m. |
Location:
Mercyhurst Athletic Center - Erie, Pa. |
| Daemen Roster |
Mercyhurst Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
Mercyhurst Schedule |
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| Daemen Stats |
Mercyhurst Stats |
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| LIVE STATS |
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| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter:Â |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenMBB |
| Daemen Hashtags:Â |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| Slippery Rock Twitter:Â |
@Rock_Athletics |
| Mercyhurst Twitter: |
@HurstAthletics |
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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 (4-0, 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 their own tournament - the ECC-CACC Challenge...a 75-64 win over Caldwell on Nov. 11 was Daemen's 15th straight in a season opener...a 60-49 defeat of Dominican followed on Nov. 12...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)...the Wildcats added a 74-64 defeat of St. Edward's this past Saturday, and are coming off a 90-79 win at Edinboro on Wednesday, pushing out to a 4-0 start for the first time since the 2012-13 season...Miljenovic recorded his first double-double, posting career-highs of 21 points and 12 boards in the win over St. Edward's...against Edinboro, Mehmetaj made his season debut, scoring 16 of his 26 points in the final eight-and-a-half minutes to help preserve the win...Mehmetaj and Redband (20 points) combined to hit 12 of Daemen's 15 three-pointers in the win...the win was the 300th in the career of head coach Mike MacDonald, and it moved Daemen to 57-2 when scoring 90 or more points since the start of the 2009-10 season...including Mehmetaj, the Wildcats boast five players averaging in double figures...Hamilton is producing 14.5 points while connecting on 59-percent of his field goal attempts...Hannah is shooting 46-percent from the field and averaging 13.3 points per game, while also leading the team with 21 assists...Miljenovic has started all four contests, posting 12.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per outing thus far...and Redband leads the team with 10 three-pointers while averaging 11.5 points per game...additional production is coming from sophomore guard Darius Garvin (8.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, team-best 7 steals, team-best 4 blocks). |
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| SLIPPERY ROCK SCOUTING REPORT (3-3, 0-2 PSAC) |
| Slippery Rock is a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference...the Rock are coached by Kevin Reynolds who has produced five 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances in his first eight seasons at the helm...to date, Reynolds has posted a record of 156-88 on the SRU bench...SRU returns just two players from its 2015-16 team which went 15-13 overall and 10-12 in PSAC play...the team's two returners - senior guard Naquil Jones and Jordan Marrow - represent just 14-percent of the team's scoring from last season...12 of the team's 13 players are junior college transfers...the Rock were selected seventh in the PSAC Western Division preseason poll...the Rock are an even 3-3 in the early going this season with two of their losses coming against ranked opponents...SRU fell 71-53 to No. 7 Wheeling Jesuit in their regular season opener, and 88-69 to No. 14 Kutztown last Sunday...SRU is coming off an 83-60 win at home over ECC member District of Columbia on Wednesday...the Rock racked up 44 points in the paint and shot 61-percent from the field in defeating UDC...newcomer Merdic Green, a 6-3 redshirt-junior guard, leads SRU in scoring at 12.5 points per game thus far...just one of his 34 field goals has come from three-point range...Jones has made three starts and is producing 12.0 points per game while leading the team with five three-pointers...additional production is coming from 6-2 guard Khyree Wooten (8.8 ppg, team-high 16 assists), 6-7 forward Amir Maddred (8.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and 6-5 forward George Chase (6.0 ppg, team-high 5.2 rpg)...the Rock are currently ranked 17th among the 18 PSAC teams in scoring (67.3 ppg), but also 7th in points allowed (67.2 ppg). |
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| DAEMEN VS. SLIPPERY ROCK: THE HISTORY |
| All-Time:Â Slippery Rock leads the all-time series 1-0 |
| Previous Meetings: |
| Dec. 11, 2015 - Slippery Rock 72, Daemen 51 |
(@ Slippery Rock) |
GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
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| MERCYHURSTÂ SCOUTING REPORT (2-2, 1-1 PSAC) |
| Mercyhurst is a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference...the Lakers are led by 14th-year head coach Gary Manchell who has taken the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in the last two seasons, while also capturing the program's first-ever PSAC Tournament championship last year...since taking the reins, Manchell has posted a 225-147 record at Mercyhurst...the Lakers went 22-9 in 2015-16, the most wins in a single season during the Manchell era, and posted a 15-7 mark in PSAC play...in last year's PSAC Tournament, the Lakers scored a pair of double-digit wins in the early rounds to advance to the tourney finals where they took out West Chester by three (70-67)...MU went on to earn the program's first NCAA Tournament win, defeating Wheeling Jesuit 66-65 in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional, before bowing out with a 79-73 loss to PSAC rival Kutztown...despite graduating their top six scorers from last season, the Lakers were picked second in the PSAC Western Division preseason poll...among the team's 10 returners are three players who averaged double-figure minutes last season...senior guard Hi'an Hale is the lone returning starter...Hale averaged 4.5 points per game while producing a team-high 125 assists last season...also back is junior guard Malcolm Waters (12.6 mpg, 3.3 ppg) and senior forward Kevin Marsh (10.8 mpg, 2.1 ppg)...the Lakers' roster also features Kordell Holness-Lightbody, a 6-3 sophomore guard who played scholastically at St. Francis in the Buffalo area...Holness-Lightbody appeared in just six games as a true freshman in 2015-16...MU has alternated wins and losses over the first four games of their season...their only home game of the season thus far was a 103-37 rout of Division III Mount Aloysius in their season opener...an 89-80 loss at Notre Dame (Ohio) followed, before the Lakers opened PSAC play with a 70-56 win at Cheyney last Saturday...the Lakers have been idle since last Sunday when they suffered 69-66 loss at Millersville...newcomers Durrell McDonald and Dajuan Dent have paced the MU offense thus far in 2016-17...McDonald, a 6-2 senior guard who transferred from Division I DePaul, is tied for second in the PSAC with 14 three-pointers...he's shooting 48-percent from long range and averaging a team-best 18.0 points per game...Dent is a 6-7 junior forward who is producing 13.3 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game...additional production has come from Waters (9.5 ppg) and Hale (6.3 ppg, team-best 23 assists)...the Lakers, who have finished in the top-10 nationally in scoring defense five times under Manchell, are surrendering just 62.8 points per game this season, ranking third in the PSAC. |
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| DAEMEN VS. MERCYHURST: THE HISTORY |
| All-Time: Mercyhurst leads the all-time series 16-1 (Mercyhurst leads the modern era series [after 1986] 6-1) |
| Previous Meetings (Modern Era): |
| Nov. 24, 2015 - Mercyhurst 75, Daemen 69 |
(@ Daemen) |
GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Nov. 25, 2014 - Mercyhurst 90, Daemen 84 (OT) |
(@ Mercyhurst) |
GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Nov. 23, 2013 - Daemen 69, Mercyhurst 63 |
(@ Daemen) |
GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Jan. 2, 1997 - Mercyhurst 86, Daemen 54 |
(@ Mercyhurst) |
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| Nov. 26, 1996 - Mercyhurst 98, Daemen 65 |
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| Dec. 11, 1989 - Mercyhurst 76, Daemen 70 |
(@ Mercyhurst) |
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| Nov. 24, 1987 - Mercyhurst 118, Daemen 100 |
(@ Mercyhurst) |
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| MAC'S MILESTONE |
| Wednesday's win over Edinboro was the 300th in the career of Daemen head coach Mike MacDonald...now in his 20th season as a collegiate head coach, and his third at Daemen, MacDonald spent nine seasons leading the Division I program at Canisius where he totaled 108 wins to rank third all-time...he went on to transform the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial contender in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, leaving there as the program's all-time leader in wins with 148...since arriving at Daemen, MacDonald has led the Wildcats to a 44-20 mark. |
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| A MOST VALUABLE RETURN |
| The 2016-17 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 a 75-64 win over Caldwell on Nov. 11, 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-point, four-assist outing in an 11-point dispatching of Dominican on Nov. 12, 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 35 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 10.9 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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| PSAC PESTS |
| Wednesday's game versus Edinboro marked the first of three straight for Daemen against opponents from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference...the Wildcats are just 4-6 against PSAC teams dating back to the 2008-09 season...wins in that stretch have come over Gannon (67-65 on Nov. 25, 2011), Mercyhurst (69-63 on Nov. 23, 2013) and Edinboro (88-79 on Dec. 12, 2015; 90-79 on Nov. 23, 2016). |
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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? |
| Arif Mehmetaj matched a career-high with six three-pointers in Daemen's 90-79 win at Edinboro earlier this week...Mehmetaj also made six triples in a 106-102 win over Dowling College on Feb. 5, 2016. |
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| ON THE HORIZON |
| Daemen opens East Coast Conference play by visiting LIU Post next Wednesday, Nov. 30 - their first of three straight road trips to start the conference season. |
