| THE LEAD |
| After going nearly 12 years between games against Northeast-10 Conference opponents, the Daemen College men's basketball teams hosts an NE-10 member for the second straight game as regionally-ranked College of St. Rose comes to Lumsden Gymnasium for a New Year's Eve matinee...Daemen has won two straight and is coming off a 92-69 win over NE-10 member St. Michael's on Dec. 19. |
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| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
 Â Â Â Â VS Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  |
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Date:
Saturday, Dec. 31 |
Time:Â
12:00 p.m. |
Location:Â
Lumsden Gymnasium - Amherst, N.Y. |
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| Daemen Roster |
St. Rose Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
St. Rose Schedule |
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| Daemen Stats |
St. Rose Stats |
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| LIVE STATS |
LIVE VIDEO |
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| EAST COAST CONFERENCE WEBSITE |
NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE WEBSITE |
EAST REGION INSIDERS WEBSITE |
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| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter:Â |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenMBB |
| Daemen Hashtags:Â |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| St. Rose Twitter: |
@gogoldenknights |
| East Coast Conference Twitter: |
@ECCSports |
| Northeast-10 Conference Twitter: |
@TheNortheast10 |
| East Region Basketball Insiders Twitter: |
@D2EastHoops |
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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 (7-4, 1-3 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, which got off to its first 5-0 start since the 2012-13 season, snapped a four-game slide with an 88-74 defeat of conference foe NYIT on Dec. 14...Aleks Miljenovic came off the bench to score a team-high 15 points in the win, pacing five double-figure scorers...the Wildcats are coming off a 92-69 non-league win over St. Michael's on Dec. 19, using a 24-4 blitz in the second half to take control...sophomore guard Darius Garvin posted career-highs of 22 points and six assists, while adding eight rebounds to lead the way...Redband (19 points) and redshirt-senior guard/forward Jesse Lalka (15 points) combined to shoot 9-for-15 from three-point range...Lalka, who was inserted into the starting lineup for the NYIT game, is averaging 14 points per game and shooting 70 percent from long distance as a starter...through the first 11 games of the season, Hannah leads the team in scoring (14.5 ppg) and assists (40)...he poured in a career-high 29 points in an overtime loss at UDC on Dec. 3...Mehmetaj scored a season-high 26 points in a 90-79 win at Edinboro on Nov. 23, and is producing 13.0 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds per game...Hamilton, who missed the game against NYIT, is contributing 12.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from long distance...Redband rounds out the Wildcats' double-figure scorers at 11.5 points per game...he leads the team in three-pointers with 30 and is shooting 43.5 percent from deep...additional production is coming from Garvin (8.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, team-high 16 steals), Miljenovic (7.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and senior guard Jaleo Wilkes (6.3 ppg, 2.3 apg, 11 steals)...the Wildcats enter Saturday's game as one of the premier defensive teams in the ECC this season...they lead the lead in scoring defense, allowing just 69.8 points per game, while also ranking second in the league in field goal percentage defense (.411) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.305). |
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| ST. ROSEÂ SCOUTING REPORT (11-3, 4-2Â NE-10) |
| The College of St. Rose is located in Albany, N.Y. and the Golden Knights are members of the Northeast-10 Conference...veteran mentor Brian Beaury is in his 33rd season on the St. Rose bench, and his 31st as the Golden Knights' head coach...in that time, Beaury has led the Golden Knights to a 607-310 record to date and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances...Beaury entered the 2016-17 season at No. 9 in wins among active Division II head coaches, and No. 19 all-time...the Golden Knights return 14 players, including all five starters, from their 2015-16 team which went 13-14 overall and 11-9 in NE-10 play...the continuity brought about by the number of players returning surely played a factor in St. Rose being picked to finish second in the NE-10 Southwest Division preseason poll...among the returners is 6-foot-6 senior forward Tyler Sayre who earned second-team All-NE-10 honors last season after leading the Golden Knights in scoring (19.6 ppg) and rebounding (5.8 rpg)...additional returning starters include Mical-Ryan Boyd (9.9 ppg, team-high 38 three-pointers), Julian Lipinski (9.5 ppg, 55.4 field goal percentage), Pharroh Gordon (7.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Damon Coleman (5.4 ppg, team-high 101 assists)...St. Rose comes into Saturday's game with Daemen ranked fourth in the latest D2SIDA East Region media poll...the Golden Knights raced out to a 9-0 start to their 2016-17 season, but are just 2-3 in the month of December...they snapped a three-game slide with a 90-72 home win over regionally-ranked Philadelphia on Dec. 17, and followed that with an 88-81 defeat of Holy Family the following day...Boyd, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, leads three double-figure scorers at 13.5 points per game...Boyd is hitting 53.3 percent of his field goal attempts, and 45.3 of his three-point attempts, while leading the team in three-point field goals with 24...he shot 11-of-12 from the field (5-of-6 from three-point range) in erupting for a career-high 29 points in the win over Holy Family...Sayre's numbers are down from last season, but he's still producing 11.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game...he scored a season-high 19 points in a 62-54 win over Le Moyne on Nov. 30...Lipinski, a 6-foot-8 Australian native, continues his high conversion rate from the field (52.2 percent), while posting 10.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and a team-high 13 blocks...additional production is coming from Jack Jones (9.9 ppg), Chris Dorgler (7.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and Coleman (7.3 ppg, team-high 52 assists)...Jones, who shot just 26.6 percent from three-point range last season, is converting those opportunities at a 44.2 percent clip this season...the Golden Knights are one of the more stingy teams around, allowing just 63.4 points per game to their opponents which leads the NE-10 and ranks ninth nationally. |
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| DAEMEN VS. ST. ROSE: THE HISTORY |
| All-Time:Â Saturday's game marks the first-ever meeting between Daemen & St. Rose |
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| LONG DISTANCE LALKA |
| Since being inserted into the starting lineup two games ago, redshirt-senior guard/forward Jesse Lalka has responded by producing 14.0 points and 70 percent shooting from three-point range (7-for-10) , helping Daemen to wins over NYIT and St. Michael's...the games marked just the sixth and seventh starts of Lalka's career...he came into the NYIT game averaging just 1.7 points per game with four three-pointers...Lalka, who led the ECC in three-point field goal percentage last season (.500) after shooting 31-for-62, has raised his scoring average to 3.9 points per game this season, shooting 11-for-21 from deep (52.4 percent)...his 13-point outing in the win over NYIT was his first double-figure scoring game since posting 12 points in a 98-96 win at Roberts Wesleyan on Jan. 12, 2016...he followed that with a 15-point outing - one shy of his career-high - in the win over St. Michael's, marking the first time in his career that he'd posted back-to-back double-figure scoring games. |
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| MAC'S MILESTONE |
| Daemen's 90-79 win over Edinboro on Nov. 23 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 47-24 mark. |
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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? |
| Daemen's 92-69 win over St. Michael's on Dec. 19 improved their record to 58-2 when scoring 90 or more points since the start of the 2009-10 season...it also improved Daemen's home record to 62-8 since the start of the 2011-12 season. |
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| ON THE HORIZON |
| Daemen jumps back into East Coast Conference play by hosting Mercy College (Monday, Jan. 2) and nationally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College (Wednesday, Jan. 4). |
