| THE LEAD |
| The Daemen College men's basketball team looks to snap a three-game slide and jump into the win column in East Coast Conference play when they visit the University of Bridgeport this weekend. |
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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, December 10 |
Time:Â
3:00 p.m. |
Location:Â
Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium - Bridgeport, Conn. |
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| Daemen Roster |
Bridgeport Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
Bridgeport Schedule |
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| Daemen Stats |
Bridgeport 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 |
| Bridgeport Twitter:Â |
@PKnights |
| East Coast Conference Twitter: |
@ECCSports |
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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 (5-3, 0-2 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...after getting off to their first 5-0 start since the 2012-13 season, the Wildcats have dropped three straight, all of which have come on the road...the recent skid includes a pair of overtime losses last week at LIU Post (73-70) and District of Columbia (90-84) in which the Wildcats held second-half leads...against LIU Post, an 11-minute drought between field goals which spanned the end of regulation and the majority of overtime helped the Pioneers overcome a 15-point second-half deficit...the Wildcats, who made 14-of-40 from three-point range, got a team-high 15 points from Mehmetaj while Hamilton registered the first double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) of his career...at UDC last Saturday, a two-point Daemen lead was erased by a pair of Firebird free throws with just two-tenths of a second remaining in regulation...Hannah poured in a career-high 29 points in the loss...Daemen's last win came in their home outing on Nov. 25, a 69-57 dispatching of Slippery Rock...Hannah and Redband scored 16 points apiece to share game-high honors...the Wildcats boast four players averaging at least nine points per game, including three in double figures...Mehmetaj leads the way with 15.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per outing...he scored a season-high 26 points in a 90-79 win at Edinboro on Nov. 23...Hannah, who has gone over 20 points twice this season, is producing 15.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while also leading the team with 26 assists...Hamilton is contributing 14.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from long distance...Redband is currently just shy of double figures with 9.6 points per game...he leads the team in three-pointers with 17...additional production is coming from senior guard Jaleo Wilkes (7.6 ppg, 2.2 apg), redshirt-junior forward Aleks Miljenovic (7.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and sophomore guard Darius Garvin (6.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, team-high 11 steals). |
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| BRIDGEPORT SCOUTING REPORT (6-2, 2-0 ECC) |
| Longtime mentor Mike Ruane is back for his 17th season on the Bridgeport bench...to date, Ruane has guided the Purple Knights to a 314-174 record in his tenure which has included nine 20-win seasons and the same number of NCAA Tournament berths...UB posted a 15-14 overall record last season, and finished fifth in the ECC standings with a 12-8 league record...the Purple Knights, who bring back seven players from their 2015-16 roster, saw their string of three straight ECC Tournament titles snapped when they lost in the opening round (73-68 in overtime) to fourth-seeded LIU Post...despite losing their top five scorers from last season, the Purple Knights were picked third in the ECC preseason poll...the seven returners accounted for just 22 percent of the Purple Knights' scoring last season when they finished fifth in the ECC at 79.7 points per game...UB's most experienced returner is senior guard Montana Mayfield who averaged 6.1 points and 1.8 assists in 25 games last season after transferring from Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology...also back is sophomore guard D'Vonne Trumbo who made 24 starts last season, averaging 3.0 points per game while leading the team with 83 assists...the Purple Knights enter this week's action having won straight, including wins over NYIT (97-78) and Mercy (89-71) in their ECC openers last week...the recent winning streak has propelled UB to No. 7 in this week's D2SIDA East Region poll...6-foot-9 senior center Kyle Benjamin, who previously played for Daemen Hall of Famer Alex Nwora at Erie Community College in Buffalo, was named the ECC Player of the Week after averaging 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game in the Purple Knights' pair of ECC wins last week...after averaging just 3.9 points and 2.5 rebounds in 15 games last season, Benjamin is leading UB with 17.1 points and 11.1 rebounds per game this season...Benjamin leads the country with six double-doubles, and he leads the ECC in field goal percentage, knocking down 67.5 percent of his attempts, which also ranks 13th nationally...defensively, Benjamin has totaled 22 blocked shots so far which leads the league and ranks seventh in the country...the Purple Knights are also getting double-figure scoring from junior guard/forward Sam Joseph (13.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and sophomore guard/forward Rakim Lesane (12.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg), both of whom transferred in from Jamestown Community College this season...Joseph scored a season-high 25 points in a loss at Southern New Hampshire on Nov. 19, while Lesane posted a season-high 24 points in a road win over Holy Family on Nov. 27...Lesane has come off the bench in each game, and his production comes in less than 20 minutes per game, making him the third-ranked player in the league in points per 40 minutes (25.3)...additional production is coming from Carlos DeJesus (9.8 ppg), Stefano Osuji (8.3 ppg), Marc Campbell (7.5 ppg), Mayfield (6.0 ppg) and Trumbo (5.5 ppg, team-high 28 assists)...DeJesus is tied for the team lead (with Joseph) with 16 three-pointers, and Mayfield ranks third in the ECC in three-point field goal percentage (.526)...the Purple Knights currently lead the league in scoring, averaging 87.4 points per game. |
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| DAEMEN VS. BRIDGEPORT: THE HISTORY |
| All-Time:Â Daemen leads the series 4-2 |
| Previous Meetings: |
| Feb. 7, 2016 - Daemen 78, Bridgeport 69 |
(@ Daemen) |
GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Dec. 20, 2015 - Bridgeport 94, Daemen 85 |
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GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Feb. 14, 2015 - Bridgeport 63, Daemen 60 |
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GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Jan. 10, 2015 - Daemen 91, Bridgeport 88 (OT) |
(@ Daemen) |
GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Feb. 22, 2014 - Daemen 75, Bridgeport 66 |
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GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
| Jan. 18, 2014 - Daemen 90, Bridgeport 79 |
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GAME RECAP | BOX SCORE |
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| SEEING RED-BAND |
| Redshirt-freshman forward Jeff Redband was named the ECC Rookie of the Week for games held Nov. 21-27...the 6-foot-7 sharp-shooter averaged 13.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game over three contests in the week, helping Daemen pick up a pair of wins...Redband shot 51.7 percent from the field and 55 percent from three-point range in the contests...he opened the week by scoring 20 points in Daemen's 90-79 win at Edinboro...Redband canned five of his six three-pointers in the first half, and added five rebounds in the win...two days later, Redband hit his first four shots from the field, including three from long distance, en route to a 16-point performance in Daemen's 69-57 defeat of Slippery Rock...he closed the week with five points, three rebounds and two blocks in a 70-61 road loss at Mercyhurst...for the season, Redband has started all eight contests and is producing 9.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while leading the team with 17 three-pointers...his selection is the first weekly honor for a Daemen player this season...the Wildcats led the league in Rookie of the Week selections last season with six. |
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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 45-23 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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| 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? |
| Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Daemen ranks second among East Coast Conference teams in overall wins with 66, while Bridgeport ranks third with 63. |
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| ON THE HORIZON |
| Coach Mike MacDonald's Wildcats return home for the first time since Nov. 25 when they host N.Y. Institute of Technology in their first ECC home game of the season on Wednesday, Dec. 14. |
