DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - With the sting of Thursday night's loss at Saint Thomas Aquinas College fresh on their minds, the Daemen College men's basketball team rebounded with a 100-86 win today at Mercy College in another important East Coast Conference matchup held at Mercy Gymnasium.

Daemen jumped out to a 21-8 lead in the first seven-plus minutes of the game, and fended off a furious second-half rally by the hosts in this one.  The win moves Daemen to 15-7 overall and 11-4 in the league.  Coupled with today's 100-92 victory by University of the District of Columbia over University of Bridgeport, Daemen maintains its sole grasp on second place in the ECC standings.  The Wildcats have now won 10 of their last 11 games, and have gone 14-4 since mid-December.  The win also pushes Daemen to 6-2 in ECC road games this season.

Mercy, a much improved team over years past, came in to today's game as winners in seven of their last eight, including the last five in a row, a string that's catapulted them to sixth place in the league standings and to an overall record above .500 for the first time in February since the 1992-93 season.  But, the Mavericks couldn't settle down the explosive Daemen offense, falling to 11-10 overall and 8-7 in the league with the loss.

Senior guard/forward Torrence Dyck (Rochester, N.Y./San Jacinto College) paced a quintet of double-figure scorers for the Wildcats.  Dyck hit 7-of-14 field goal attempts and totaled 19 points in the game, 16 of which came in the first half.  He was joined in double figures in the opening stanza by redshirt-freshman guard/forward Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) who scored 14 first-half points en route to 18 in the game.

The second half belonged to junior forward Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) and grad student Ryan Grandits (Kenmore, N.Y./Medaille College).  Mehmetaj, who has been nursing an injury of late, came off the bench for the first time in career today, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the second half.  Grandits also came off the pine to score all 10 of his points in the pivotal second half.  The duo helped Daemen to a 47-32 edge in bench production, marking the highest bench scoring total of the Mike MacDonald Era and the team's most since scoring 45 points in MacDonald's regular season debut, an 85-50 defeat of Concordia College (N.Y.) on November 14, 2014.

Starting point guard Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) also reached double figures with 10, while reserves Jesse Lalka (Tonawanda, N.Y./Tonawanda), Jaleo Wilkes (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Polk State College) and Xavier Long (Brooklyn, N.Y./Williamsburg Prep) also contributed.  Lalka was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, including 2-for-2 from long range, and totaled eight points while Wilkes and Long split 12 points between them.

Shaquille Stokes came off the bench to pace Mercy today with 17 points, albeit on 6-of-17 shooting.  Starters Gerald McClease (16 points, seven rebounds), Raphael Jennings (15 points) and William Robinson (14 points, seven rebounds) also produced for the Mavericks.

In stark contrast to the outset of Thursday's showdown at league-leading STAC when the Wildcats couldn't throw a rock in the ocean, Daemen blistered the nets in the first half today, shooting 17-of-30 from the field (57-percent), 4-of-9 from three-point land (44-percent) and 11-of-13 from the charity stripe (85-percent).

Mercy rebounded from the initial barrage which resulted in a 13-point Daemen lead, cutting the deficit to three (23-20) with 12-straight points of their own.  But, Daemen would score 24 of the next 33 points over nearly nine minutes to take control with a 47-29 lead.  Dyck scored nine points in the spurt which was capped by his two free throws at the 1:18 mark.

Mercy would get back-to-back three-pointers from Jason Quijada in the final minute of the half, before a layup by Wilkes closed the scoring to send Daemen into the break with a 14-point edge (49-35).

After Daemen's Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) opened the second half scoring with a fastbreak layup, the hosts would embark on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes to bring themselves back into contention as Daemen's shooting cooled considerably to open the frame.  McClease accounted for 10 points in the run which was capped by a Robinson putback at the 15:21 mark which cut the deficit to six (51-45).  

The teams essentially traded baskets for the next several minutes until a bucket by Mercy's Tyseem Lyles at the 10:46 mark brought his team within three points (63-60) for the first time since it was 23-20.

That led to a pivotal stretch in which Damen outscored the hosts 8-1 in the next two-and-a-half minutes to re-establish a double figure lead (71-61) with 8:13 to play.  Mehmetaj hit two freebies, Dyck split a pair a the line, Sarkis scored a layup and Lalka knocked down a trifecta in the spurt.

Four-straight points by Mercy, including a three-pointer by Laz Martinez brought them back within six points (71-65).  But, that's when the Daemen bench really began to leave its imprint on this game.  Lalka scored on a scoop shot in the lane, Grandits converted an old-fashioned three-point play, Mehmetaj drove and scored and Wilkes connected on just second three-pointer of the season, while that lineup allowed just a Robinson layup for the Mavericks, pushing Daemen back to a 14-point lead (81-67) with 4:47 left.  

Mercy never got it back under a double-figure deficit and the lead swelled to as many as 19 points in the waning minutes.  A tip-in by Long just before the buzzer put Daemen at the century mark on the scoreboard for the fifth time this season, and for the fourth time in the last six games.

Daemen shot 52-percent for the game (34-for-66), the seventh time this season they've made more than half of their field goal attempts.  The Wildcats also enjoyed season-best shooting from the charity stripe, converting 26-of-29 (90-percent) and outscoring their hosts by 13 from the line (Mercy shot 13-of-21).  

Mercy, which came in as the leading offensive rebounding team in the country, hit the offensive glass as could have been predicted, hauling in 23 of its own misses.  But, they converted those opportunities into just 22 points, and allowed 18 second-chance points on 14 Daemen offensive rebounds.  The Mavericks were held to just 40-percent shooting (33-for-82) in the game.

Daemen hits the midway point of a five-games-in-11-days stretch when they play host to their longtime rivals from Roberts Wesleyan College this coming Tuesday, February 16 at Lumsden Gymnasium.  When the teams last met, Daemen engineered a rally from a 22-point deficit with six minutes to go, pulling out a 98-96 win on Dyck's driving layup before time expired.  The Wildcats have won nine-straight and 16 of the last 17 in the series which will resume with Tuesday's 8 p.m. tip-off.