THE LEAD: The Daemen College men's basketball team hosts Long Island University—Post (Feb. 19) and New York Institute of Technology (Feb. 21) in East Coast Conference games this weekend…Daemen enters the weekend in sole possession of second place in the ECC standings…the Wildcats have secured a bid to the upcoming ECC Championship tournament in their first season of eligibility…the top two seeds in the six-team tournament earn a first-round bye into the tournament semifinals…the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds will host tournament quarterfinal games on March 2 and the tournament semifinals and championship will take place March 5 and 6 in Washington, D.C. on the campus the University of the District of Columbia…ticket information is available HERE.
MAKING HISTORY: Daemen clinched a bid to the upcoming ECC Championship tournament following its 96-88 win over Roberts Wesleyan Wednesday night…in so doing the men's basketball team became the first Daemen team to qualify for a conference tournament at the NCAA Division II level…the Wildcats were in position in each of the last two years to earn a berth had they been eligible.
Friday, Feb. 19, 2016
LIU Post at Daemen - 8 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
DC ROSTER / DC STATS / LIUP ROSTER / LIUP STATS / LIVE STATS / VIDEO
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016
New York Tech at Daemen - 3 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
DC ROSTER / DC STATS / NYIT ROSTER / NYIT STATS / LIVE STATS / VIDEO
DIVISION II DEBUT: Daemen successfully completed a three-year membership process and was approved for active membership status at the NCAA Division II level by the NCAA Membership Committee his past summer…Daemen was accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) in July of 2012 and began playing full regular-season conference schedules in the fall of 2013…the 2015-16 academic year will mark the first year Daemen will be eligible for ECC and NCAA post-season play.
MAC IS BACK: Local hoops fixture Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his second season as Daemen's head coach, and his 19th season overall as a collegiate head coach...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 last March...by winning 20 games in his Daemen debut, MacDonald became one of the only active coaches in the country to achieve a 20-win season at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels of competition...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...to date, MacDonald owns a career record of 293-243.
DAEMEN SCOUTING REPORT (16-7, 12-4 ECC): Daemen returns nine players from last year's team that posted a 21-10 overall record and a 13-7 mark in the East Coast Conference, while capturing the USCAA Division I national championship in the team's final year of non-eligibility for ECC and/or NCAA Division II postseason play...in addition to the returners, head coach Mike MacDonald welcomes nine fresh faces to his 18-man roster...Daemen was picked fourth in the ECC preseason poll released in late October...MacDonald welcomes back a pair of starters in senior guard Supreme Hannah and senior guard/forward Torrence Dyck...Hannah was perhaps the most improved player in the ECC last season, averaging 10.5 points and a team-best 3.9 assists per game as he transitioned into the team's starting point guard...Dyck, a 6-foot-5 slasher, made an immediate impact in his first season for the Wildcats, averaging 19.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game en route to first-team All-ECC honors, before having his season cut short in early February due to an injury...also back is 6-foot-7 forward Arif Mehmetaj...an inside-outside threat, Mehmetaj started the first three games of the 2014-15 season, averaging 8.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, before having his season cut short by an injury...after going 1-3 over their first four games of the season, Daemen has gone 15-4 in its last 19, dating back to an 88-79 non-conference win over Edinboro on Dec. 12…Daemen has been ranked in the D2SIDA East Region poll for the last two weeks and are ranked 10th in this week's poll…the Wildcats enter the weekend having won 11 of their last 12, and are coming off a 96-88 victory over rival Roberts Wesleyan this past Wednesday...Dyck continues to pace an explosive Daemen offense which continues to lead the ECC in scoring at 86.7 points per game...Dyck, who posted four 30-point games last month, leads the league in scoring, averaging 22.7 points per game...in addition, he has dished a team-high 62 assists this season and is hauling in 6.0 rebounds per game which is second to only Mehmetaj who is having a fine season in his own right...Mehmetaj is averaging a team-high 6.7 rebounds, while adding 16.2 points per game (10th in the ECC) with a team-high 41 three-pointers…additional production is coming from freshman guard Jay Sarkis (8.0 ppg, 2.5 apg, 42% 3pt fg), grad student Ryan Grandits (6.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg), redshirt freshman Deion Hamilton (7.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and junior guard/forward Jesse Lalka (4.9 ppg, 52% 3pt fg)…Hamilton has averaged 14.1 points over the last seven games and scored a career-high 24 points in the win over RWC earlier this week.
LIU POST SCOUTING REPORT (15-10, 10-7 ECC): The Pioneers were picked third in the ECC preseason poll…LIU Post has struggled recently after opening the season by winning 12 of its first 15 games…Pioneers snapped a five-game losing streak following a 60-57 win over Molloy last week and are just 3-7 in their last 10 games…the Pioneers are led by veteran head coach Erik Smiles, now in his third season on the LIU Post sidelines and his 12th overall as a head coach (previously at Farmingdale State)...since coming to the Pioneers, Smiles has led the program to an overall record of 46-28, qualifying for the ECC Tournament in each of his first two seasons...LIU Post returns eight players from last season's squad that went 17-13 overall and 11-9 in ECC play…the Pioneers have been driven by their defensive efforts thus far as they rank second nationally in field-goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 37.6-percent to date...LIU Post also ranks first nationally in both defensive rebounds per game (31.6) and total rebounds…sophomore guard Jared Hall and junior forward Greg Dotson have paced the offense…Hall, who averaged just 4.7 points as a freshman, is contributing 18.0 points per game with a team-high 46 three-pointers…he is also producing 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game and has scored in double figures in 24 of 25 games…he scored a season-high 27 points in a recent 84-73 loss to District of Columbia...Dotson ranks 10th in the ECC in rebounding (7.6 rpg) while also producing 13.8 points per outing…junior guard Dillon Burns is contributing 9.9 points per game and leads the team in assists (4.5 apg) and steals (41)...additional production is coming from Division I transfer (Florida International University) Michael Phillip (4.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 42 blocks), junior college transfer Barrington Alston (7.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and returner Devon McMillan (7.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg).
THE SERIES VS. LIU POST: Friday's game marks the seventh meeting all-time between the Wildcats and Pioneers…the teams have split the previous six meetings...the teams have split their season series in each of the last two years, and the home team has emerged victorious in five of the previous six meetings…Daemen handed the Pioneers their first league loss of the season (91-82) earlier this year on Long Island…Torrence Dyck led the way with 27 points, while Greg Dotson and Jared Hall both scored 21 points for the Pioneers…Daemen registered a 79-74 win over LIU Post last year at Daemen…Dyck (23 pts, 12 rebs) and Gerald Beverly (18 pts, 12 rebs) each recorded double-doubles for the Wildcats...he Pointers answered with a 79-56 win on Long Island...Isiah Stokley (19 pts) and Tyuan Williams (18 pts, 6 rebs) paced the Pioneers…the series dates back to a 79-58 Pioneer victory in opening round action of the LIU Post Holiday Invitational on Dec. 30, 2009...the Pioneers' Jonathan Kohler went off for 31 points in the initial meeting while Daemen got 11 points apiece from Devon Dawson and Ajay Rutledge.
NEW YORK TECH SCOUTING REPORT (3-21, 2-15 ECC): NYIT has found tough sledding this season after graduating 2014-15 ECC Player of the Year Darian Hooker, the nation's leading scorer last season at 28.3 points per game…injuries to several key players have compounded matters for interim head coach Rob Isme, including the loss of the top returner in 6-foot-8 senior forward Jon Feiler who was lost for the season with an injury suffered in mid-November...Feiler earned honorable mention All-ECC status as a junior and was producing again this season (12.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg) before going out of the lineup…the Bears play at Roberts Wesleyan Friday night before facing Daemen Sunday…NYIT takes a six-game losing streak into the weekend and is coming off an 80-73 loss to LIU Post this past Tuesday...Feiler is one of just five returners from the Bears 2014-15 squad that went 14-15 overall and 11-9 in the league to earn the No. 3 seed to the ECC Tournament...the Bears 2015-16 roster features 10 newcomers, including six freshmen...NYIT was picked ninth in the ECC preseason poll...Isme took control of the program on an interim basis last May following the departure of longtime bench boss Sal Lagano who had roamed the NYIT sidelines for 18 seasons...Isme had served as an assistant with the NYIT program since the 2007-08 season...the Bears have leaned heavily on senior guard Khalif Chaplin thus far…Chaplin has averaged 29.3 points over the last eight games and scored a season-high 40 points in a recent 89-85 loss to Dowling…he is averaging a team-high 21.3 points with 61 three-pointers…he ranks third among the ECC scoring leaders and fifth among the ECC leaders in three-pointers made…freshman forward Jeffrey Hayden was a three-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection earlier this season…he was averaging 15.7 points and 6.7 rebounds over the first 13 games, but has missed the last eight games...additional production has come from junior forward Kachi Nzerem (10.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and senior forward Jerrel Green (10.2 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 76 blks)…Green, who ranks first in the ECC and fourth nationally in blocked shots, totaled 21 points and 10 rebounds in a recent overtime loss (84-78) to Queens…NYIT's roster also includes Buffalo native and Erie Community College product Darale Young who is averaging 6.8 points in 19.0 minutes per game...NYIT ranks second among ECC teams in three-pointers attempted per game (24 per game), but they are last in the league in three-point field-goal percentage (.301)...sparked by Green's denials at the rim, the Bears rank 22nd in the country with 4.8 blocked shots per game.
THE SERIES VS. NEW YORK TECH: Sunday's game will mark the sixth all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Bears...NYIT has prevailed in three of the previous five meetings…Daemen posted an 83-67 victory at NYIT earlier this season…Torrence Dyck scored 30 points and Arif Mehmetaj added 19 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Wildcats…Khalif Chaplin netted 19 points for the Bears…NYIT swept the season series last winter...Darian Hooker scored 35 points, including the game-winning three point attempt as time expired in overtime, to lead the Bears to an 85-84 win on Jan. 24, 2015 which snapped Daemen's 44-game home winning streak, the longest among Division II teams at the time...Gerald Beverly scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in defeat for the Wildcats...NYIT added a 78-67 win on the final day of the 2014-15 regular season behind Hooker's 26 points, and spoiling another solid outing from Beverly (26 pts, 9 rebs)...Daemen's other win in the series came on Feb. 2, 2014 and was a miraculous one in its own right...Kyle Clifford came off the bench and converted a rare four-point play with three seconds remaining to turn a three-point deficit into a one-point lead (84-83) which stood up after a desperation heave by the Bears misfired at the buzzer.
WILDCATS REMAIN IN REGIONAL RANKINGS: Daemen has been ranked among the region's Top-10 teams for the past two weeks…after entering the D2SIDA East Region poll for the first time this season at No. 9 two week's ago, the Wildcats are ranked 10th in this week's version…the Wildcats become the fourth ECC team to be ranked at some point this season, joining STAC, LIU Post and Bridgeport...the East Region of NCAA Division II is comprised of teams from the ECC, Northeast-10 Conference and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.
SARKIS NAMED ECC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK FOR FOURTH TIME: Freshman guard Jay Sarkis was named the ECC Rookie of the Week for games played Feb. 1-7...Sarkis averaged 14.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in leading the Wildcats to home wins over Dowling and Bridgeport...it was the fourth time this season that Sarkis has been named the league's Rookie of the Week (November 23-29; December 28-January 3, January 25-31)...Sarkis' four selections leads the league and Daemen is the only team in the league with multiple players having been selected for the weekly honor.
WILDCATS SWEEP WEEKLY HONORS: Recently, Daemen's Arif Mehmetaj and Deion Hamilton swept the weekly ECC honors for games played Jan. 19-24...Mehmetaj was named ECC Player of the Week after averaging 22 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 70-percent from the field in wins over Molloy and Queens...Mehmetaj narrowly missed a double-double vs. Molloy (19 pts, 9 rebs) and netted 25 points, one shy of his career-high, in the win over Queens...it was Mehmetaj's second selection as the league's Player of the Week this season, having previously earned the honor for games played Nov. 9-15...Hamilton was named ECC Rookie of the Week after scoring 14 points against Queens on perfect shooting from the field (5-for-5) and three-point range (3-for-3)...for the week, he averaged 11.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
INSTANT CLASSIC: Daemen emerged victorious last month against thruway rival Roberts Wesleyan,defeating the host Redhawks 98-96 after trailing by 22 points (86-64) with 6:16 remaining in the second half...Torrence Dyck led a furious rally, scoring 18 of his career-high-tying 35 points in the final six minutes in which Daemen outscored RWC 34-10...employing a suffocating full-court press, the Wildcats held RWC without a field goal for exactly six minutes and forced six critical turnovers which aided the comeback efforts...greenhorn guard Jay Sarkis converted 3-of-4 free throws on consecutive possessions to give the Wildcats its first lead since the score was 8-6 early in the first half...a two-point Wildcat lead was temporarily erased following a layup by RWC's Zack Panebianco which knotted the count at 96-all with 16 seconds to play...that set the stage for Dyck who broke the tie with a game-winning drive and layup with just four seconds remaining, completing Daemen's improbable comeback win while playing in his hometown of Rochester...the win represented the Wildcats' ninth-straight in the series overall with RWC, and their ninth-straight at RWC's Voller Athletic Center...the Wildcats have prevailed in 16 of the last 17 meetings and own a 29-11 edge in the all-time series.
ON A ROLL: Daemen enters the weekend having won 11 of their last 12 games with each win coming in ECC play...included in that stretch was a nine-game winning streak which was snapped last week at Saint Thomas Aquinas...it was Daemen's longest winning streak since winning 14 in a row during the 2013-14 season...the stretch started with a 94-81 home victory over Mercy on Jan. 9...the Wildcats followed that with three road wins which came at Roberts Wesleyan (98-96), LIU Post (91-82) and NYIT (83-67), before returning home for wins over Molloy (81-64) and Queens (107-96)...the Wildcats avenged a December loss to District of Columbia by winning in our nation's capital (100-89) to close January with a 9-1 record for the month...the winning ways continued into February when Daemen defeated Dowling (106-102) and Bridgeport (78-69) at home, and after falling to STAC, it rebounded with a 100-86 win at Mercy and Wednesday's 96-88 win over RWC...looking over a broader stretch, Daemen is 15-4 in their last 19 games after opening the season with one win in their first four outings...offensive production has been the story for Daemen in the last 19 games as the Wildcats are averaging 88.3 points per game in that span, going over the 90-point mark on 10 occasions, including nine since the dawn of the New Year...the three-straight 100-point games against Queens, UDC and Dowling marked the Wildcats longest streak since opening the 2012-13 season with four-straight games topping the century mark...Daemen is now 54-2 when topping 90 points since the start of the 2009-10 season.
DYCK SNAGS CONFERENCE AND NATIONAL HONORS: Senior guard/forward Torrence Dyck was named the East Coast Conference and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Division II National Player of the Week after going on a scoring rampage in three Daemen wins during the week of Jan. 11-18...Dyck averaged 30.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game while leading the Wildcats road wins at Roberts Wesleyan, LIU Post and NYIT...the 6-foot-5 senior swingman matched his career-high with 35 points vs. RWC, and added 27 and 30 points, respectively against the Pioneers and Bears...the ECC Player of the Week selection was Dyck's second of the season, having previously earned the honor for games played Dec. 7-13...he also became the second Daemen player in as many years to garner USBWA Division II National Player of the Week honors, joining former Wildcat forward Gerald Beverly who picked up the honor for Jan. 5-11, 2015.
MORE DYCK: As his recent scoring rampage has continued, Torrence Dyck is now averaging an ECC-best 22.7 points per game this season...that also ranks third among all East Region players and 19th nationally among all NCAA Division II players...the 6-foot-5 senior also ranks second in the ECC in field goals made (188), field goals attempted (366), third in free throws made (108) and free throws attempted (167) and ninth in field goal percentage (.514)...he's scored in double figures in all but one game this season, including 16 games of at least 20 points...he has reached 30 points in four of his last 12 games, and now has six 30-point games in his two-year Daemen career...in 46 career games for the Wildcats, Dyck has totaled 966 points (21.0 ppg)...with four games remaining in the regular season, he needs to average 8.5 points in those games to top 1,000 points and become just the fourth two-year player in team history to do so, and the first since Russell John totaled 1,061 points from 1990-92.
INJURY BUG: Daemen, which has already been without incumbent starting point guard Supreme Hannah since early December due to an injury, was dealt another major blow when starting shooting guard Nick Petrucelli went down on Jan. 22 vs. Molloy with what appears to be a long-term injury...Petrucelli, who had been inserted into the starting lineup in mid-December in part because of the loss of Hannah, had given the Wildcats a viable third scoring option behind Torrence Dyck and Arif Mehmetaj, averaging 10.8 points per game on 46-percent shooting in his 12 games as a starter...if Hannah and Petrucelli wind up missing the remainder of the season, which is the most likely scenario, the Wildcats will have lost a combined 34 games from two of its top backcourt players who were combining to post 21.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
FANTASTIC FROSH: As the season has progressed, we've seen coach Mike MacDonald increasingly turn to a trio of freshmen who have made impacts in their rookie seasons...6-foot-1 point guard Jay Sarkis has made 20 consecutive starts, the most starts for a Daemen freshman since Casey Sheehan made 21 during the 2010-11 season (ironically, both Sarkis and Sheehan are products of Greece Athena High School)...he's notched eight double-figure scoring games, and for the season is averaging 8.0 points and 2.5 assists per game, while shooting 46-percent from the field and 42-percent from three-point range...6-foot-4 guard/forward Deion Hamilton was inserted into the starting lineup 12 games ago and has increased his production of late...after playing a total of 44 minutes in the team's first 11 games, Hamilton has averaged 11.3 points per game since entering the top five of MacDonald's rotation...Hamilton has scored in double figures in five of the last seven games...lastly, 6-foot-1 guard Darius Garvin was propelled into the starting lineup for the first time on Jan. 24 vs. Queens, filling in for the injured Nick Petrucelli...Garvin responded with 11 points and four assists in 33 minutes, by far his most extensive action of the season at that point...Garvin is averaging 7.9 points in his six games as a starter.
20/20: Daemen has reached the 20-win plateau in each of the last four seasons (and nine times over the past 13 seasons).
DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen is 14-5 in February ECC games since joining the league for the 2013-14 season.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Wildcats close out the regular season next weekend when they travel to Molloy (Feb. 26) and Queens (Feb. 28) for ECC games.
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College women's basketball on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics and @DaemenMBB) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.
