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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
mbb at molloy 1.14.17
75
Daemen DAEM 10-6 (4-4 ECC)
78
Winner Molloy MOLM 9-8 (5-3 ECC)
Daemen DAEM
10-6 (4-4 ECC)
75
Final
78
Molloy MOLM
9-8 (5-3 ECC)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen DAEM 34 41 75
Molloy MOLM 44 34 78

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Molloy Buzzer-Beater Sinks Daemen

Lions' Guzzardi Scores With 0.5 Seconds Remaining; Loss Snaps Daemen's Four-Game ECC Winning Streak

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. - An old-fashioned three-point play by senior center Mike Guzzardi (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) with five-tenths of a second remaining delivered a 78-75 victory for host Molloy College in a key East Coast Conference men's basketball matchup with Daemen College at Quealy Gymnasium today.

With the score knotted at 75-75, Molloy had possession of the ball with the opportunity to hold for the final shot.  Veteran Molloy head coach Charles Marquardt called for a right-wing isolation for senior guard Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.).  His pull-up jumper from the elbow rimmed out, but Guzzardi was there to collect the rebound, and his desperation attempt banked in off the glass, while also being fouled on the play.  After some initial confusion amongst the officiating crew as to whether Guzzardi had indeed gotten his shot off before the buzzer, the bucket was counted and 0.5 seconds were put back on the clock.  Guzzardi converted his free throw attempt and, after a timeout, Daemen's full court inbounds pass was deflected before it reached its target and the clock expired.

Guzzardi's heroics came after Daemen rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit, taking as much as a seven-point lead themselves in the second stanza.  The loss snapped Daemen's four-game ECC winning streak, and a three-game winning streak overall, moving the Wildcats to 10-6 overall and an even 4-4 in league play.  It marked the third time this season that the Wildcats have suffered defeat after holding a lead with five minutes remaining in the second half, also falling to 1-3 this season in games decided by three points or less.

Molloy, which was coming off a 90-79 loss to league-leading University of the District of Columbia earlier this week, improved to 9-8 overall and 5-3 in the league.  The win snapped the Lions' five-game losing streak in the all-time series vs. Daemen.  Three of the five all-time meetings played at Quealy Gymnasium have been decided by three points or fewer.

Although it's still early in the conference season, today's result carries big implications in the ECC standings as Molloy remains in third place while Daemen falls back to a tie for sixth.

Senior guard Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.), the coach's son, paced the Lions today with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting.  Marquardt, who came into today's game as the ECC's leading scorer (21.4 ppg), did most of his damage in the first half as he knocked down all four of his three-pointers as part of a 17-point period.  He was backed up by Morris who posted his fourth double-double of the season, and his first since Dec. 1.  The 6-foot-5 wing, who spent his scholastic days at Buffalo's St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, scored 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting while corralling 12 boards.

Guzzardi chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds.  He's now averaging 13.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, numbers significantly higher than he had shown last season while playing for the now-closed Dowling College (2.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg).  Sophomore guard Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) added nine points and eight rebounds to the Molloy cause.

The loss spoiled a tremendous individual effort by Daemen's Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi) who recorded his second double-double of the season, matching his season-high with 26 points while also hauling in a season-best 14 rebounds.  The 6-foot-7 redshirt-senior forward hit on 9-of-12 field goal attempts, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.  Mehmetaj, who scored 21 points in Daemen's 75-62 win at Queens College on Wednesday, has now posted back-to-back 20-point games for the first time since December of 2015.  In two career games at Quealy Gymnasium, Mehmetaj is shooting 78.3 percent from the field (18-for-23) and 88.9 percent from three-point range (8-for-9).

Redshirt-freshman forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) connected on 4-of-8 from three-point range, totaling 12 points.  Redshirt-senior guard Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) went for 11 points and a game-high five assists, and redshirt-sophomore wing Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) came off the bench to score 10 points and grab five rebounds.

The hosts used a 16-4 run late in the first half to open up a 12-point gap for their largest lead of the contest.  Morris and Marquardt combined for 14 points in the spurt which included a monster two-handed jam by the former in transition.  The run featured 11 unanswered points at its outset as the Lions held Daemen off the scoresheet for four-and-a-half minutes.  Finally, Jaleo Wilkes (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Polk State College) broke the ice for Daemen with a layup at the 2:15 mark; it was Daemen's first points since a Mehmetaj jumper that evened the score at 28-apiece with 6:47 remaining in half number one.  Marquardt's split of two free throws with 34 ticks remaining put the Lions ahead 44-32, before Hannah answered with a jumper for the Wildcats to close out the first-half scoring.

The Molloy lead was 11 points (52-41) following another Morris basket in the paint at the 14:48 mark of the second half.  Mehmetaj's three-pointer on the ensuing Daemen possession jump-started a 24-6 spurt for the Wildcats over the next six-and-a-half minutes.  Daemen pulled ahead (55-54) at the 11:14 mark on a putback by Wilkes.  After Marquardt put the Lions back on top at 58-57, Daemen scored the next eight points to open up its biggest separation of the game.  Hannah's jumper at the 9:42 mark gave Daemen the lead again, and it was followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Hamilton and Redband.  Redband's triple put the Wildcats ahead 65-58 with under eight minutes to play.

Molloy chipped away down the stretch, pulling within one point on two occasions.  The first was answered with a Hannah jumper at the 2:53 mark.  On the second, Jenkins came up with a steal and he raced down the floor, finishing the play with a two-handed slam to give Molloy a one-point advantage (75-74) at the 1:37 mark.  But, Jenkins was whistled for technical foul after he was deemed to have hung on the rim for too long, giving Mehmetaj the chance to tie things up at the charity stripe which he did.

In the final 76 seconds, the two teams combined to miss five consecutive field goal attempts before Guzzardi's game-winner went through the net.  On the previous Daemen possession, the Wildcats had two opportunities to re-take the lead, but both three-point attempts were off the mark, setting the stage for what played out at the other end.

Molloy shot 47.6 percent from the field (30-for-63) and enjoyed a 42-26 edge in points in the paint.

Daemen (48.3 percent; 28-for-58) did most of its damage from behind the three-point line once again, shooting 12-for-25 (48 percent) from long distance.  The proficient long-range shooting marked the seventh time this season that Daemen has made at least 10 three-pointers in a game, but today was just their second loss in such a game.

The Wildcats, who are 8-1 at home this season, return to Lumsden Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 18 when they'll play host to longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan College with tip-off slated for 8 p.m.
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