Skip To Main Content

Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
mbb vs rwc preview 1.17.17
60
Nyack NYACKMBB 0-2
78
Winner Daemen DAEM 2-0
Nyack NYACKMBB
0-2
60
Final
78
Daemen DAEM
2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Nyack NYACKMBB 32 28 60
Daemen DAEM 40 38 78

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Hamilton Earns Tourney MVP Honors As Wildcats Breeze By Nyack

AMHERST, N.Y. - Redshirt junior guard/forward Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y.) was named the Most Valuable Player of the ECC-CACC Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC after leading the Daemen College men's basketball team to its second win as many days with a 78-60 romp over Nyack College this afternoon. The four-team event hosted at Lumsden Gymnasium pitted East Coast Conference teams Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan College against their counterparts from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (Nyack and Felician University) to open the 2017-18 season.

Hamilton, who scored Daemen's final eight points (14 total) in a 62-57 win over Felician last evening, posted a game-high 20 points today, including 14 in the second half. The 6-foot-4 wing player shot 7-for-10 from the field, helping Daemen improve to 15-2 since the start of last season when he shoots 50 percent or better. 

The Wildcats, who are off to a 2-0 start for the sixth time in the last eight seasons, got key contributions from a number of different individuals. Junior guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y.) stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, five rebounds, three blocks, three steals and a career-high six assists. Fifth-year senior forward Aleks Miljenovic (Belgrade, Serbia) chipped in with 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds, and redshirt freshman forward Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) tossed in 10 points and five boards in just nine minutes of action off the bench. Miljenovic and Sischo joined Hamilton on the all-tournament team.

Redshirt sophomores Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) and Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) each totaled nine points and four assists today for the Wildcats. Sarkis canned 3-of-5 shots from downtown.

Nyack had four players reach double figures today, led by senior guard/forward Rashard Lewis (Chesterfield, Va.) with 14 points. Lewis knocked down a game-high four three-pointers as part of his 5-for-11 shooting performance from the field. Shawn Witherspoon (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Elijah Farley (Orlando, Fla.) hit for 11 points apiece, and Carl Balthazar (Montreal, Que.) added 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Nyack (0-2), which dropped a 67-60 decision last night to Roberts Wesleyan, had its only lead of the game at 4-3 before Daemen rattled off nine consecutive points to grab control. The Wildcats led by as many as 15 points in the opening stanza, but Nyack crept back in with a 13-2 run to pull within four (34-30). Lewis, Balthazar and Farley all canned three-pointers in the spurt. Daemen would respond with a first-half-closing 6-2 spurt to take a 40-32 lead into halftime. 

The momentum carried into the second half as the Wildcats stormed out of the locker room with an 18-4 run. Hamilton knocked down a pair of three-pointers and totaled 10 points in the spurt which put the Wildcats ahead 58-36 with under 13 minutes remaining. The Daemen lead ballooned to 24 points (69-45) on a jumper by Hamilton at the 5:43 mark, and Nyack never got closer than 15 points for the remainder of the contest.

After shooting just 32.4 percent from the field in last night's win over Felician, Daemen regrouped with 52.5 percent shooting today, canning 31-of-59 shots from the field. The Wildcats held advantages in points in the paint (28-22), points off turnovers (17-13), second-chance points (12-7), fast break points (13-6) and bench points (17-13).

"We shot a little better today, and I thought our defense was good for most of the weekend," said Daemen head coach Mike MacDonald. "We're not where we need to be, but it's only November. It's a long season and we'll have a chance to get better."

Daemen's win made it a clean 4-0 sweep for ECC teams at the ECC-CACC Challenge. Roberts Wesleyan opened today's action with a 75-56 defeat of Felician. The Redhawks, who went just 3-24 last season, are off to their first 2-0 start since the 2011-12 season. Justin Vaughan (17 points) and Michael Bush (16 points) represented RWC on the all-tournament team. Felician's Gjaimeir Stanford was an all-tournament team selection as well after posting 20 points and six rebounds in a losing effort today.

Daemen is back in action at Lumsden Gymnasium this coming Tuesday, Nov. 14 with a non-league contest vs. Mercyhurst University of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.



 
Print Friendly Version