| JUMP BALL |
| The Daemen College men's basketball team concludes the 2016-17 regular season by visiting long-time rival Roberts Wesleyan College this weekend...Daemen has won 18 of the last 19 meetings with the Redhawks dating back to the 2007-08 season...the Wildcats are also seeking their 18th win of the season which would give them six straight seasons with at least that many wins. |
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| TOURNEY TIME |
| Daemen has already clinched a berth to the upcoming East Coast Conference Championship Tournament, but their tournament seed remains undecided going into the final game of the regular season Saturday...with a win Saturday over Roberts Wesleyan, the Wildcats can lock up the No. 4 seed which would give them a home quarterfinal game on Wednesday, March 1 where they would face either District of Columbia or Queens...Daemen could end up as the No. 4 seed with a loss Saturday, combined with a loss by District of Columbia (13-12, 10-7 ECC) which plays at home vs. Bridgeport...the conference tournament features the top six teams in the final regular season standings...here's a look at the current ECC standings. |
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| GAME INFORMATION & LINKS |
| Date:Â Saturday, Feb. 25 |
Time:Â 4 p.m. |
Location:Â Voller Athletic Center - Rochester, N.Y. |
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| LIVE STATSÂ |Â LIVE VIDEO |
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DAEMEN WILDCATS
(17-8, 11-6Â ECC) |
ROBERTS WESLEYAN REDHAWKS
(3-23, 2-15 ECC) |
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| Daemen Roster |
Roberts Wesleyan Roster |
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| Daemen Schedule |
Roberts Wesleyan Schedule |
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| Daemen Stats |
Roberts Wesleyan Stats |
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| EAST COAST CONFERENCE WEBSITE |
EAST COAST CONFERENCE STANDINGS |
EAST REGION INSIDERS WEBSITE |
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| SOCIAL MEDIA |
| Daemen Twitter:Â |
@DaemenAthletics, @DaemenMBB |
| Daemen Hashtags:Â |
#DCWildcatNation, #WNYsD2Team, #LiveBreatheDaemen, #beFIERCE |
| Roberts Wesleyan Twitter: |
@RWCREDHAWKS |
| East Coast Conference Twitter: |
@ECCSports |
| East Region Basketball Insiders Twitter: |
@D2EastHoops |
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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 |
| With 12 returning players from its 2015-16 team that went 19-10 overall and 14-6 in East Coast Conference play, Daemen has clinched its second consecutive ECC Tournament berth...the Wildcats enter their final regular season game in fourth place in the league standings, after being picked fifth in the ECC preseason poll...Daemen snapped a two-game skid with a 71-59 defeat of Queens earlier this week...it marked the 11th time this season that Daemen has held their opponent under 70 points, going 10-1 in those contests...the Wildcats have been led all season long by red-shirt seniors Arif Mehmetaj and Supreme Hannah...Mehmetaj, a 6-foot-7 forward who earned second-team All-ECC honors last season, leads the team in scoring (15.5 ppg), rebounding (5.0) and blocked shots (23)...he matched a career-high earlier this month with 30 points in a win over Bridgeport, and went for 26 points in Wednesday's win over Queens...Daemen is 5-1 this season when he scores 20 or more points...Mehmetaj ranks eighth in the league in scoring, and fourth in free throw percentage (80.6)...Hannah ranks 13th in the league in scoring (13.7 ppg), 10th in minutes per game (32.6), sixth in free throw percentage (80.3) and 11th in assists (76)...he scored a career-high 29 points in an early-December loss at District of Columbia, and reached double-figure scoring in 15 consecutive contests from Dec. 3 through Feb. 8...red-shirt sophomore Deion Hamilton (11.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.0 apg) and red-shirt freshman Jeff Redband (10.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg) have also produced this season...Hamilton has come off the bench since mid-December after starting the first nine games of the season...he scored a season-high 22 points a loss to Molloy last Saturday, and is averaging 12.4 points over the last seven games...Daemen is 12-2 this season when he shoots 50 percent or better from the field...Redband has started 24 of the team's 25 games, and has made at least one three-pointer in 21 games...he leads all ECC freshmen in scoring while ranking among the league's overall leaders in three-point field goals (64 - third) and three-point field goal percentage (46.4 - fourth)...additional production is coming sophomore guard Darius Garvin (7.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, team-high 30 steals) and senior guard Jaleo Wilkes (7.6 ppg, 2.0 apg, team-high 30 steals)...Garvin shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and totaled 16 points in the win over Queens this week (first double-figure scoring game since mid-January), and Daemen is 7-2 when he scores 10 points or more this season...Wilkes has reached double figures in fourt of the last six games...guard/forward Jesse Lalka (3.3 ppg, 38.6% 3FG) and forwards Aleks Miljenovic (5.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg), Xavier Long (1.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg) and Alex Borges (1.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg) are also part of the Wildcats' regular rotation...Lalka posted back-to-back double-figure scoring games upon being inserted into the starting lineup in mid-December, and he's made 16 consecutive starts...Daemen leads the ECC in scoring defense, allowing just 70.6 points per game, while also ranking in the league's top-two teams in field goal percentage defense (43.0) and three-point field goal percentage defense (32.3)...offensively, the three-point shot continues to play a major role for the Wildcats...they rank second league lead in total three-pointers made (224) and attempted (595) while leading outright in three-pointers made per game (9.0)...shooting 37.6 percent from long distance as a team ranks the Wildcats second in the ECC...Daemen has also been efficient in terms of taking care of the ball, leading the league in fewest turnovers per game (11.6) and assist-turnover ratio (1.2). |
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| ROBERTS WESLEYAN SCOUTING REPORT |
| The Redhawks are led by 16th-year head coach Rob McCoy, the longest tenured and most accomplished coach in team history with 189 wins under his belt...RWC brought back six players from its 2015-16 roster which achieved an 8-18 overall record and a 5-15 mark in ECC play, but wins have been hard to come by this season...the Redhawks dropped their first 10 games of the season before knocking off Mercyhurst 74-69 on Dec. 19...only two additional wins have followed, both coming against ECC foe Mercy...RWC enters Saturday's contest having dropped two straight games, and 12 of their last 13...defense has the main cause for concern this season as the Redhawks rank ninth in the league in points per game allowed (85.0) and field goal percentage defense (48.9)...RWC is 0-18 when surrendering 80 points or more, and 3-11 in games decided by eight points or less...most recently, RWC has allowed their last two opponents to top the century mark, falling to NYIT (102-88) on Feb. 18 and Bridgeport (105-81) on Feb. 20...the Redhawks have five players who are averaging double-figure scoring, and the group accounts for 78.9 percent of the team's total offensive output per game...newcomer Manny Joseph, a 6-foot-4 wing player, leads the Redhawks in scoring (13.6 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg) and steals (32)...he has four straight games of double-figure scoring, including a 22-point outing in the loss to NYIT which matched his season-high...sophomore guard Quinn Carey (12.6 ppg) leads the league in three-point field goals made (83) and attempted (224)...he's been on a tear of late, averaging 17.1 points with 33 three-pointers over the last seven games...he shot 9-for-16 from three-point range (most made three-point field goals for an ECC player this season) and totaled 32 points in a 96-76 loss to Bridgeport on Feb. 3...additional production has come from Zack Panebianco (11.7 ppg, 2.7 apg, 30 steals), Isaiah Lewis (10.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg) and Malik Dare (10.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg)...after scoring 22 points in a 95-92 loss to District of Columbia on Feb. 1, Panebianco has averaged just 5.2 points over the last six games while shooting 25.8 percent from the field...Lewis has put together five straight double-figure scoring games, including a career-high 23 on Feb. 11 vs. LIU Post...he ranks second among ECC freshmen in scoring this season...Dare ranks fourth in the league in field goal percentage (58.4)...the Redhawks also feature senior point guard Tristan Brown (6.1 ppg) who ranks sixth in the league in assists (89)...Brown, who led the league in assists last season with 105 while playing for the now-closed Dowling College, flirted with a triple-double in RWC's most recent game, posting 13 points, nine assists and eight rebounds...the Redhawks will enter Saturday's contest generating 22.3 free throw attempts per game, good for second in the league, but they rank last in free throw percentage (60.4). |
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| BY THE NUMBERS |
| DAEMEN |
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ROBERTS WESLEYAN |
| 75.9 |
POINTS PER GAME |
75.0 |
| 70.6 |
POINTS PER GAME ALLOWED |
85.0 |
| +5.3 |
SCORING MARGIN |
-10.0 |
| .445 |
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE |
.430 |
| .430 |
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE |
.489 |
| .376 |
3-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE |
.339 |
| .323 |
3-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE |
.372 |
| 9.0 |
3-POINT FIELD GOALS MADE PER GAME |
7.0 |
| .742 |
FREE THROW PERCENTAGE |
.604 |
| 12.8 |
FREE THROWS MADE PER GAME |
13.4 |
| 35.4 |
REBOUNDS PER GAME |
37.2 |
| -2.7 |
REBOUNDING MARGIN |
-1.3 |
| 13.6 |
ASSISTS PER GAME |
14.0 |
| 11.6 |
TURNOVERS PER GAME |
14.8 |
| 14.4 |
TURNOVERS FORCED PER GAME |
12.9 |
| +2.8 |
TURNOVER MARGIN |
-1.9 |
| 1.2 |
ASSIST/TURNOVER RATIO |
0.9 |
| 6.1 |
STEALS PER GAME |
6.0 |
| 3.5 |
BLOCKS PER GAME |
1.5 |
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| DAEMEN VS. ROBERTS WESLEYAN: THE HISTORY |
| All-Time: Daemen leads the all-time series 33-12 |
| Streak: Won 11 |
| Previous Meetings: CLICK HERE |
| Last Meeting: Daemen 88, Roberts Wesleyan | Jan. 18, 2017 |
| Last Meeting Highlights: Daemen led by as many as 18 points in the second half before fending off a furious rally late in the game to pick up their 18th win in the last 19 meetings between the two teams...Roberts Wesleyan engineered a 13-3 run to pull within five points with just over a minute to play, but Daemen got a steal and a pair of free throws from Darius Garvin to seal the deal...Garvin led the Wildcats with 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals...Manny Joseph paced the Redhawks with 18 points in defeat...Daemen shot 8-for-10 from three-point range in the first half to open up a 43-28 lead at the break...RWC hurt themselves by shooting just 47.7 percent from the charity stripe (18-for-33). |
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| RALLY CATS |
| Daemen is developing quite the reputation for rallying from sizable deficits, having done so in three recent wins...on Jan. 28 at Mercy, the Wildcats trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half, and rallied from a 61-50 second-half deficit, outscoring the hosts 32-11 in the final 12 minutes en route to an 82-72 victory...Mercy shot just 3-for-19 from the field while committing seven turnovers in the final 12+ minutes...on Feb. 2 vs. Bridgeport, the Wildcats fell behind by 15 points in the opening stanza, and trailed by 10 early in the second half before rallying to an 82-73 victory...Bridgeport shot 1-for-7 and committed two turnovers during a decisive 13-2 run for the Wildcats which turned a 64-63 lead into a 77-65 advantage with just over a minute to play...on Feb. 8 at NYIT, the Wildcats found themselves down by 16 points (54-38) in the second half, before they outscored the Bears 42-18 in the final 14 minutes to walk away with an 80-72 road victory...all together, Daemen has five wins this season when trailing at halftime...all five have come since Jan. 4. |
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| GOING STREAKING |
| An 88-85 defeat of Roberts Wesleyan on Jan. 18 was Daemen's 11th straight in the all-time series with the Redhawks, marking the Wildcats's second-longest active streak against any opponent (16 straight wins against Houghton is Daemen's longest active streak, although the teams haven't met since the 2011-12 season)...the three-point margin of victory Wednesday is nothing new as seven of the wins in the streak have come by eight points or fewer, including the last four in a row...none was more dramatic than the Wildcats' 98-96 win at Roberts Wesleyan last season (Jan. 12, 2016) as Daemen erased a 22-point second-half deficit to emerge victorious...Torrence Dyck's driving layup with four seconds left capped a furious 34-10 rally which took place over the final 6:16 of the game, delivering the Wildcats' ninth straight win at RWC's Voller Athletic Center...Dyck scored 18 of his career-high 34 points in the game-changing spurt, propelling him to U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division II Men's Basketball Player of the Week honors...the Redhawks attempted to flip the script on Wednesday, rallying from an 18-point second-half deficit to pull within five points with just over a minute to play...RWC had possession with a chance to draw even closer, bur Darius Garvin came up with a huge steal for the Wildcats, and he converted a pair of free throws with 20 seconds remaining to essentially put the game out of reach...Garvin scored 19 points to lead five double-figure scorers...Arif Mehmetaj (15 points, season-high five assists) and Supreme Hannah (14 points, seven rebounds) played key roles...the Wildcats got great production off the bench as well, with Deion Hamilton, Jaleo Wilkes and Aleks Miljenovic combining for 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting...the Wildcats have now won 18 of the last 19 vs. RWC dating back to the 2007-08 season. |
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| DOWN GO THE CHAMPS |
| On Jan. 4, Daemen picked up a 67-64 win over St. Thomas Aquinas, the defending ECC regular season and tournament champions...the Spartans, who return 11 players and all five starters from their 2015-16 team which went 27-5 overall, came into the contest ranked No. 23 in the country and the Wildcat victory marked their first-ever against a nationally-ranked opponent at the NCAA Division II level...the game was also a rematch of last season's ECC Tournament finals, and it snapped Daemen's five-game slide in the all-time series...the contest featured 10 ties and 13 lead changes...Supreme Hannah scored 13 of his 15 points in the final 15 minutes of the game, helping Daemen rally from a nine-point second-half deficit...Deion Hamilton added 15 points as well, and Jaleo Wilkes scored 10 points...the Hamilton-Wilkes duo helped the Wildcats to a 31-16 advantage in points off the bench...a bucket by senior big man Alex Borges at the 8:08 mark of the second half ignited the decisive 11-2 spurt that gave the Wildcats control of the game, turning a 53-51 deficit into a 62-55 lead. |
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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 57-28 mark. |
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| DID YOU KNOW? |
| Daemen has won nine consecutive games at RWC's Voller Athletic Center...the Wildcats last loss there came in quarterfinal round of the now-defunct American Mideast Conference Tournament back on Feb. 21, 2007...Alfonso Evans scored 23 points to lead RWC to the 77-74 victory...Don Juan Tyson and Jeremy Richardson scored 21 points apiece in defeat for the Wildcats who ended their season at 12-17 overall. |
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| ON THE HORIZON |
| Daemen plays in the quarterfinal round of the ECC Tournament on Wednesday, March 1...tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. but their opponent and the game's location is still to be determined based on results from around the league on Saturday. |
