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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
mbb vs stac 3.4.17
66
Daemen DAEM 19-9
85
Winner St. Thomas Aquinas College STACMBB 24-5
Daemen DAEM
19-9
66
Final
85
St. Thomas Aquinas College STACMBB
24-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen DAEM 27 39 66
St. Thomas Aquinas College STACMBB 37 48 85

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

Wildcats' Season Ends In Semifinal Round Of ECC Tournament

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - For the second time in as many years, the Daemen College men's basketball team saw its season come to an end at the hands of St. Thomas Aquinas College, falling today 85-66 in the semifinal round of the East Coast Conference Championship Tournament at Hubbell Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Bridgeport.  STAC, the regular season league champion and top seed in the tournament, moves on to tomorrow's final round where they'll face the winner of today's second semifinal between No. 2 Molloy College and No. 3 Bridgeport.
 
The game was a rematch of last season's ECC Tournament finals when STAC won a battle of the tourney's top two seeds, 80-63, as coach Tobin Anderson led the Spartans to their first-ever league championship.  Daemen, the tournament's No. 4 seed this time around, ends its 2016-17 campaign with a 19-9 overall record.  The Wildcats had defeated fifth-seeded University of the District of Columbia 73-71 at Lumsden Gymnasium earlier this week to advance into today's semifinal game.
 
STAC, the No. 4 ranked team in the latest NCAA Division II East Region rankings, improves to 24-5 overall and will play in the ECC Tournament finals for the fourth-straight season.  The Spartans have now won 14 of their last 15 outings after dropping four-straight during the middle portion of the season, a stretch that was capped with a 67-64 loss at Daemen on Jan. 4.  Today's contest was the first for STAC since defeating Mercy College 103-74 in their regular season finale on Feb. 22.
 
Senior Chaz Watler (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored a game-high 18 points before fouling out to pace the Spartans.  The four-time All-ECC guard connected on 6-of-10 field goal attempts in the game, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. 
 
Red-shirt junior guard/forward Justin Reyes (Haverhill, Mass.), the two-time ECC Player of the Year, played a large role as well, stuffing the stat sheet with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with eight rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.  STAC got 14 points and four assists from junior guard James Mitchell (Washington, D.C.), and senior guard Aaron Cust (Uniondale, N.Y.) contributed 12 points. 
 
As has been the case for the majority of the season, Daemen was led by their two red-shirt senior standouts - Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) and Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi).  Hannah knocked down three three-pointers and totaled a team-high 17 points, 10 of which came in the second half.  Mehmetaj hit on 7-of-12 shot attempts and finished with 16 points and a team-high four rebounds.
 
Red-shirt sophomore wing Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) came off the bench to contribute 16 points for the Wildcats.
 
STAC scored the first nine points of the game and led by as many as 19 points in the first half.  The Spartans sizzled with 60 percent shooting in the period (15-for-25), including a 7-for-12 showing from three-point range (58.3%). 
 
Daemen, which entered the game leading the league in fewest turnovers per game (11.6), committed 12 first-half miscues while being held to just 36.4 percent shooting (8-for-22).  But, the Wildcats trailed by just 10 at halftime after outscoring the Spartans 12-3 over the final four minutes of the period.  A buzzer-beating three-pointer by Hannah made the score 37-27 at the break.
 
The momentum carried into the second half as Daemen outscored the Spartans 17-9 over the first seven minutes of the period, creeping within four points on a jumper by Hannah at the 12:58 mark which made the score 48-44.  Hannah came up with a steal on the ensuing STAC possession and raced down the floor for a potential transition layup, but basket interference was whistled and the field goal was waved off.
 
STAC capitalized on the break and launched itself on a 14-2 run over the next four minutes.  Watler scored the first four points of the spurt which put the Spartans back on top by double-figures (60-46) with 9:01 to play.  A Hamilton three-pointer at the other end momentarily stemmed the tide, but the 11-point spread is as close as Daemen would get for the remainder of the game.
 
The Spartan lead ballooned to 17 points (73-56) at the 6:36 mark following a three-pointer by Shaquille McFarlan (Mesic, N.C.), and then to 18 points (83-65) with 2:12 to play after another McFarlan bucket.
 
While the Daemen offense righted itself with 57.7 percent shooting (15-for-26) in the second half, the Wildcats were whistled for 16 fouls on the defensive end resulting in a parade of STAC players to the free throw line.  After going without an attempt from the charity stripe in the first half, STAC shot 18-for-23 (78.3%) at the line in the second.
 
Between the myriad of foul calls and 42 combined turnovers, the game took on a sloppy feel at times.  STAC, which entered the game forcing their opponents into better than 19 turnovers per game (fourth-best in the country), coaxed Daemen into 22 total miscues today, but it was Daemen that held a 21-19 edge in points off turnovers.
 
STAC ended the game shooting 61.7 percent from the field (29-for-47) and 56.3 percent from three-point range (9-for-16).   It's just the second time this season that Daemen allowed an opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from three-point range, and the first time Daemen has surrendered better than 60 percent field goal shooting to its opponent since Gannon University shot 60.7 percent in a 101-75 defeat of the Wildcats on Nov. 29, 2008.

The Spartans also held edges in rebounding (26-22), points in the paint (34-30), second chance points (9-4) and fast-break points (13-10).
 
Daemen shot 23-for-48 from the field (47.9%), 7-for-20 from long distance (35%) and 13-for-18 at the free throw line (72.2%).  The Wildcats bench outscored STAC's 24-20.
 
It was the final game in the careers of Mehmetaj and Hannah who each earned All-ECC honors this season.  Mehmetaj has been with the program for the past three seasons, appearing in 57 games while making 53 starts.  He's totaled 856 points (15.0 ppg), 343 rebounds (6.0 rpg) and 57 blocked shots (1.0 bpg) in his Daemen career.  Hannah, a member of the Wildcats' 2012 recruiting class, appeared in 107 games and made 65 starts in his career, finishing with 885 points (8.3 ppg), 267 assists (2.5 apg) and 220 rebounds (2.1 rpg).  Fellow seniors Jaleo Wilkes (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Polk State College), Alex Borges (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) and Jesse Lalka (Tonawanda, N.Y./Tonawanda) also concluded their careers today.
 
Despite the loss today, it was another successful campaign for the Wildcats who have recorded at least 18 wins in each of the last six seasons.  Daemen tied the program record for home wins in a season with 14, and since joining the ECC four seasons ago, on STAC has recorded more overall and league victories than Daemen (STAC: 87 wins, 59 league wins; Daemen: 80 wins, 56 league wins).  The Wildcats will return a pair of starters in guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) and forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia), as well as one of the league's top reserves in Hamilton.  Guards Nick Petrucelli (Hicksville, N.Y./Thomasville Prep) and Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena), both of whom hold starting experience in their careers, are also set to return after suffering season-ending injuries before ever stepping on the court this season.
 
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