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MacDonald Announces ECC-CACC Challenge Matchups

By: Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications
ecc-cacc challenge announcement image

Men's Basketball | 7/27/2017 2:45:00 PM

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's basketball team will open the 2017-18 regular season by hosting the East Coast Conference-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (ECC-CACC) Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC at Lumsden Gymnasium, head coach Mike MacDonald announced today, along with the matchups for the four-team event.  It'll mark the fourth consecutive season that Daemen has hosted this event to open the regular season.  Additional participants this time around are Roberts Wesleyan College of the ECC, as well as Nyack College and Felician University of the CACC.

 
2017 ECC-CACC Challenge Presented By WNY Knee & Orthopedic Surgery PC
Friday, November 10 Saturday, November 11
6 p.m. - Roberts Wesleyan vs. Nyack 2 p.m. - Roberts Wesleyan vs. Felician
8 p.m. - Daemen vs. Felician 4 p.m. - Daemen vs. Nyack
"We are very excited about the upcoming ECC-CACC Challenge in November," MacDonald said.  "It's always a great way to start our season, and with two quality programs like Felician and Nyack coming to town, Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan will have our hands full in trying to represent the East Coast Conference.  We want to thank Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery for continuing to be the title sponsor of this tournament. We are grateful for their support."

The event tips off at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 10 with Roberts Wesleyan taking on Nyack.  The RWC Redhawks will be making their fourth-straight appearance at the event, while the Nyack Warriors come to the tournament for the first time.  Both teams will be looking to get off on the right foot as they combined for 10 wins a season ago.  The Redhawks are coached by Rob McCoy, the longest tenured and most accomplished coach in team history.  Jason Crafton, a former Navy and Villanova assistant, heads into his sixth season leading the Warriors who return a pair of double figure scorers in 6-1 guards Shawn Witherspoon (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Imran Ritchie (Uniondale, N.Y.).  The meeting here will mark the second-straight season that the Redhawks and Warriors have played; Nyack scored a 76-55 home-court victory over RWC last season.

The 8 p.m. nightcap on November 10 has Daemen taking on Felician.  The Falcons are coming off a 10-17 campaign last season; their 7-12 league record placed them sixth in the CACC North Division.  Felician alumnus Ivan Lewis heads a program that is slated to return its top two scorers, including second-team All-CACC selection Terrell Spaulding, a 6-3 forward who averaged 18.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game last year. The only previous meeting between the Wildcats and Falcons came two seasons ago, a 94-71 Daemen victory on the second day of the James Clancy Memorial Tournament hosted by Dominican College.  The Wildcats will enter the contest with a 15-game winning streak in regular season openers and a 5-1 record all-time in the ECC-CACC Challenge.

The matchups flip on Saturday, November 11.  Roberts Wesleyan takes on Felician at 2 p.m. and Daemen will face Nyack at 4 p.m.  The RWC-Felician meeting will be their first since the 1998-99 season.  Daemen, which holds a 2-1 lead in the all-time series with Nyack, will be meeting the Warriors for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

Daemen, which will play an exhibition contest at Division I University at Buffalo on November 3, returns three of its top five scorers from last season, headlined by red-shirt sophomore forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) who canned 68 three-pointers to rank third among all East Coast Conference players last season.  Also back is red-shirt junior wing Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) who averaged 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, and junior guard Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) who has made 40 starts in his first two collegiate seasons.

The Wildcats are coming off a 19-9 season in 2016-17 - the program's sixth consecutive year with at least 19 wins.  In the four seasons since Daemen joined the East Coast Conference and began playing a full Division II schedule, the Wildcats are 80-36 which ranks second among all Division II teams in the state of New York and all East Coast Conference teams for total wins.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen men's basketball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenMBB on Twitter.
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Players Mentioned

Darius Garvin

#12 Darius Garvin

G
6' 1"
Junior
Jeff Redband

#44 Jeff Redband

F
6' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Darius Garvin

#12 Darius Garvin

6' 1"
Junior
G
Jeff Redband

#44 Jeff Redband

6' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
F