Daemen Ranked Seventh In D2SIDA Regional Poll

11/19/2018 1:00:00 PM | By: By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

D2SIDA MEN'S BASKETBALL EAST REGION MEDIA POLL WEEK 2 - NOVEMBER 19, 2018
Rank	School	Pts.	Record	Previous
1.	St. Anselm (6)	60	3-0	1
T-2.	St. Thomas Aquinas	49	5-0	5
T-2.	Bentley	49	4-0	6
4.	New Haven	36	2-0	9
5.	Bridgeport	35	3-1	2
6.	Jefferson	32	2-1	T-3
7.	DAEMEN	29	2-1	T-3
8.	Southern New Hampshire	22	3-1	7
9.	Le Moyne	7	2-1	10
10.	Assumption	6	3-1	8
( ) - denotes first-place votes

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's basketball team is ranked seventh in the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region media poll for week two of the 2018-19 season which was released this afternoon.

Daemen (2-1, 0-0 ECC) earned 29 points in the poll voting, dropping four spots after being ranked in a tie for third last week.

Saint Anselm College received all six available first-place votes and 60 points to sit atop the poll. Saint Thomas Aquinas College (tied-2nd), Bentley University (tied-2nd) and the University of New Haven (4th) all made major moves up the poll after being ranked fifth, sixth and ninth, respectively, last week.

Daemen dropped their only game last week, a two-point road loss (67-65) to Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference affiliate Mercyhurst University. The slim margin was par for the course as five of the last six meetings between the Wildcats and Lakers have been decided by nine points or fewer. The loss snapped Daemen's modest two-game winning streak, the seventh time in the last nine seasons that the Wildcats have started 2-0.

The Wildcats feature four players who are averaging at least 13 points per game. That group is headlined by redshirt sophomore center Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.), the 2018-19 East Coast Conference Preseason Player of the Year. Sischo has recorded double-doubles in all three games this season, and is producing 20.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.

Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.), Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) and Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y.) are also producing for head coach Mike MacDonald. Harris is scoring 15.3 points per game. Redband is shooting 55.6 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from three-point range while averaging 14.3 points per outing. Hamilton scored a season-high 18 points in the loss to Mercyhurst, and is contributing 13.7 points and a team-best 4.0 assists per game.

The injury bug has hit Daemen early in the season with incumbent starters Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y.) and Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) both missing time. The duo has combined for 148 games played in their respective Daemen careers, leaving MacDonald without two of his most experienced guards for the time being.

With 13 returning players off last season's 22-8 team, expectations are high for MacDonald's club at the season's outset. The Wildcats were picked second in the ECC preseason poll, and 22nd in the Division II Bulletin preseason national poll, while also receiving top-25 votes in both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and D2SIDA preseason national polls.

Daemen returns to action this Saturday, Nov. 24 when Slippery Rock University comes to Amherst for a non-conference tilt. Daemen and SRU will be meeting for the fourth consecutive season. The latest meeting will take place at Lumsden Gymnasium where Daemen is 2-0 this season, 13-3 in the month of November under MacDonald, and 84-13 since the start of the 2011-12 season.

The East Region of NCAA Division II is comprised of teams from the East Coast Conference, the Northeast-10 Conference and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, and the East Region media poll is voted on by sports information professionals from around the region.

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