GAME INFORMATION & LINKS
GAME #9: Daemen Wildcats (7-1, 3-0 ECC) vs. St. Michael's Purple Knights (4-7, 1-6 NE-10)
Saturday, Dec. 29 |  1 p.m.  |  Amherst, N.Y.  |  Lumsden Gymnasium

Live Stats
Watch Live: ECC Network
Game Day

JUMP BALL
After a nearly two-week hiatus, the Daemen men's basketball team returns to action Saturday with St. Michael's coming into Lumsden Gymnasium for a non-conference battle. The Wildcats have won five straight games, and are coming off a pair of dominating performances: a 102-70 win at LIU Post on Dec. 14, and a 98-72 win at NYIT on Dec. 16. The results marked the first time Daemen has surpassed 90 points in back-to-back games since mid-February of 2016. St. Michael's comes in with four wins in their first 11 contests of the season, including an 80-71 defeat of Post in their last outing (Dec. 18). The Wildcats and Purple Knights will be meeting for the third straight season. Since suffering a one-point loss at St. Michael's on Dec. 30, 2017, Daemen has gone 24-3. 

RETURN OF THE MAC
Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his fifth season as Daemen's head coach, and his 22nd season overall as a collegiate head coach. Since beginning to roam the Daemen sidelines, MacDonald has led the Wildcats to an 88-38 overall record. The Wildcats have won at least 19 games in each of MacDonald's first four seasons, and the team's 88 victories in that span are the second most among all NCAA Division II programs in New York State. Before coming to Daemen, MacDonald transformed the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial powerhouse, 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 holds a career record of 344-264.

POLLS, POLLS, POLLS
Daemen was ranked No. 22 in the Division II Bulletin preseason poll, marking the first time in the program's Division II era that they've been included in any of the several national polls. Division II Bulletin is a national publication that specializes in the coverage of NCAA Division II men's basketball. The Wildcats also received votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) preseason national polls. Daemen received seven votes in the latest NABC national poll released on Dec. 21. 

MOVIN' ON UP
Daemen has moved up to No. 4 in the latest D2SIDA East Region media poll which was released Dec. 20. It's the second straight week that Daemen has been ranked fourth. The poll includes teams from the East Coast Conference, Northeast-10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. The Wildcats debuted in the poll at a tie for third on Nov. 12, the team's highest-ever regional ranking at the Division II level. Following a road loss at Mercyhurst on Nov. 14, the Wildcats dropped to seventh, but have moved up one spot in three successive weeks. 

THRUWAY RIVALRY DOMINANCE IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Daemen's 78-70 win at Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 5 was their 16th straight win in the Thruway Rivalry series, and it came as the national spotlight shined. The game was featured as part of the NCAA Division II Basketball Showcase, and it was broadcast across a variety of online mediums. Andrew Sischo racked up season-highs of 32 points and 18 rebounds, and Deion Hamilton (season-high 24 points) keyed a game-closing 20-7 run by scoring 11 points, including the tying and go-ahead buckets. Daemen has won 23 of the last 24 meetings with RWC, and 12 straight at the Voller Athletic Center. The 16-game winning streak is tied for Daemen's longest active streak against a single opponent. Eleven of the last 16 meetings have been decided by nine points or fewer, including the last three. The closest margin was a 98-86 final on Jan. 12, 2016 when Daemen erased a 22-point deficit with just over six minutes to play, riding the strong play of Rochester native Torrence Dyck who finished with a career-high 35 points. The streak also includes one overtime game, a 77-72 final on Nov. 26, 2013 which was Daemen's first-ever ECC victory. 

MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Redshirt sophomore center Andrew Sischo headlines Daemen's returning players. After earning first team All-ECC and ECC Rookie of the Year honors last season, Sischo was named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year for 2018-19. An eight-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection in 2017-18, Sischo was downright dominant on the interior last season as he led the team in points (462), points per game (15.4), made field goals (195), field goal percentage (56.5%), rebounds (261), rebounds per game (8.7) and blocked shots (25). His point total established a new team record for scoring by a freshman, eclipsing the previous mark of 420 set by Brian Montanaro during the 2002-03 season. He was also the first Daemen player with more than 200 rebounds in a season since Gerald Beverly (373 in 2014-15), and his rebound total is second among freshmen players in team history. Appearing in all 30 games, Sischo reached double-figure scoring 25 times and totaled seven double-doubles. Sischo led all ECC freshmen and ranked among the league's overall leaders in scoring (seventh), rebounding (second) and field goal percentage (third). He was Daemen's first major award winner from the conference since Beverly earned ECC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, and the first freshman to earn first team All-ECC honors since John Petrucelli of Molloy College in the 2010-11 season. To start the 2018-19 campaign, Sischo posted double-doubles in the first six games this season, including a 32-point, 18-rebound effort in a win over Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 5. He was named to the all-tournament team at the season-opening ECC-CACC Challenge, and has been named the ECC Player of the Week three times. For the season, Sischo is shooting 60 percent from the field and averaging 21.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. He presently ranks among the league, regional and national leaders in scoring (ECC - 2nd; region - 5th; national - 29th), rebounding (ECC, region - 1st; national - 5th) and double-doubles (ECC, region - 2nd; national - 8th). 

THE HAMILTON PRODUCTION
Redshirt senior guard/forward Deion Hamilton has returned to the lineup after missing the final 20 games of the 2017-18 season. The 6-foot-4 slasher provides another viable scoring option for the Wildcats with a career scoring average of 11.2 points per game. Hamilton was leading the team in scoring (15.1 ppg) through the first 10 games last season, while also chipping in 4.2 rebounds per game. He's also been a two-time all-tournament team pick at the season-opening ECC-CACC Challenge. Daemen is 18-7 since the start of the 2016-17 season when Hamilton shoots 50 percent or better from the field. He registered just the second double-double of his career (12 points, 10 rebounds) in a recent win over Slippery Rock, and scored a season-high 24 points in Daemen's 78-70 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 5, 11 of which came in a game-closing 20-7 run. For the season, he's averaging 13.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and a team-high 3.5 assists per game.

SEEING RED-BAND
Over his first two collegiate seasons, forward Jeff Redband established himself as one of the preeminent three-point shooters in the ECC. In the 2016-17 season, Redband canned 68-of-151 three-point attempts becoming the first Daemen freshman with more than 50 triples since Brian Montanaro's 70 in 2002-03. He followed that up by shooting 69-for-169 from deep last season, becoming the first Daemen player with 60 or more three-pointers in back-to-back seasons since Montanaro did so in four straight seasons from 2002-06. A third team All-ECC pick in 2017-18, Redband averaged 11.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while finishing third in three-point field goals and sixth in three-point shooting percentage among the ECC leaders. Redband recently became just the seventh player in team history to reach 150 three-point field goals in a career. He is off to a fast start this season, averaging 14.6 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from three-point range. He ranks among the ECC leaders in field goal percentage (9th), three-point field goals (5th) and three-point field goal percentage (3rd). He was named to the ECC-CACC Challenge all-tournament team after helping Daemen pick up wins over Caldwell and Nyack, and registered his first 20-point game since the 2015-16 season in a win over Slippery Rock. He was named the ECC Defensive Player of the Week after grabbing a team-high six rebounds to go with two steals and two blocks in a win over Lake Erie. 

BREAKOUT BREON
Junior guard Breon Harris enjoyed a breakout season in 2017-18, and has helped Daemen to wins in 24 of 27 games since he was inserted into the starting lineup. After producing just 3.1 points on 31.8 percent shooting while coming off the bench in the team's first 11 games last season, Harris contributed 13.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals per game, while shooting 51.4 percent from the field as a starter. After totaling just just three three-pointers in the first 21 games of his career, Harris has made at least one in 25 of the last 27 games (45 total three-point field goals in that span). A third team All-ECC and ECC All-Tournament Team selection, Harris finished the 2017-18 season averaging 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game. He finished second in the ECC in total steals with 70, becoming the first Daemen player with more than 60 steals in a season since Casey Sheehan (68) during the 2012-13 campaign. Harris opened the 2018-19 season by earning MVP honors at the ECC-CACC Challenge where he averaged 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists while leading Daemen to wins over Caldwell and Nyack. He scored a season-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting in Daemen's recent road win at NYIT. For the season, he's producing 12.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. 

GARV-ELOUS
Daemen has become reliant on the steady play of senior guard Darius Garvin who has appeared in 91 of a possible 95 games while making 73 starts over the course of his career. Each season he's increased his statistical impact on the team, and he was voted as the team's MVP by his teammates in 2017-18. Only fellow backcourt mate Jay Sarkis logged more minutes than Garvin's 1,022 last season. He finished the year averaging 9.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Garvin was one of only two players in the ECC to record double-figure points, rebounds and assists at some point during last season. Daemen was 12-3 last season and 22-6 since the start of the 2015-16 season when Garvin scores 10 or more points in a game. He has been slowed by an injury so far this season, exiting just four minutes into Daemen's second game of the season vs. Nyack on Nov. 10. Garvin was out of the lineup when Daemen suffered its only loss of the season (Nov. 14 at Mercyhurst), but returned for the Nov. 24 game vs. Slippery Rock. Garvin came off the bench to log 29 minutes against The Rock, and made perhaps the biggest play of the game, connecting on a hanging jumper with under two minutes to play after SRU had cut a comfortable Daemen lead to just four points. Garvin returned to the starting lineup two days later against Lake Erie, but has since missed back-to-back games at LIU Post and NYIT. 

INJURY BUG
Daemen has been hit hard with the injury bug early this season as incumbent starting guards Darius Garvin and Jay Sarkis, as well as redshirt senior guard Nick Petrucelli have all missed time. Sarkis played just 11 minutes in the season-opener vs. Caldwell before going out, and Petrucelli is feared to have suffered the third season-ending injury of his career. In 30 games last season, Sarkis produced 12.5 points and a team-best 3.6 assists per game and earned third team All-ECC honors. He finished the season ranking among the ECC leaders in total minutes (1,057 - 3rd),  minutes per game (35.2 - 5th), three-point field goal percentage (42.5 - 5th), three-point field goals (68 - 4th), total assists (106 - 3rd) and assists per game (3.5 - 6th). Petrucelli appeared in the first three games of the season, and started at Mercyhurst on Nov. 14, his first time in the starting lineup since Jan. 22, 2016. Injuries have cost him the final 13 games of the 2015-16 season, all of the 2016-17 season, and all but five games since then. The rash of recent injuries marks the fifth straight season that the Wildcats have been without at least one prominent player for a significant amount of time. 

STARTING 1-0
Daemen's 75-60 win over Caldwell on Nov. 9 extended their winning streak in season openers to 17, a streak that dates back to the 2002-03 season. The wins in that span have come over 14 different opponents. Fisher (Mass.), Wilfrid Laurier (Ont.) and Caldwell are the only opponents Daemen has defeated twice in season openers during the streak. The Wildcats' average margin of victory during the streak is an astonishing 23.8 points per game; in the team's six season openers since beginning to play a full Division II schedule, the average margin of victory is 18.2 points per game. Just two games - a 68-65 final over Toronto in 2011, and a 62-57 final over Felician in 2017 - have been decided by single digits. Daemen has gone over 100 points in three of the last seven season openers; the high-water mark came in 2013 when they downed Ohio Valley 111-90. Daemen's last loss in a season opener came at the Spring Hill College (Ala.) Tournament against the hosts on Nov. 2, 2001, falling 75-35.

DEFENDING THE DEN
Daemen posted a 12-3 record at the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium last season, reaching double-figure home wins for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. The Wildcats have opened the 2018-19 campaign with four home wins, extending their home-court winning streak to eight in a row. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Daemen is 86-13 at Lumsden Gymnasium (.869 winning percentage). 

ST. MICHAEL'S SCOUTING REPORT 
St. Michael's is a member of the Northeast-10 Conference, and the Purple Knights are led by head coach Josh Meyer who is in his sixth season at the helm. Meyer has led SMC to a 59-86 record in his tenure to date. Ten players, including four starters, return to the fold after SMC went 7-19 overall and 4-17 in NE-10 play last season. Levi Holmes III, a second team All-NE-10 pick last season, headlines the returners. Holmes III averaged a league-high 24.1 points per game last season, and is nearing 1,500 points for his career. The Purple Knights also feature Buffalo native Derek Cheatom, a 6-foot-3 senior guard who prepped at The Park School of Buffalo just around the corner from Daemen's campus. Cheatom is averaging 17.9 points per game, and together with Holmes III (21.0 ppg this season) they form the highest scoring tandem in the NE-10 this season. Juniors Eli DiGrande (12.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and Jordan Guzman (10.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.0 apg) are also producing. SMC snapped a four-game slide just before the holiday break with an 80-71 non-conference win over Post. It was their sixth game this season decided by nine points or less. The Purple Knights are allowing 87.7 points per game ranking them 297th out of 305 Division II teams. 

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. St. Michael's: 1-1
Streak: Lost 1
Last Meeting: St. Michael's 83, Daemen 82 | Dec. 30, 2017 | Colchester, Vt.
More Details

DID YOU KNOW?
* Since joining the ECC in 2013-14, Daemen is 2-2 in games against Northeast-10 Conference opponents
* Since the start of the 2009-10 season, Daemen is 66-2 when scoring at least 90 points
* Daemen is holding opponents to just 38.5 percent shooting this season, ranking sixth in the country for field goal percentage defense

UP NEXT
Daemen will host St. Rose for a midday tip-off on New Year's Eve.