GAME INFORMATION & LINKS
GAME #20: #14/#23 Daemen Wildcats (16-3, 8-1 ECC) vs. Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks (9-7, 5-4 ECC)
Saturday, Feb. 2 |  7 p.m.  |  Amherst, N.Y.  |  Lumsden Gymnasium
Live Stats
Watch Live: ECC Network
Game Day

JUMP BALL
The Thruway Rivalry makes its annual appearance at Lumsden Gymnasium as Daemen hosts their longtime rivals from Rochester, the Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks. It'll feature two teams headed in the same direction; the Wildcats bring the ECC's longest active winning streak (five straight games) into the contest, while RWC has won three straight games, including perhaps their biggest win since transitioning to NCAA Division II. The Redhawks are coming off a 71-65 defeat of #11/#12 St. Thomas Aquinas last Sunday afternoon. Daemen also defeated STAC last weekend (82-79 in overtime), and the Wildcats are coming off a 95-66 rout of District of Columbia on Sunday. The rivalry has been all Daemen of late. The Wildcats have won 16 straight and 23 of the last 24 meetings, dating back to the 2007-08 season. Daemen scored a 78-70 come-from-behind win in the teams' earlier meeting this season, a game that was broadcast as part of the NCAA Division II Basketball Showcase. 

NATIONAL RANKING
Daemen is ranked in both Division II national polls for the first time in team history. The Wildcats are ranked 14th in the latest Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) national media poll, the fourth straight week they've been included in that poll. The Wildcats are also ranked 23rd in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll, marking the first time in team history they've been included in that poll. The ascent into the national rankings comes after Daemen was ranked 22nd 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.

REGIONAL RANKING
Daemen is the unanimous No. 1 ranked team in the latest Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region media poll which was released earlie this week. Daemen has been ranked in each of the 10 regional polls released this season, and this is the third time in the last four weeks that they've sat atop the rankings. It also marks the first time that the Wildcats have garnered all six first-place votes to make their No. 1 ranking unanimous. The poll includes teams from the East Coast Conference, Northeast-10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

DON'T LET THE BALL DROP
The 2018 calendar year was a remarkable one for Daemen. The Wildcats posted a 25-3 record in the calendar year. The team's success also included a 14-1 record in home games, a 17-1 record in East Coast Conference contests and a 22-2 mark against all regional opponents. 

DEFENDING THE DEN
Daemen has posted a 10-1 record at the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium this season, reaching double-figure home wins for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. The Wildcats have won 18 of their last 20 home games dating back to last season. Since joining the ECC (2013-14 season), Daemen is 43-9 in home conference games. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Daemen is 92-14 at Lumsden Gymnasium (.868 winning percentage). Of those 14 losses, six have been decided by three points or fewer, including three by just a single point.  

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.

ROAD WARRIORS
Daemen picked up a pair of nail-biting road wins earlier this month, extending their ECC road winning streak to 12 straight games. The Wildcats rallied for a 75-74 win at Mercy on Jan. 18, overcoming a four-point deficit with less than 25 seconds to play. Breon Harris drilled a pull-up three-pointer to bring them within a point, then converted an acrobatic steal and layup on the ensuing inbounds pass to put the Wildcats ahead for good. Harris canned a career-high six three-pointers and scored a season-high 24 points in the win. Less than 48 hours later, the Wildcats pulled off an 87-85 win over ECC preseason favorite Bridgeport. Andrew Sischo and Deion Hamilton scored 18 points apiece to lead the way in Daemen's first win at Hubbell Gymnasium since the 2013-14 season. 

SIGNATURE WINS
Daemen has picked up a pair of wins over nationally-ranked opponents this month. The Wildcats opened 2019 by knocking off #4/#4 St. Anselm 78-72 on Jan. 2. St. Anselm had entered the contest with an unblemished 10-0 record, and hadn't suffered a regulation loss in regular season play since Feb. 6, 2018. Deion Hamilton scorched the nets with six three-pointers and 26 points, and Andrew Sischo tallied 20 points in his return to the Daemen lineup after missing the previous two games with an injury. The meeting was billed as the "Game of the Year" by the experts from d2easthoops.org, and it lived up the hype. The game featured 13 lead changes, and Daemen rallied from a five-point halftime deficit with a 51-40 second half. Just last weekend, the Wildcats did it again with an 82-79 overtime victory over #11/#12 St. Thomas Aquinas. Hamilton's steal and layup with 14 seconds left in the extra session put the Wildcats on top for good in a game that had no more than a five-point separation for either team in the final 17 minutes. Sischo notched 26 points and 11 boards, while Hamilton added 22 points. 

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 a 97-40 overall record. The Wildcats have won at least 19 games in each of MacDonald's first four seasons, and the team's 97 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 353-266. He picked up the 350th win of his career on Jan. 18 at Mercy College. 

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. During the 2018-19 campaign, Sischo has picked up right where he left off. He's recorded 11 double-doubles (ranks 9th among national leaders), and is averaging 21.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. He has reached 20 points in nine games, 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. He's also been named the ECC Player of the Week three times, and the ECC Defensive Player of the Week once. Sischo is shooting 58.8 percent from the field, ranking second among the ECC leaders, only behind teammate Quinn Lee Yaw. Sischo also ranks second in scoring, rebounding and made field goals, and also fourth in total blocks among the league leaders. He also ranks among the Division II national leaders in scoring (35th), rebounding (13th) and field goal percentage (27th).

AWARD WATCH LIST
Earlier this month, Andrew Sischo was named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 100 Watch List. The Bevo Francis Award is named for the former basketball star at Rio Grande College, and it is awarded to the player who is deemed to have had the finest season within Small College Basketball, which consists of NCAA Divisions II and III as well as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Sischo is one of 50 NCAA Division II players on the list, and one of six from the East Region. Small College Basketball will publish its 50-player watch list on February 15, and a 25-player watch list on March 15. The finalists will be announced on April 6, and the 2019 Bevo Francis Award winner will be announced on April 8. 

THREE-DICULOUS SHOOTING
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. This season, Redband has increased his production while placing himself among the national three-point shooting leaders. He is averaging a career-bes 14.2 points per game while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 48.7 percentage from three-point range, while totaling 57 three-pointers. He ranks among the ECC leaders in field goal percentage (8th), three-point field goals (1st) and three-point field goal percentage (1st). Redband also ranks fifth in three-point field percentage and 40th in three-pointers made per game (3.0) among the national leaders. He was named to the ECC-CACC Challenge all-tournament team after helping Daemen pick up wins over Caldwell and Nyack, and has been a one-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection this season. He's scored 20 or more points four times this season, and was named the ECC Player of the Week for Dec. 31-Jan. 6. Redband has made at least one three-pointer in 23 consecutive games, and is closing in on becoming just the fifth player in team history with 200 three-pointers. Over the course of his career, Redband has appeared in 77 games and made 75 starts; he has racked up 894 points, 351 rebounds and 194 three-pointers.  

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 11.3 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 23-8 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 an earlier win over Slippery Rock, and scored 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. He posted his best outings of the season in big-time matchups against nationally-ranked opponents, canning six three-pointers and matching his career-high with 26 points in a win over #4/#4 St. Anselm, and scoring 22 points, including the go-ahead layup in overtime, in an 82-79 defeat of #11.#12 St. Thomas Aquinas. For the season, he's averaging 13.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. In his career. Hamilton has appeared in 81 games while making 55 starts, and he's totaled 931 points and 410 rebounds. 

BREAKOUT BREON
Junior guard Breon Harris has helped Daemen to wins in 33 of 38 games since he was inserted into the starting lineup midway through the 2017-18 season. 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 33 of the last 38 games (61 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 heated up in December, registering back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in his career. Harris knocked down five three-pointers and totaled 22 points in a road win at NYIT on Dec. 16, and followed up with 23 points and five steals in a home win over St. Michael's on Dec. 29. He was named the ECC Defensive Player of the Week for games played Dec. 28-30. Harris' biggest game of the season came Jan. 18 at Mercy where he scored 24 points, including five in the final 25 seconds that helped Daemen overcome a four-point deficit; his pull-up three-pointer - his career-high sixth of the night - pulled Daemen within a point, then he converted an acrobatic steal and layup which proved to be the difference in the game. For the season, he's producing 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game. His 34 three-point field goals rank sixth in the league, and he's also second among the ECC leaders in steals per game and total steals (34). 

QUINN-ING
Daemen has gotten great production out of redshirt senior forward Quinn Lee Yaw so far this season. The 6-foot-5 Jamestown native is presently leading the ECC in field goal percentage (58.9%) and producing 8.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Lee Yaw has reached double-figure scoring in eight of the last 15 games, including a season-best 21 points in a road win at NYIT on Dec. 16. He recently recorded his first double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in a home win over District of Columbia. The 2018-19 season marks Lee Yaw's first with actual game action since 2015-16. He began his career at Division II Edinboro where he appeared in 41 games over two seasons. He later transferred to Division I St. Bonaventure where he made the team as a walk-on, but had to sit out per NCAA transfer rules. He was forced to sit out the 2017-18 season after transferring to Daemen, again per the NCAA transfer rules. The Lee Yaw name is a familiar one in local basketball circles as he earned Co-Player of the Year honors in the Erie County Interscholastic Conference and second team All-Western New York honors while leading Jamestown High School to a section title in his senor season. 

SHINING STAR-KIS
Redshirt junior guard Jay Sarkis returned to the lineup recently after missing the majority of November and December with an injury. Sarkis scored the go-ahead bucket in what turned out to be a 64-55 win over St. Michael's on Dec. 29, and totaled nine points, four rebounds and three assists in his return. He has gone on to record double-figure scoring in four games, including 13 points in a victory over nationally-ranked St. Anselm and a season-high 19 points in a neutral site win over Dallas Baptist. For the season, Sarkis has appeared in 12 games and is averaging 7.1 points and a team-high 3.6 assists per game. Sarkis, who quarterbacked the Wildcats to an appearance in the ECC Tournament finals as a freshman in 2015-16, was a four-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection that season as he appeared in all 29 games while making 26 starts, and averaging 8.5 points and 2.3 assists per game that season. 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. Sarkis 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). 

GARV-ELOUS
Daemen has become reliant on the steady play of senior guard Darius Garvin who has appeared in 102 of a possible 106 games while making 75 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 is 23-6 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 first 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 was again out of the lineup in mid-December, but made his return to the lineup on Dec. 29. He scored a season-high 13 points in a road win at Bridgeport on Jan. 20, and again played a huge role down the stretch of Daemen's 82-79 win over nationally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas on Jan. 25.  

ROBERTS WESLEYAN SCOUTING REPORT
Roberts Wesleyan is a fellow member of the East Coast Conference, and the Redhawks are led by interim head coach Mark Saladzius. After nine years as an assistant, Saladzius assumed control of the program last fall following the retirement of longtime bench boss Rob McCoy who tallied 185 wins in 16 seasons at the helm. The Redhawks were the most improved team in the ECC last season, increasing their overall wins (from 3 to 14) and conference wins (from 2 to 7) while earning the program's first ECC Championship tournament berth. Six players return from RWC's 2017-18 team that went 14-14 overall and 7-11 in league play. The group of returners is headlined by junior guard Isaiah Lewis, a third team All-ECC pick who averaged 13.1 points per game last season. Incumbent starters Peyton McLaurin (9.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg), Jean Toussaint (9.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and Michael Bush (9.4 ppg) also return. Since they last met Daemen on Dec. 5, the Redhawks have posted a 6-3 record, and they'll bring a season-best three-game winning streak into Thursday's contest. The Redhawks' recent success includes arguably their biggest win since joining the ECC, a 71-65 defeat of nationally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas last weekend which snapped their nine-game slide in the all-time series with the Spartans. McLaurin continued a stretch of solid play, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to lead RWC in the win. The senior guard/forward is averaging nearly 17 points per game this month, and is contributing team-highs of 14.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this season. Additional production is coming from Lewis (14.3 ppg, 42.4 3PT%) and Vaughan (12.3 ppg, team-high 34 three-pointers). 

ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Roberts Wesleyan: 38-12
Streak: Won 16
Last Meeting: Daemen 78, Roberts Wesleyan 70 | Dec. 5, 2018 | Rochester, N.Y. | ECC Championship First Round
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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 16 straight and 23 of the last 24 meetings with RWC. Eleven of the last 16 meetings have been decided by nine points or fewer, including the last three in a row. The closest margin was a 98-96 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. 

DID YOU KNOW?
* Daemen's 16-game winning streak against RWC is one of three active streaks that has reached double figures (also 16 straight wins over Houghton, and 12 straight wins over Mercy)
* Thursday's game features two of the best defensive teams in the ECC; Daemen is allowing an ECC-low 70.8 points per game, and have had seven games this season allowing less than 70 points; on the flip side, RWC is allowing 75.4 points per game (5th in the league), but they rank first in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 40.4 percent from the field
* Daemen ranks first in the ECC in both field goal percentage (48.2) and three-point field goal percentage (39.7)
* In another stat to watch Thursday, RWC comes in leading the league in free throws made per game (16.9), but Daemen leads the league in fewest personal fouls per game (15.1)

UP NEXT
Daemen starts a two-game road trip by looking for redemption at Molloy on Friday, Feb. 8. Molloy handed Daemen their only ECC loss of the season thus far.