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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
redband mbb vs buffalo
79
Le Moyne LEM 1-3,0-0 NE10
89
Winner Daemen DAEM 6-1,0-0 ECC
Le Moyne LEM
1-3,0-0 NE10
79
Final
89
Daemen DAEM
6-1,0-0 ECC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Le Moyne LEM 40 39 79
Daemen DAEM 43 46 89

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Wildcats Rally Past Regional Rival Le Moyne

Sischo Posts Seventh Straight Double-Double As Daemen Explodes Late

AMHERST, N.Y. - A 25-6 run covering the final 6:11 of the second half helped nationally-ranked Daemen College rally for a 89-79 win over regional rival Le Moyne College in non-conference men's basketball action tonight at Lumsden Gymnasium. Daemen, which earlier in the day moved up to No. 17 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II top-25 poll, extended their winning streak to six straight games and improved to 6-1 on the season. Five of the six wins have featured come-from-behind efforts in the second half. 

Le Moyne, a member of the Northeast-10 Conference that has averaged 22 wins over the last three seasons, fell to 1-3 on the season. It marked the first meeting between Daemen and Le Moyne since Dec. 30, 2004, and Daemen has now won three straight meetings in the series that dates back to 1994. 

The Wildcats are now unbeaten in 13 straight home games overall, as well as 14 straight non-conference home games.

TOP PERFORMERS
  • For the seventh time in as many games this season, Daemen big man Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) posted a double-double. The redshirt-junior center finished with 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting while hauling in 11 boards. Sischo netted 16 points in the pivotal second half.
  • Senior guard Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) scored all 14 of his points in the first half.
  • Redshirt-senior forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) came alive after a scoreless first half. Redband drilled a trio of three-pointers and keyed the game-closing run, finishing with 13 points. 
  • Redshirt-freshman forward Ryan Bradley (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) netted nine of Daemen's 22 points off the bench. 
  • Ryan Roland shot 6-of-9 from three-point range and scored 20 points to pace five double-figure scorers for the Dolphins.
  • Tim Leavell nailed four three-pointers off the Le Moyne bench and finished with 14 points. Nino Hernandez and Lonnie Rivera, both Division I transfers, scored a dozen points apiece, and senior forward Tom Brown scored 10. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Daemen took a 43-40 lead into halftime, but Le Moyne used a 16-4 run early in the second to open up a 56-50 advantage. 
  • The Dolphins built their lead to nine points (73-64) on a Rivera three-pointer with 6:34 to play.
  • Redband drilled a three-pointer with 6:11 to go, but Roland answered with a triple at the other end for Le Moyne. 
  • Sischo scored back-to-back buckets, sparking Daemen on a game-closing 22-3 run. Redband canned a three-pointer at the 2:47 mark to put Daemen ahead 79-78, and the Wildcats never trailed again. His fadeaway jumper on the next possession put Daemen ahead by three. He and Sischo shot 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds to seal the deal. Sischo and Redband accounted for 19 of Daemen's final 22 points.
  • Le Moyne made 15 of their first 27 attempts from three-point range, but shot just 1-of-6 from downtown down the stretch.

HEAD COACH MIKE MACDONALD POST-GAME COMMENTS
"I thought we really hung in there tonight. We were tired, you could see that after some tough games in the last few days against Mercyhurst and West Liberty. But we really persevered. Our veterans made big plays in crunch time. Our bench gave us a great lift, especially Ryan Bradley. He played great. And maybe the biggest thing was that even when we were down we still trusted and believed in one another, and made plays for another. Jeff Redband is a great example of that. He struggled with his shot early, but when we needed it, our guys trusted him to make shots and he did."

GAME NOTES
  • Daemen has now won 28 of their last 30 home games. The Wildcats are 101-14 at Lumsden Gymnasium since the start of the 2011-12 season.
  • Le Moyne is the fourth opponent Daemen's faced this season that advanced to the NCAA tournament last season. The Wildcats are 3-1 in those contests. Their only loss of the season thus far is to defending national champion Northwest Missouri State University.
  • Sischo has scored 20+ points in five straight contests, and is averaging 25.4 points and 14.7 rebounds per game and shooting 71% from the field this season.
  • Sischo's point total tonight included the 1,200th point of his career, becoming just the 13th player in team history to reach tha total. In 65 career games, he's totaled 1,225 points and 647 rebounds.
  • Redband surpassed Danny McCabe for 19th place on Daemen's all-time scoring list tonight. He's appeared in 95 games and made 92 starts in his career, totaling 1,086 points. The majority of his damage has been done from three-point range. With 233 three-point field goals, he now stands four shy of tying Kharmen Wingard for third in team history.
  • With two steals today, Breon Harris moved past Mark Rouse and Monty Montgomery into the top 10 in team history. Harris has totaled 136 steals, ranking ninth. 
  • Daemen played without starting guard Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) for the second consecutive game.

UP NEXT
As Petula Clark once sang, everything is waiting for you downtown. The Wildcats will play for their first-ever game at KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo this Saturday, November 23 as they welcome Wilmington University to the City of Good Neighbors. Tickets for the game, which include admission to the Canisius vs. St. Bonaventure game that follows, remain on sale at daemenwildcats.com/keybanktix (use password "WILDCATS"). 

 
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