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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
b harris mbb @ cuse
81
Wilmington (DE) WILM-M 0-5
83
Winner Daemen DAEM 7-1
Wilmington (DE) WILM-M
0-5
81
Final
83
Daemen DAEM
7-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Wilmington (DE) WILM-M 40 41 81
Daemen DAEM 37 46 83

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

Wildcats Complete KeyBank Center Comeback

Daemen Makes KeyBank Center Debut & Earns Sixth Come-From-Behind Win This season

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The comeback kids struck again as Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) nailed a go-ahead three-pointer with 32 seconds remaining and followed up with a key steal to help Daemen College earn an 83-81 non-conference victory over Wilmington University today. The game was the first of two today at KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo with Big 4 rivals Canisius College and St. Bonaventure University taking the floor after the showcase of Division II teams Daemen and Wilmington.

Daemen made their KeyBank Center debut a successful one, improving to 7-1 on the season while extending their overall winning streak to seven straight games. Six of Daemen's seven wins this season have featured second-half comebacks. Daemen trailed by as many as seven points in the second half today, and erased a 74-68 deficit with under five minutes remaining. 

Wilmington, a member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, led for more than 22 minutes before falling. WU dropped to 0-5 on the season.

TOP PERFORMERS
  • Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) paced Daemen as he shared game-high honors in both points (24) and rebounds (8). The redshirt-junior center shot 9-of-16 from the field.
  • Harris canned four three-pointers and finished with a season-high 21 points, including 14 in the second half. He added four boards, three assists and three steals.
  • Joey Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) was pivotal in the Daemen comeback, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds. He scored 12 second-half points, shooting 10-for-11 from the free throw line in the period.
  • Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) hit three trifectas and finished with nine points, while Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.), back in the lineup after missing two straight games with an injury, posted a team-high four assists.
  • Jermaine Head made plays all over the court for upset-minded Wilmington, finishing with 24 points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals. 
  • Danny Walsh scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half. He shot 4-of-5 from three-point range, and was one of five Wilmington players with multiple triples in the contest. WU shot 15-of-28 from downtown as a team.
  • Jordan Harding (11 points) and Kam Cooper (10 points) reached double figures for Wilmington as well. Cooper's production came in a reserve role with all his scoring coming in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Daemen opened up a nine-point lead less than seven minutes into the contest. Harris' jumper at the 14:34 mark put them ahead 16-7, and later a Redband three-pointer sent them into the under-12 media timeout with a 22-14 advantage.
  • Wilmington battled back and kept Daemen off the scoreboard for more than five minutes. WU settled in offensively and outscored DC 21-6, opening up a 35-28 lead following a three-pointer by Tyler Norwood at the 3:09 mark. 
  • Daemen was able to make some headway late in the period, and got a nice inside bucket from redshirt-freshman Ryan Bradley (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) that cut the deficit to 40-37 at the half.
  • Wilmington continued to hold the lead through the early portions of the second half. A corner three by Redband briefly gave Daemen a 53-51 lead near the 12-minute mark, but WU responded with back-to-back treys of their own - one by Cooper and another by Head - to regain control.
  • The WU lead grew to 66-59 on an inside field goal by Cooper with 8:41 to play, and they were able to keep Daemen at bay coming down the stretch. Walsh's three-pointer with 4:43 to go put Wilmington ahead 74-68, but Daemen scored the next six points, including back-to-back inside buckets by Sischo that knotted the score. 
  • Daemen took a 79-76 lead when Harris nailed a three in transition with 1:44 to go, but Head answered with another three-ball at the other end for WU. Following an empty Daemen possession, Head scored on a drive to the cup, putting WU ahead 81-79 with 40 ticks left.
  • Harris got the ball up the floor quickly and answered for Daemen just eight seconds later. With Sischo coming out to set a screen, Harris pulled up from about 30 feet out, drilling his fourth three-pointer of the game to give Daemen an 82-81 lead.
  • Following a timeout, a long possession for Wilmington ended when the ball got knocked away from Cooper and Harris dove on the loose ball. He secured possession for Daemen and called timeout with only four seconds left. Wallace went to the line and split a pair of freebies. The rebound was knocked out of bounds and Daemen retained possession. Wallace dribbled out the clock once accepting the inbounds pass from Sarkis.

GAME NOTES
  • Daemen is ranked in both national polls for Division II: No. 17 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll, and No. 10 in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America poll.
  • Although the game was played at KeyBank Center, it was still considered a home game for Daemen. The Wildcats have won 14 straight and 29 of their last 31 home hames. The Wildcats have also won 15 consecutive non-conference home games.
  • It also marked Daemen's 12th consecutive win against an opponent from the CACC. Daemen is 16-3 against CACC teams since joining the East Coast Conference in 2013, 15-2 in such games since head coach Mike MacDonald took over in 2014.
  • Daemen is now 4-1 all-time against Wilmington. The series dates back to the 1998-99 season. Daemen has emerged in the last three meetings which have all come since 2015. 
  • MacDonald, now in his sixth season at Daemen, is now 18-11 all-time in games played at KeyBank Center. The all-time leader in coaching wins in the building, MacDonald went 17-11 in this building during his nine-year stint as the head coach at Canisius (1997-2006). It was MacDonald's first game in the downtown venue since the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament in March of 2005, and his first win here since a 62-60 triumph over Marist College in that postseason tournament (Mar. 4, 2005). 
  • Although Sischo was solid, his string of seven consecutive double-doubles was snapped today.
  • Harris becomes the third Daemen player to score 20+ points in a game this season, joining Sischo and Redband.
  • Sischo recorded his eighth 20-point game of the season, and is now averaging 25.3 points per game this season. He surpassed Jim Regan today for 12th on Daemen's all-time scoring list (Sischo: 1,249 points).
  • Redband moved past Jordan Greene for 18th place on Daemen's all-time scoring list (1,095 points). He also increased his career total of made three-pointers to 236, one shy of Kharmen Wingard for third in team history.

POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE


UP NEXT
Daemen plays its first true road game of the season next Saturday, Nov. 30 when they visit CACC affiliate University of the Sciences for a 3 p.m. tip-off in the City of Brotherly Love. 
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