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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
SISCHO MBB VS ROBERTS
96
Winner Daemen DAEMEN 12-2
88
Saint Rose STR 3-8
Winner
Daemen DAEMEN
12-2
96
Final
88
Saint Rose STR
3-8
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen DAEMEN 44 52 96
Saint Rose STR 41 47 88

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

Wildcats Return To Winning Ways At St. Rose

Sischo & Redband Combine For 56 Points To Lead The Way

ALBANY, N.Y. - Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) made the most of his return to the State Capital area, scoring a game-high 34 points to lead Daemen College to a 96-88 win over the College of St. Rose in a non-conference men's basketball game at Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium this afternoon.

The result marked a return to the win column for the visiting Wildcats, as they rebounded from a loss last Sunday to St. Thomas Aquinas College. Daemen has now won 12 of their last 13 games, and they hit the NCAA-mandated holiday break with a 12-2 overall record this season. Daemen is ranked in the top-20 of both national polls for Division II this week, coming in at No. 15 in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) poll, and No. 19 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll.  

St. Rose, a member of the Northeast-10 Conference, dropped their sixth straight contest to fall to 3-8 on the season.

TOP PERFORMERS
  • Sischo, who prepped locally at Guilderland High School, was an uber-efficient 13-of-16 from the field while posting his fifth 30-point game of the season (10th of his career). He produced 22 first-half points, added seven rebounds and matched his career-high with four steals before fouling out for the first time in 72 career games. 
  • Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) caught fire in the second half, scoring 16 points in the period to finish with 22 on the day. He shot 5-of-7 from three-point range and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line, and added five boards and two steals.
  • Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) was in the starting lineup for the first time since November 23, and responded with 16 points and two steals. Also in Daemen's three-guard backcourt were Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) and Kyle Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) who combined for 12 assists and just four turnovers. Sarkis (seven points, seven assists) finished one assist shy of his season-high, while Kyle Harris established a new career-high with five dimes. 
  • Sekou Sylla was the top dog for St. Rose, finishing with 28 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for his ninth double-double this season. Sylla was equally as effective on the offensive glass as he was as the defensive end (seven off. rebounds, seven def. rebounds), and he shot 9-for-14 from the field and 10-for-11 at the charity stripe. 
  • Adam Anderson (10 points) and Eric Fleming (10 points) each reached double figures for the Golden Knights, while Josh McGettigan and Michael Wearne split 18 between them. 
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Daemen got off to a fast start, making eight of their first 10 field goal attempts to open up a 19-9 lead less than five minutes into the game. Sischo and Breon Harris both made their first four shots and Harris' steal and slam with 15:22 to go prompted a timeout by the Golden Knights.
  • The Golden Knights responded out of the stoppage, employing a 24-9 spurt that spanned nearly nine minutes. Manasseh Small's three-pointer with 9:08 to go gave the hosts their first lead of the game (25-23). The St. Rose advantage grew to 33-27 on Small's jumper with 6:18 left in the first.
  • Sparked by a Redband three-pointer, Daemen rattled off nine straight points to re-establish control. The Wildcats outscored St. Rose 17-8 over the final 6:02 to take a 44-41 lead into halftime.
  • Daemen opened the second half much like it did the first, scoring 14 of the first 17 points to open up a 58-44 lead. The Wildcats hit seven field goals in the spurt, all coming inside in the paint, including three by Breon Harris. 
  • St. Rose pulled within seven (58-51) on an old-fashioned three-point play by Cartier Bowman, but Sischo dunked one home on the other end, and the Wildcats followed with a rare four-point play from Redband to go back up by double digits (64-51). 
  • The Daemen lead reached its widest mark at 83-63 when freshman guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) converted a three-point play with 6:23 to go. The Golden Knights got back within single digits with less than 90 seconds to play, but never seriously threatened in the game's waning moments. 

GAME NOTES
  • The game featured the East Coast Conference's top field-goal shooting team (Daemen: 48.9%) and the Northeast-10 Conference's bottom field goal percentage defensive team (St. Rose: 48.1%). Daemen shot 60.7 percent from the field today (34-for-56), marking their first game over 60 percent since Dec. 16, 2018 at New York Tech (38-for-63, 60.3%).
  • St. Rose, which features eight freshmen, two sophomores and just two upperclassmen on their roster, managed 54.4 percent shooting (31-for-57), but committed 23 turnovers, matching Daemen's season-high for turnovers forced. 
  • Daemen has now won three straight meetings with St. Rose, improving to 3-1 in the all-time series. The Wildcats and Golden Knights have now met in four straight seasons.
  • Daemen's last trip to St. Rose (Dec. 31, 2017) was a red-letter day in the recent history of the program. Including their 68-60 win that day, Daemen has posted a 53-10 record since. 
  • Daemen is now 7-3 against NE-10 opponents under head coach Mike MacDonald, with all 10 matchups coming since the start of  the 2016-17 season. Daemen has won five of their last six games against NE-10 teams, and are now 2-0 against them this season. The Wildcats previously defeated NE-10 affiliate Le Moyne College (89-79) on Nov. 19.
  • Sylla now ranks second among the Division II national leaders in double-doubles behind Daemen's Sischo (11) who was held without one for just the third time all season today.
  • Sischo's 34-point outing matched his season-high, finishing just two points shy of his career-high. He's now scored at least 30 points 10 times in his career, including in three of his last five games. He's averaging 30.2 points in five games this month. For the season, Sischo is averaging 26.4 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, and shooting 66.7 percent from the field (146-for-129. He entered the game as Division II leader in made field goals, and has now made at least 12 field goals in five straight games.
  • Sischo is now averaging 28.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in two career games against his hometown Division II team (St. Rose). He scored 22 points and collected seven boards in his only prior game against the Golden Knights. 
  • Sischo also scored the 1,400th point of his career today, and has now surpassed Brian Pettit for eighth place on Daemen's all-time scoring list with 1,416 points. 
  • Redband has now made at least one three-pointer in 45 of the last 48 games. Today's shooting marked the 16th time in his career that he's connected on at least five three-pointers in a game. Redband has now totaled 257 three-pointers in his career (third all-time). 
  • Redband has now scored 20 points or more three times this season and 10 times in his career. He increased his career total to 1,183 points, passing Mark Rouse for 14th place on Daemen's all-time scoring list. 
  • After missing three games from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, Breon Harris is averaging 16.3 points and 2.0 steals over the last three games. He's shooting 54.3 percent (19-for-35) from the field and 46.2 percent (6-for-13) from three-point range in that span. 
  • Today's game marked the last for Daemen in 2019. The Wildcats close the calendar year with a 27-7 overall record.

NEXT JUMP BALL
Daemen is idle until New Year's Day when they travel to Manchester, N.H. for a battle against defending East Region champion St. Anselm College. It'll be Daemen's second trip to Stoutenburgh Gymnasium where they made their NCAA tournament debut last March. The game kicks off a busy stretch as the Wildcats play three games over the first four days of the New Year, all within the New England area (also Jan. 2 vs. St. Michael's College, Jan. 4 vs. Stonehill College). 
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