AMHERST, N.Y. – Freshman Katie Titus (Penfield, N.Y.) of the women's basketball team and sophomore Rodney Corbin (Williamsville, N.Y.) of the men's track and field team have been named the Daemen College Student-Athletes of the Month presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC for January, 2019.
Titus led the women's basketball team to a 6-2 month. The 6-foot forward averaged 17.6 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, and shot 49-percent (57-for-117) from the field overall and 40-percent (17-for-43) from three-point land. She also contributed eight blocks and 16 steals.
After opening the month with non-conference losses to regionally-ranked Saint Anselm College and Saint Michael's College, the Wildcats have produced six straight wins with Titus leading the way in each of the six victories. All six wins have come against East Coast Conference teams.
She totaled 23 points and eight rebounds in a 65-42 win over Molloy College on Jan. 11 and followed up with another 23 points, 13 rebounds and three steals in a 54-51 win over Queens College two days later. She took her show on the road the following weekend, as she racked up 38 points and 31 rebounds in wins over Mercy College and the University of Bridgeport. She scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds against Mercy and totaled 21 points and 15 boards against UB. Her statement performance may have come the final Friday of the month at DC's Lumsden Gymnasium when she connected on 10-of-17 shots, drilled four three-pointers and totaled a career-high 24 points in a 62-54 upset of regionally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College. STAC, the defending ECC champion, entered the game riding a seven game winning streak and unbeaten in league play. Titus capped the month with another 24-point effort in a win over the University of the District of Columbia. She drilled another four three-pointers and grabbed a career-high four steals in the game.
Her efforts did not go unnoticed by the ECC, as she earned conference recognition in each of the final three weeks of the month. She was named ECC Player of the Week twice and becomes the first player in team history to earn multiple ECC Player of the Week honors in the same season. Titus was named ECC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, and was also crowned ECC Rookie of the Week. She is only the freshman to be named ECC Player of the Week so far this season, and is the only ECC player to be named Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week.
The Our Lady of Mercy product has appeared in all 18 games this season and has made 11 starts, including the last 10 games. She is averaging 10.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. She ranks high among the team's leaders in scoring (second), rebounding (first), steals (second) and blocks (second). She also ranks second in three-point field goals made (21). She has averaged a team-high 15.6 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds during Daemen's nine conference games, and currently ranks second among ECC freshmen in points per game.
Daemen (10-8, 7-2 ECC) sits in third place in the ECC standings and is receiving votes in the Division II Sports Information Directors Association East Region poll. Daemen's six game winning streak is the longest since the Wildcats joined the ECC in 2013-14.
The Wildcats return to action tomorrow (Feb. 2) when they host longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan College in an ECC game. Daemen defeated the Redhawks, 72-70, earlier this year in Rochester. The Wildcats will be looking to sweep the regular-season series from their rivals for the first time since Daemen joined the ECC in 2013-14.
Corbin, a 5-foot-7 sprinter, was named to the weekly ECC honor roll after each of Daemen's three meets last month. The school-record holder in the 60-yard dash, he posted a first-place finish and two second-place showings in his primary event during the month.
He opened the month by placing second out of eight runners at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Tiger Invitational on Jan. 12. His time of 7.07 was tops among runners from NCAA teams and second only to Jalen Law (7.01) of Canada.
A week later Corbin flirted with breaking his school-record time of 7.01, as he placed first among seven runners at the Highlander Invitational hosted by Houghton College. Corbin crossed the finish line with a time of 7.02—edging out Ricardo Yolas of St. John Fisher College who posted a time of 7.09. Corbin and the Wildcats capped the month at the Brockport Multi & Invitational hosted by The College of Brockport on Jan. 26. After winning his preliminary heat with a time of 7.19, Corbin placed second out of eight runners with a time of 7.08. Sophomore Olivier Kothor of Brockport took the event with a meet-record time of 6.95.
Corbin, a second-team All-ECC performer in the 60-yard dash last year, is enjoying a solid sophomore season. He opened the season by tying his school-record in the 60-yard dash (7.01) and placing third out of eight runners at the Brockport Alumni & Multi Invitational on December 2. Less than a week later he placed first out of eight runners at the Houghton College December Classic with a time of 7.09.
Corbin burst onto the scene last year as a rookie, as he established a new school-record in the 60-year dash (7.01) at his first collegiate event—the Highlander Invitational. He would finish first in the 60-yard dash in each of his first three collegiate meets, and cap his rookie season by placing fourth at the ECC Indoor Championships with a school-record tying time of 7.01.
The Daemen indoor track and field teams return to action Feb. 7 when they travel to Brockport, N.Y. to take part in the Brockport Thursday Night Meet.
Additional student-athletes considered for Athlete of the Month honors included Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) of the men's basketball team, Tiara Filbert (Batavia, N.Y.) of the women's basketball team and Katja Meyer (Verona, N.Y.) of the women's track and field team.
