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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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Daemen Moves Up Again In Both Division II National Polls

Wildcats Ranked 10th In D2SIDA Poll & 13th In NABC Poll

2/19/2019 4:16:00 PM

By: By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications
AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's basketball team is ranked in both Division II national polls for the fourth consecutive week. The Wildcats have moved to No. 10 in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) national media poll, up one spots from last week. It marks the seventh straight week that Daemen has been ranked in the D2SIDA poll. Coach Mike MacDonald's team also moved up in the the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll, as the Wildcats are ranked No. 13 this week after coming in at No. 15 last week.

Daemen (21-3, 13-1 ECC) has won 10 straight games, marking the longest winning streak of head coach Mike MacDonald's tenure. Daemen's last winning streak that reached double figures came during the 2013-14 season when they rattled off 14 straight wins. 

Most recently, the Wildcats picked up home wins over Long Island University Post (108-63) and New York Institute of Technology (87-72). The pair of wins helped Daemen maintain its grip on first place in the East Coast Conference standings. The Wildcats have already clinched a berth in the upcoming ECC Championship tournament, and the pair of wins moved them closer to locking up a first-round bye. The ECC Championship features the top six teams in the final league standings, with first round games slated for campus sites on Wednesday, March 6. The semifinals (Saturday, March 9) and finals (Sunday, March 10) will be played at Hubbell Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Bridgeport.

Redshirt sophomore center Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) continues to lead the way. Yesterday, the Daemen big man was named the ECC Player of the Week for the fifth time this season. He recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 27 points and 12 rebounds in the win over NYIT. For the season, Sischo is producing 22.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. He ranks first in field goal percentage (60.3) and second in both scoring and rebounding among the ECC leaders. Sischo, who is also one of 24 Division II players on the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List, also ranks among the national leaders in scoring (19th), rebounding (13th), field goal percentage (18th) and double-doubles (seventh). In 52 career games, Sischo has totaled 951 points (18.3 ppg) and 489 rebounds (9.4 rpg). He stands just 11 rebounds shy of becoming only the 14th player in team history to reach 500 for a career.

Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.), Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y.) and Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) are also producing double-figure scoring, and Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) has come on of late as well.

Redband equaled his career-high with 23 points in the win Friday over LIU Post. He knocked down a career-high seven three-pointers in the game, and has totaled 70 triples this season which ranks second among the ECC leaders. He's the first Daemen player with at least 70 three-pointers since Jordan Greene canned 75 during the 2014-15 campaign. Redband has been a two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection, and he's contributing career-highs of 13.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He's shooting 47.9 percent from three-point range, fifth-best among the NCAA Division II national leaders. 

Hamilton has topped 20 points in both of Daemen's wins over nationally-ranked teams this season, including 22 vs. then #11/#12 St. Thomas Aquinas College on Jan. 25. He's averaging 12.4 points per game this season, and is closing in on 1,000 points for his career (974 points currently).

Harris owns a trio of 20-point games this season, including a season-high 24 in a one-point win at Mercy College in which he single-handedly helped Daemen overcome a four-point deficit with under 30 seconds to play by scoring five straight points. Harris has started 43 consecutive games, helping Daemen to a 38-5 record in that span. He's producing 11.8 points per game, and has a team-high 40 steals this season. 

After battling through injuries in the early portion of the season, Sarkis has re-emerged as the team's starting point guard. Despite missing seven games, he leads the team with 58 assists (3.4 apg), and has also reached double-figure scoring in five of the last six games (averaging 10.7 points per game in that span). In 17 games this season, Sarkis has knocked down 27 three-pointers and is contributing 8.2 points per outing. 

With 13 returning players off last season's 22-8 team, expectations were high for MacDonald's club at the season's outset. The Wildcats were picked second in the ECC preseason poll, and 22nd in the Division II Bulletin preseason national poll, while also receiving top-25 votes in both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and D2SIDA preseason national polls. The Wildcats made their first-ever appearance in an in-season top-25 poll last month.

At 21-3 on the season, Daemen has secured its sixth 20-win campaign in the last eight seasons. The Wildcats haven't won less than 19 games since the 2010-11 season.  

The Wildcats return to action this weekend with a pair of ECC road games as they'll visit Saint Thomas Aquinas College (Friday, Feb. 22) and the University of the District of Columbia (Sunday, Feb. 24). Daemen takes a 14-game ECC road winning streak into Friday's pivotal meeting with STAC which is ranked third in the D2SIDA regional poll this week. With a win, Daemen can clinch a top-two seed and first-round bye in the ECC Championship tournament. The matchup Friday features two of the most successful teams in the region. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, STAC (121 wins) and Daemen (102 wins) rank first and second respectively in wins among all ECC and New York State Division II teams. 

For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
 
D2SIDA MEN'S BASKETBALL
NATIONAL MEDIA POLL
WEEK 13 - FEBRUARY 19, 2019
Rank School Pts. Record Previous
1. Northwest Missouri State (16) 400 25-0 1
2. Nova Southeastern 369 21-2 3
3. Saint Edward's 363 23-2 4
4. Indiana (Pa.) 358 22-2 5
5. USC Aiken 336 22-2 6
6. West Texas A&M 308 25-3 7
7. Findlay 297 20-3 T-8
8. West Liberty 268 20-3 2
9. Queens (N.C.) 264 23-3 10
10. DAEMEN 257 21-3 11
11. Saint Martin's 253 21-3 14
12. Lynn 230 20-3 12
13. Colorado School of Mines 211 22-3 13
14. Davenport 193 22-3 15
15. Bellarmine 173 20-3 17
16. Point Loma 165 24-4 T-8
17. Southern Nazarene 141 22-4 20
18. Lewis 106 19-4 19
19. Saint Anselm 102 19-4 21
20. West Alabama 76 20-5 24
21. West Chester 64 19-5 23
22. Florida Southern 45 19-5 16
23. Missouri Southern State 41 20-5 RV
T-24. Cal Poly Pomona 32 16-5 RV
T-24. Ashland 32 21-4 RV
( ) - denotes first-place votes
NABC DIVISION II
MEN'S BASKETBALL RANKINGS
POLL #11 - February 12, 2019
Rank School Pts. Record Previous
1. Northwest Missouri State (16) 400 25-0 1
2. Indiana (Pa.) 384 22-2 3
3. Nova Southeastern 365 21-2 4
4. West Texas A&M 340 25-3 5
5. Saint Edward's 338 23-2 6
6. USC Aiken 315 22-2 7
7. West Liberty 292 20-3 2
8. Findlay 286 20-3 8
9. Bellarmine 285 20-3 9
10. Queens (N.C.) 265 23-3 10
11. Colorado School of Mines 240 22-3 11
12. Saint Martin's 224 21-3 14
13. DAEMEN 193 21-3 15
14. Lynn 191 20-3 16
15. Southern Nazarene 167 22-4 17
16. Davenport 164 22-3 18
17. Point Loma 137 21-4 12
18. Ashland 110 21-4 20
19. Virginia State 100 22-4 23
20. Saint Anselm 78 19-4 24
21. Morehouse 76 19-4 13
22. Valdosta State 45 20-5 NR
23. Florida Southern 42 19-5 19
24. Lewis 40 19-4 NR
25. Northwest Nazarene 31 18-4 NR
( ) - denotes first-place votes
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