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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
lee yaw mbb vs liu post
69
Mercy MERM 8-17, 6-11 ECC
89
Winner Daemen DAEM 23-4, 15-2 ECC
Mercy MERM
8-17, 6-11 ECC
69
Final
89
Daemen DAEM
23-4, 15-2 ECC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Mercy MERM 42 27 69
Daemen DAEM 37 52 89

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

Reserves Spark #19/#22 Daemen To 20-Point Win

Hamilton Reaches 1,000-Point Milestone As Wildcats Dispatch Of Mavericks

AMHERST, N.Y. - Quinn Lee Yaw (Jamestown, N.Y.) and Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y.) came off the bench and combined for 37 points to lead the Daemen College men's basketball team to an 89-69 victory over visiting Mercy College in an East Coast Conference contest here tonight. After trailing by five points at halftime, the Wildcats erupted for 52 second-half points and cruised to their 12th win in the last 13 games. 

With the win, Daemen (23-4, 15-2 ECC) has clinched at least a share of the ECC regular season championship. Coach Mike MacDonald's squad can lock up the outright title with a win Sunday in the regular season finale against the University of Bridgeport. Mercy dropped to 8-17 overall and 6-11 in the league, and the loss officially eliminated them from postseason contention. The Mavericks entered the weekend needing wins in their final two regular season games to claim the sixth and final ECC Championship berth.

The Wildcats started slowly but were buoyed by Lee Yaw and Garvin who combined for 21 of Daemen's 37 first-half points. Lee Yaw finished with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and he added eight rebounds. It marked Lee Yaw's 11th game in double figures this season, and his second with more than 20 points. Garvin, who appeared in the 110th game of his career tonight, scored nine of his season-high 14 points in the first half. He shot 6-of-8 from the floor and hauled down five rebounds as well. Daemen is 24-6 during Garvin's career when he scores 10 points or more. 

Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) overcame a slow start and scored 12 of his 14 points after halftime. He added 11 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season - the most for a Daemen player since Gerald Beverly's 19 during the 2014-15 season. Sischo now stands just three points shy of 1,000 for his career. Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) knocked down a team-high four three-pointers and finished with 14 points and three steals, while Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) chipped in with eight points and three assists.

Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y.) finished with six points today, bringing his career total to 1,000. His milestone bucket came on a runner at the 4:32 mark of the second half as he becomes the 23rd member of Daemen's 1,000-point club. 

Bryan Griffin paced the Mavericks with a game-high 26 points, nine of which came in the final four minutes when the game was all but decided. The 6-foot-8 redshirt sophomore is one of two players in the ECC (along with Daemen's Sischo) to be averaging better than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game this season. He added nine boards and five blocks while shooting 11-of-19 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range today.

Matthew Alectus (18 points) and Amir Atkins (14 points) also reached double figures for the Mavericks.

Mercy shot a blistering 9-of-13 from three-point range in the opening half. They used their three-point deluge to open up a 25-12 lead less than 10 minutes into the contest. Daemen quickly got back within three points with a 10-0 run that featured an old-fashioned three-point play by Garvin and back-to-back buckets by Lee Yaw. Mercy eventually pushed their lead back to as many as eight points. They led 36-28 following a put-back slam by Griffin. Daemen closed to within two (39-37) on a Garvin field goal with 37 ticks remaining, but Atkins nailed a three-pointer just before time expired to send the Mavericks into halftime leading 42-37.

Daemen set the tone at the outset of the second half as they needed just 1:08 to knot the score at 42-42. Hamilton's short jumper at the 16:33 mark gave Daemen its first lead since early on, and a layup by Lee Yaw with 14:45 to go capped a 14-4 run with Daemen leading 51-46. Mercy answered with another trey-ball from Atkins, and Griffin split a pair of free throws to bring them back within a point (51-50). 

That's when Daemen took over. The Wildcats scored 17 unanswered points, including 15 combined by Lee Yaw, Garvin and Sischo. A jumper by Griffin only momentarily halted the momentum as Daemen opened up a 79-57 advantage on a fastbreak dunk by Harris with 4:14 to play. Mercy never got closer than 16 points the remainder of the contest.

Tonight's win moves Daemen to 14-1 at the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium this season, tying the program record for home wins in a season. The Wildcats also won 14 home games during both the 1999-2000 and 2016-17 seasons. The Wildcats also improved to 13-0 all-time against Mercy.

So that sets the stage for Daemen's regular season finale Sunday against preseason league favorite Bridgeport. Daemen has already secured a top-two seed and a bye into the semifinal round of the upcoming ECC Championship tournament, but a win Sunday would make them the No. 1 seed for the first time. Bridgeport (16-11, 11-6 ECC) overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to win 67-62 at Roberts Wesleyan College tonight, clinching the No. 4 seed in the process. 

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