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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
harris mbb @ ecc semis
77
Daemen DAEM 24-5
79
Winner Bridgeport BPTM 18-12
Daemen DAEM
24-5
77
Final
79
Bridgeport BPTM
18-12
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen DAEM 39 38 77
Bridgeport BPTM 31 48 79

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

Top-Seeded Wildcats Upset In ECC Semifinals

Wildcats Will Learn NCAA Tournament Fate Late Sunday Night

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Daemen College's quest for a postseason championship at the NCAA Division II level will have to wait for another day as the top-seeded Wildcats were upset by fourth-seeded University of Bridgeport 79-77 in the semifinal round of the East Coast Conference Championship at Hubbell Gymnasium this evening. Bridgeport advances to the final round for the second straight year. They'll face the winner of today's second semifinal featuring second-seeded Saint Thomas Aquinas College and third-seeded Molloy College.

Despite being the ECC regular season champion and the tournament's No. 1 seed, Daemen was put in a true road game for the semifinals due to the ECC's pre-determined site format. Bridgeport took advantage as they overcame an eight-point halftime deficit, outscoring Daemen 48-38 in the second frame to improve to 13-3 at home this season. The Purple Knights also moved to 18-12 overall.

Daemen, which fell to 24-5, was seeking their third win this season over Bridgeport. The Wildcats swept the teams' two regular season meetings, winning 87-85 here in mid-January, as well as 93-71 at Lumsden Gymnasium just six days ago. Of Daemen's five losses this season, three have been by two points or less.

Bridgeport featured six players with at least nine points, led by Eric Rankin who notched a game-high 20. Rankin shot 8-of-16 from the field, and counted a pair of three-pointers among his total, while also grabbing a game-high three steals. Nemanja Zubac shot 6-of-7 from the field and totaled 16 points in a reserve role, helping Bridgeport to a 28-10 advantage in bench scoring. Bakary Camara's double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) included perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the charity stripe. Travis Robinson-Morgan (10 points), Hashem Abbas (nine points, six rebounds) and Dennis Green (nine points, seven rebounds) also produced.

Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) paced the Wildcats with 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Harris canned a game-high three three-pointers, and added four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) and Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 14 points apiece, and Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) chipped in with 11 points and seven boards.

Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) also reached double figures for Daemen, finishing with 10 points. Included among his total was the 1,000th point of his career. The redshirt junior forward entered the game needing just eight points to reach the milestone. He surpassed the benchmark with a three-pointer in the final minute of the contest. Redband becomes the third Daemen player to achieve the milestone in the last three games, and the 25th in team history. He joins teammates Hamilton and Sischo who each scored their 1,000th career point during regular season games last weekend.

Daemen led for 28 of the game's first 31 minutes. After a three-pointer by UB's John Middleton knotted the score at 31-31, Daemen closed the first half with an 8-0 spurt. Back-to-back threes by Sarkis and Harris fueled the run as the Wildcats took a 39-31 lead into halftime. 

The Wildcats opened up their largest lead of the game early in the second half when Harris' driving layup at the 18:31 mark put them ahead 43-33. The Daemen lead was eight points (51-43) following a layup by Quinn Lee Yaw (Jamestown, N.Y.), but Bridgeport mounted their offensive from there. The hosts scored eight straight points, knotting the score at 51-51 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Robinson-Morgan with 12:00 remaining.

A short time later, Bridgeport snagged their first lead since the game's opening bucket with a three-pointer by Green that put them ahead 57-56. They added a three-point play by Rankin to lead 60-56 with under seven minutes to play.

Daemen battled back, scoring 10 straight points to regain a 66-60 lead. The Daemen run featured points from five different players, including Hamilton's jumper at the 4:47 mark that broke a 60-60 tie. 

Bridgeport responded with a 10-0 spurt of their own. Abbas shot 7-for-10 from the free throw line during the run, and Rankin's three-pointer with 2:19 to go marked the final lead change of the contest. 

Daemen clawed within two points four times in the final 1:03, but never any closer. Bridgeport closed the door with 7-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe in the final 36 seconds.

Daemen will likely live to play another day. As the No. 2 ranked team in the official NCAA Division II East Region rankings, the Wildcats are likely to receive an at-large bid to the regional portion of the NCAA Division II Championship. Bids for the 64-team NCAA tournament will be announced Sunday evening when the tournament selection show is broadcast on NCAA.com at 10:30 p.m. The NCAA Division II Championship features eight regional tournaments across the country. The eight regional champions will advance to the Elite Eight which is slated for March 27-30 in Evansville, Ind.

Stay tuned to daemenwildcats.com Sunday evening for the most up-to-date information surrounding Daemen's NCAA tournament bid. 

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.





 
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