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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
breon harris mbb vs syracuse
76
Daemen DAEM 13-4
82
Winner Stonehill STON 8-5
Daemen DAEM
13-4
76
Final
82
Stonehill STON
8-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen DAEM 31 45 76
Stonehill STON 33 49 82

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

Wildcats Edged By Skyhawks In Road Trip Finale

Stonehill Hits 14 Three-Pointers In Game That Featured 10 Second-Half Lead Changes

NORTH EASTON, Mass. - In a game that featured 10 second-half lead changes, it was Stonehill College that made a timely 10-2 run to seize control en route to an 82-76 win over nationally-ranked Daemen College in a non-conference men's game this afternoon at Merkert Gymnasium. Will Moreton scored 22 points and Brandon Twitty tossed in 20 to pace the Skyhawks who shot 14-of-27 from three-point range (50.9%) and a near perfect 12-of-14 from the free throw line (85.7%) in the win. 

The Skyhawks, members of the Northeast-10 Conference, improved to 8-5 on the season. Today's game was their first since a 63-61 loss to Caldwell University on December 22, and Stonehill has now won five of their last six games. 

Daemen, playing their third game in four days, suffered a second loss on their New England road trip, falling to 13-4 on the season. It marked the last of a season-long string of six-straight road games overall for the Wildcats who posted a 3-3 mark in that stretch. 

TOP PERFORMERS
  • Moreton, a 6-foot-6 senior guard, stuffed the stat sheet for the Skyhawks today, adding seven boards, five assists, two steals and a block to his point total. He shot 3-for-6 from downtown and 7-for-9 from the charity stripe.
  • Twitty scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, and finished 8-for-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from three-point range.
  • Owen Chose was just 3-for-12 from the field, but was perfect from the free throw line (5-for-5) and finished with 14 points. Four of Chose's free throw conversions came in the final minute of the contest to halt any thoughts of a Daemen comeback.
  • The loss spoiled a tremendous individual effort from Daemen's Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.). The senior guard scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-7 from beyond the three-point line. He also matched his season-high with four steals. 
  • Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) turned in his 14th 20-point outing of the season, finishing with 22 points while adding eight boards. Sischo was efficient from the field (7-for-11) and had an 8-for-11 showing from the charity stripe. 
  • Joey Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) and Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) both reached double figures as well. Wallace scored 12 points - his first double-figure performance since Dec. 7 - and added four rebounds and two blocks. Redband made a pair of three-pointers as part of his 10-point outing, and corralled seven rebounds, one shy of his season-high. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Daemen used an early 12-2 run to open up a nine-point lead (14-5) less than six minutes into the game. Reserve big man Chris Luke (Cortland, N.Y.) scored and inside and Wallace knocked down a three-pointer to cap the spurt. 
  • The Wildcats weren't able to capitalize though as they went cold offensively. Following Wallace's three-pointer at the 14:25 mark, Daemen went more than five minutes without scoring, allowing Stonehill to pull even on a jumper by Moreton. Sischo's layup at the 8:53 mark ended the Daemen drought and kept them in the lead momentarily.
  • With Daemen leading 25-20, a short jumper by Monty Urmilevicius sparked the Skyhawks on a 10-0 spurt. They grabbed their first lead of the game (26-25) on a jumper by Josh Mack with 3:43 left before the half, and then received a rare four-point play by Chose to go ahead 30-25. Daemen scored six of the final nine points of the period, pulling within 33-31 at the break when Sischo split a pair of freebies with just four seconds left. 
  • There was no more than five points of separation between the teams over the first 13+ minutes of the second half. A Redband three-pointer with 7:39 to go gave Daemen a 63-62 lead, but it was short-lived. Twitty answered with a three on the other end, a play that ultimately sparked the game's defining run. Daemen came up empty on three successive possessions, including a turnover when Sischo was whistled for his fourth personal foul at the 6:15 mark. 
  • Stonehill built their lead to seven points (72-65) when Chose buried a triple at the 4:04 mark, but less than two minutes later Daemen had pulled back within three. Sischo's layup at the 2:15 mark made it 74-71. Twitty came up with perhaps the shot of the game, knocking down his fourth trifecta of the game on Stonehill's next possession to push it back to a two-possession lead.
  • Daemen got back within a single possession (77-74) when Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) drove and scored with 55 seconds left. The Wildcats forced a missed corner jumper by Chose, but Stonehill's Michael Boen out-battled several Wildcats for the rebound. With Daemen forced to foul, the Skyhawks went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe over the final 28 seconds, including a perfect 4-for-4 from Chose.
  • Daemen put up efficient shooting numbers from the field (52.8% FG, 40.9% 3PT), but left some points at the free throw line where they made just 11-of-16 (68.8%). The Wildcats made nine three-pointers in the game, right on their season average, but were still outscored by 15 points from behind the arc. 
  • Stonehill finished 28-of-57 from the field (49.1%), and dished out 18 assists while committing just 11 turnovers. 

GAME NOTES
  • Today's game marked the first-ever meeting between the Wildcats and Skyhawks.
  • Daemen is now 8-5 against Northeast-10 Conference opponents over the last four seasons. Daemen had won six of their last eight against NE-10 teams coming into today, including earlier wins this season against Le Moyne College and the College of St. Rose. 
  • Stonehill improved to 91-66 under sixth-year head coach Chris Kraus. Kraus has led the program to a pair of NCAA tournament berths, and the Skyhawks were picked second in the NE-10 Northeast Division preseason coaches poll. 
  • Today's game was the final non-conference contest of the season for Daemen. The Wildcats finish the year with an 11-3 in non-league games. 
  • Daemen is now 54-9 in their last 63 regular season games. Of their nine losses, five have been non-conference road games. 
  • It marked the Wildcats' first loss when shooting 50% or better from the field since Dec. 17, 2017 at the University of Bridgeport. Daemen had been 6-0 this season and had won 25 consecutive games when making at least half of their field goal attempts. 
  • Despite the loss, Harris continued his strong play of late, recording his third 20-point game of the season and the ninth of his career. Harris, who missed three-straight games from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, is averaging 15.8 points and shooting 52.2 percent from the field (36-for-69) over the last six games. His four steals today give him 151 in his career, becoming just the ninth player in team history to reach 150.  
  • Daemen is ranked in both national polls for Division II: No. 16 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll; No. 15 in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America poll. 

NEXT JUMP BALL
Daemen returns to Lumsden Gymnasium for the first time since Dec. 7 when they host East Coast Conference foe Queens College on Friday, January 10. The Wildcats put their unblemished home record (8-0) on the line with tip-off slated for 8 p.m.
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