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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
SARKIS MBB VS STAC
Jay Sarkis capped a great all-around weekend by scoring 22 points today
79
Mercy MERCY-M 5-18, 3-10 ECC
96
Winner Daemen DAEM 21-6, 10-3 ECC
Mercy MERCY-M
5-18, 3-10 ECC
79
Final
96
Daemen DAEM
21-6, 10-3 ECC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Mercy MERCY-M 37 42 79
Daemen DAEM 50 46 96

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

Wildcats Stay Perfect Against Mavericks

Daemen Moves To 15-0 All-Time Against Mercy, Clinches ECC Tournament Berth

AMHERST, N.Y. - Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) and Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) both crossed the 20-point threshold to lead the Daemen College to a 96-79 win over visiting Mercy College in an East Coast Conference men's basketball contest at Lumsden Gymnasium today. Daemen never trailed in the game and made a season-high 16 three-pointers while cruising to their 15th win in as many all-time meetings with the Mavericks.

The Wildcats, who were coming off a big 81-77 win over nationally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College here Friday night, improved to 21-6 overall and 10-3 in conference play. Today's win has clinched a berth and a top-four seed in the upcoming ECC tournament for the Wildcats. Mercy fell to 5-18 overall and 3-10 in the league.

The game featured two of the premier big men in all of Division II basketball. Daemen's Sischo went toe-to-toe with Bryan Griffin of the Mavericks and the matchup did not disappoint as they combined for 48 points on 69 percent shooting. 

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Sarkis matched his career-high with six three-pointers as part of his season-high 22-point outing. He shot 8-for-12 from the field and added five assists. It marked his second 20-point game of the season and the seventh of his career.
  • Sischo recorded the 40th 20-point game of his career and his 18th double-double of the season, finishing with 21 points (on 9-of-15 shooting) and11 rebounds.
  • Joey Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) and Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) also came up with big games for Daemen. Wallace flirted with a triple-double for the second-straight game, finishing with 10 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. Harris canned a trio of three-pointers and totaled 17 points. 
  • Griffin netted a game-high 27 points and grabbed seven boards the Mavs. 
  • Mercy also got double-figure scoring efforts from Brandon Wilson (21 points, 5-for-9 three-pointers), Dayvon Cuffey (14 points) and Garrett Kirkland (12 points).

HALF-BY-HALF SUMMARY
First Half (Daemen 50, Mercy 37) - Daemen came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, scoring the game's first 14 points and holding Mercy without a field goal for nearly four minutes. Mercy cut the early lead to six (14-8) but the Wildcats responded with a 17-3 run to push their lead up to 20 points (31-11). The spurt was book-ended by three-pointers from reserve guards Tajmin Holt (Rochester, N.Y.) and Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.). The Wildcats canned 9-of-18 three-point attempts in the period and took a 50-37 lead into halftime. It was the 11th time this season that Daemen has scored 50 or more points in a half.

Second Half (Daemen 46, Mercy 42) - Mercy scored the first four points of the second half to pull within nine (50-41), but Sarkis' two-point jumper at the 18:12 mark put Daemen ahead by double figures for good. It went back to a 16-point lead (64-48) on a Sarkis three-pointer with 13:26 to go. Mercy got back within 74-61 following a three-pointer by Lamont Williams, Jr., but Daemen scored 14 of the next 21 points to extend their lead back to 20 points (88-68). Chris Luke (Cortland, N.Y.) sparked the run with an old-fashioned three-point play, and Sarkis capped it with back-to-back treys. Just moments later, Daemen took a 90-72 lead in the game's final media timeout and the teams traded buckets from there.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Daemen shot 16-for-36 from three-point range (44.4%). The Wildcats have made 10+ threes in seven consecutive games. Daemen is averaging 12.6 made three-pointers and shooting 45 percent from downtown in that span.
  • Daemen shot 37-for-70 from the field overall (52.9%). The Wildcats are 10-1 this season when shooting at least 50 percent from the field. Daemen leads the ECC in field goal percentage (48.1%) this season.
  • Daemen scored 13 second chance points and held Mercy to none in the second half. Mercy went into halftime with an 11-4 advantage in second chance points.
  • The Wildcats' 18 bench points today were their most since scoring 28 against the University of Bridgeport on Jan. 12.

GAME NOTES
  • Daemen is in the midst of the program's seventh 20-win season in the last nine years. The Wildcats have won at least 19 games in each of those nine seasons.
  • A great deal of Daemen's success in that nine-year span has come at home. Daemen is now 13-1 at home this season. The Wildcats have won 35 of their last 38 home games, and are 110-15 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season. 
  • Daemen's 15-game winning streak in the series vs. Mercy ranks as their third-longest active streak against a single opponent. The Wildcats have won 19-straight games against Roberts Wesleyan College and 16-straight against Houghton College.
  • Sarkis, who scored his 1,000th career point in Friday's win over STAC, has now scored in double figures in six of the last eight games. Now with 1,032 points in 107 career games, Sarkis passed both Ralph Henderson and former teammate Deion Hamilton to move into 24th place on Daemen's all-time scoring list today. He also passed Mark Rouse for sixth on the all-time assists list (322 assists). Sarkis is one of five players in team history to reach 1,000 points and 300 assists.
  • Harris continues his chase for 1,000 points. The senior guard has now totaled 943 points in 93 career games. 
  • Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) made two more three-pointers today, increasing his career total to 305. Already Daemen's all-time lead in career three-pointers, he moved into a tie with Roger Powers (College of St. Rose) and Charlie Marquardt (Molloy College) for third place on the ECC's all-time three-point field goals list. 
  • Sischo stands with 626 total points this season - the fourth-highest total in team history. He also stands just three rebounds shy of becoming only the fifth player in team history to record 300 rebounds in a season.
  • Wallace leads Daemen with 92 assists this season. He's averaging 5.7 assists over the last nine games, and Daemen is now 14-2 this season when he records at least three assists.

NEXT JUMP BALL
Daemen closes out the home portion of their 2019-20 schedule on Friday, Feb. 21 when they host the University of the District of Columbia. Sarkis, Wallace, Redband, Harris and Jeffrey Duah (Bronx, N.Y.) will be honored in a pre-game ceremony commemorating Senior Day. 

Daemen College features the only NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate 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.
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