Tevor Fleeman

Men's Basketball Hosts Unbeaten Saint Rose In Home Opener Saturday

11/25/2021 8:45:00 AM

GAME #6
Daemen (2-3, 0-0 ECC) vs. Saint Rose (4-0, 2-0 NE-10)
Saturday, Nov. 27 | Lumsden Gymnasium | Amherst, N.Y.
Watch (ECC Network)
Live Stats
Tickets (all ticket sales online via Hometown Ticketing - no cash accepted on site)
Game Notes (PDF)

JUMP BALL
Daemen makes its long-awaited home debut Saturday when they host a non-conference game against unbeaten Saint Rose. The Wildcats are coming off an 80-61 win over Staten Island in their East Coast Conference season opener earlier this week. The win snapped a three-game slide and helped the Wildcats avoid their first four-game losing streak since the 2010-11 season. Andrew Sischo netted 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while frontcourt mate Ryan Bradley had career-highs in points (15), rebounds (9), field goals (7), blocks (2) and steals (2).

RELOADED
Daemen returns 11 players, including all five starters, from their regional championship team – players responsible for 98% of scoring, 99% of rebounding and assists from a season ago. None is bigger, both literally and figuratively, than center Andrew Sischo who returns for a fifth collegiate season after averaging 26.9 points and 13.0 rebounds per game last season. Fellow All-ECC picks Sean Fasoyiro (13.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.9 apg) and Kyle Harris (12.5 ppg, 39% 3PT) also return, along with Ryan Salzberg (8.6 ppg, 36% 3PT) and Andrew Mason (12.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 49% 3PT).

A MAGICAL RUN
The Wildcats earned their third consecutive NCAA tournament berth and captured their first regional title last March. After entering the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East Regional, the Wildcats ran to an 81-69 win over third-seeded Bloomfield in the regional semifinals, marking the program's first-ever NCAA tournament victory. The Wildcats followed up with a 71-70 defeat of top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in the regional final, avenging a loss just nine days prior in the ECC Championship final. Andrew Sischo was named the Most Outstanding Player of the East Regional after netting 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the final. The Wildcats' run came to an end just over a week later in Evansville, Indiana where they suffered a 97-83 loss in the Elite Eight to top-seeded and eventual national runner-up West Texas A&M. The Wildcats finished with a 10-6 overall record and were ranked ninth in the final D2SIDA national media poll.

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
Graduate student Andrew Sischo is arguably the most decorated Daemen student-athlete of all-time. He entered his final collegiate season as the active scoring (2,223) and rebounding (1,101) leader among all NCAA Division II players. A two-time consensus All-American, Sischo is coming off his finest season to date as he averaged career-highs in scoring (26.9 ppg – a Daemen single season record) and rebounding (13.0 rpg). Sischo scored 20+ points in 14 of 15 games last season and, including this year, has scored 10+ points in 70 of his last 71 games. He has 64 double-doubles in 109 career games and has led Division II in double-doubles in each of the last two seasons. Sischo was named the East Conference Preseason Player of the Year for an unprecedented fourth time.

MILESTONE MOMENTS
Andrew Sischo recently surpassed a pair of milestones, adding to his collection of career achievements. In Daemen's season opener vs. Minnesota State Moorhead, Sischo became Daemen's all-time leading rebounder, supplanting Alex Nwora who had 1,103 rebounds in his career from 1989-93. The following night against Colorado Mesa, Sischo became the all-time leading scorer in East Coast Conference history, breaking the benchmark of 2,247 points set by former St. Thomas Aquinas star Justin Reyes from 2014-18. Sischo became Daemen's all-time scoring leader last season and is the first player in program history to reach 2,000 points. He is only the second player in ECC history (Reyes) with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, and he already holds Daemen and ECC records for career field goals (922). He passed Reyes for second on the ECC's all-time rebounding list during a 13-rebound outing vs. Mercyhurst. He needs 119 rebounds to become the ECC's all-time leader.

RETURN OF THE MAC
Mike MacDonald returns for his eighth season on Daemen's bench and his 25^th overall as a collegiate head coach. The veteran mentor has led Daemen to a 141-60 record since taking the reins in 2014. The Wildcats rank second in victories among all East Coast Conference and New York State Division II teams in that span. MacDonald is among an elite fraternity of coaches to have achieved 100 victories across all three NCAA divisions, and he entered the season just four wins shy of 400 for his career.

ALL IN THE FAMILY
Daemen's most high profile roster addition came in the form of 6-foot-5 guard Nick MacDonald, the son of head coach Mike MacDonald, who elected to transfer after two seasons at Division I Niagara. The younger MacDonald provides another three-point shooting option to an already potent team. The Wildcats ranked second in the ECC and 32^nd nationally last season by averaging 9.6 made three-pointers per game. MacDonald shot 35% from deep and connected on 50 three-pointers in his two seasons with the Purple Eagles.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Guards Sean Fasoyiro and Andrew Mason each made immediate contributions during their first season with the program in 2020-21. Fasoyiro was a first-team All-ECC and NABC All-District selection after finishing second on the team in scoring (13.9) and rebounding (7.1) while leading the squad in assists (3.9). Fasoyiro, a graduate transfer from Franklin Pierce, is competing in a fifth collegiate season with 97 games of playing experience under his belt to start the year. Mason burst on the scene as a freshman and started all 16 contests. He averaged 12.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while leading the ECC in three-point field goal accuracy (.487).

TEXAS-SIZED CHALLENGES
Daemen opened the season with three high-profile contests in Canyon, Texas as part of the D2CCA Tip-Off Classic held over Halloween weekend. The Wildcats knocked off Minnesota State Moorhead, 67-63, in the opener, thanks to the play of Nick MacDonald (17 points) and Andrew Sischo (16 points, 15 rebounds). The Dragons were ranked No. 25 in the D2SIDA preseason poll and picked to finish first in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. It marked the 18th time in the last 20 seasons that Daemen has started 1-0. A pair of losses to nationally ranked team followed. No. 4 Colorado Mesa got the best of the Wildcats, 76-65, using a 27-6 second-half spurt to erase a nine-point halftime deficit. Sischo was held to nine points, snapping a string of 67 consecutive double-figure games. The All-American big man was hampered by foul trouble and limited to 19 minutes – his lowest minute total since playing 10 against New York Tech on Dec. 16, 2018, a game he left due to an injury. Sischo returned to form in the tournament finale, finishing with 18 points and 15 boards, but it wasn't enough to lead Daemen past No. 3 West Texas A&M. In a rematch of last season's Elite Eight meeting. The Buffs came out on top again, this time by just three points (69-66). Sean Fasoyiro's tying three-point attempt fell short as the buzzer sounded. Both Sischo and Fasoyiro were named to the All-Tournament Team.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS
The Daemen program has been built on sustained success, winning at least 19 games in nine of the last 10 seasons. That span encompasses the end of Daemen's NAIA Era, its' NCAA transition period and the first six seasons of full NCAA Division II membership. The Wildcats have won 72% of their contests, going 208-82 in that span. Looking more recently, Daemen is 82-31 since the start of the 2017-18 season (.726 winning percentage).

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
Daemen has earned three consecutive NCAA tournament berths. The Wildcats won 24 games (NCAA Era program record) and earned at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 2019 and 2020. The Wildcats entered the 2021 tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East Region and picked up their first-ever NCAA tourney win with an 81-69 defeat of third-seeded Bloomfield en route to the program's first regional championship and Elite Eight appearance.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY
Daemen's 2021-22 schedule will provide plenty of tests. The Wildcats are slated to play games against seven teams who were ranked in either the NABC or D2SIDA preseason national polls: Minnesota State Moorhead, Colorado Mesa, West Texas A&M, Mercyhurst, West Liberty, Saint Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas. Daemen has recorded two wins over top-25 ranked teams in each of the last three seasons.

DEFENDING THE DEN
Success on their home floor has been a staple of Daemen's rise within the NCAA Division II ranks. The Wildcats have won 10+ home games in eight of the last 10 seasons, including identical 15-1 records during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns which established a new program benchmark for homecourt victories. Dating back to the 2017-18 season, Daemen has won 42 of their last 46 home games. Since joining the ECC (2013-14 season), Daemen is 59-10 in home conference games (.855 win %). The Wildcats are also 70-13 at home during the program's NCAA era (.843 win %). In the past 21 seasons, the Wildcats have won 83% of all home games, going 225-46.

SCOUTING SAINT ROSE
Saint Rose is a member of the Northeast-10 Conference and head coach Mike Perno is in his fourth season at the helm. The Golden Knights return 10 players from their 2020-21 team that posted a 4-3 record during a season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Golden Knights were one of only three NE-10 teams that competed at all during the 2020-21 season.

Coach Perno has Saint Rose off to a 4-0 start for the first time since the 2016-17 season. After picking up lopsided wins over transitioning programs D'Youville (101-65) and Staten Island (112-54) on opening weekend, the Golden Knights have added a pair of conference wins. They knocked off Adelphi on the road, 82-81, and earlier this week outlasted Le Moyne, 88-84, in their home debut.

The fast start has Saint Rose ranked 10th in the D2SIDA East Region media poll while also receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II top-25 poll.

Freshman guard/forward Shane O'Dell has powered the Saint Rose offense thus far by averaging 22.3 points per game. O'Dell has gone for 20+ points in three straight games, including a career-high 28 in the recent win over Le Moyne.

The Golden Knights are getting additional offensive production from sophomore forward Eric Fleming (16.0 ppg), freshman guard Tray Alexander (12.0 ppg) and sophomore guard/forward Cartier Bowman (11.0 ppg). In all, Saint Rose boasts seven players averaging at least 8.0 points per game.

One face that will be familiar to Wildcat fans is that of fifth-year senior Kevin Lynch, a 6-foot-6 forward who transferred to Saint Rose after playing four years at St. Thomas Aquinas. Lynch has started the last two games and is averaging 6.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SAINT ROSE
All-Time Series: 3-1
At Daemen: 1-1
Current Streak: Won 3
Last Meeting: Daemen 96, Saint Rose 88 | Dec. 19, 2019 | at Albany, N.Y.

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that Daemen has won 16 of their last 17 regular season, non-conference home games? Since gaining full NCAA Division II membership status in 2015, Daemen is 25-5 in regular season, non-conference home games.

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