ALBANY, N.Y. - Survive and advance. The mantra of March rang true tonight as second-seeded Daemen outlasted top-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas 71-70 to win the final round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship East Regional at the Albany Capital Center. With the victory, Daemen claims the first regional championship of the program's NCAA era and advances to next week's Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana.

Led by the regional's Most Outstanding Player Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) and all-tournament team selection Kyle Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.), Daemen got the better of a Spartan team that was playing in its third regional final in the last four seasons. The Wildcats overcame a slow start to take a 37-34 halftime lead and later held the high octane STAC offense to just two field goals in the final 4:30, outscoring them 11-5 in that span. 

It marked the fourth meeting between the Wildcats and Spartans this season, all of which have occurred in the last 17 days. After Daemen earned an 84-81 win at Aquinas Hall on Feb. 27, STAC grabbed the next two meetings, including an 83-67 win March 7 in the final round of the East Coast Conference Championship. The teams have split regular season meetings in each of the last five seasons, but STAC had emerged victorious in all five postseason meetings over the last six seasons before tonight. 

Daemen improved to 10-5 overall. The Wildcats have won eight of their last 10 games. STAC ends its season at 14-2 - their only two losses coming against the Wildcats. The Spartans came into the game ranked fifth in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) national media poll and 11th in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll. 

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Sischo scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the pivotal second half, including Daemen's final seven points of the game. His old-fashioned three-point play at the 1:46 mark put Daemen ahead 67-65 - the eighth and final lead change of the game. He added 13 rebounds for his 12th double-double in 14 games played this season. The All-American center shot 9-for-14 from the field and 7-for-11 at the free throw line.
• Harris finished with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 6-of-10 from beyond the three-point line. His shooting prowess helped Daemen open up a 10-point lead early in the second half.
• Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Texas) posted his third double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points, 10 boards and a game-high four assists, while freshman guard Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) chipped in with nine points on a trio of three-pointers.
• Osbel Caraballo led STAC with 21 points, while Grant Singleton netted 16 and Demetre Roberts chipped in with 12. 

PERIOD-BY-PERIOD SUMMARY
First Half (Daemen 37, STAC 34) - STAC scored the first eight points of the game and kept Daemen off the scoreboard until a Mason three-pointer at the 16:33 mark. The Wildcats hung tough and grabbed their first lead at 16-15 on Sischo's first field goal of the night. STAC would take a 26-21 lead on a layup by Elijah Bovell with just under six minutes remaining, but Daemen embarked on a 16-6 spurt covering nearly five minutes to take a 37-32 lead. Harris (6), Fasoyiro (6) and Sischo (4) accounted for all the Daemen scoring in the run. The Wildcats shot 54% from the field (13-for-24), including 6-for-9 from three-point range (66.7%) in the period. 

Second Half (STAC 36, Daemen 34) - Harris caught fire early in the second stanza, hitting back-to-back-to-back three-pointers during an 11-0 run that turned a one-point deficit into a 50-40 lead with 15:20 to play. Following a timeout, STAC ramped up its signature pressure defense and fully erased the Daemen lead with a 10-0 spurt of their own. Jamal Barnes provided a spark off the STAC bench, scoring five points in the run, including the tying three-pointer at the 13:02 mark. The lead traded hands three times over the following six minutes. Singleton's fastbreak layup gave the Spartans a 60-58 advantage. They eventually built it to 65-60 on Caraballo's layup with 4:45 to play. But that's when the STAC offense went cold, misfiring on five consecutive field goal attempts over the next two-plus minutes. Meanwhile, Daemen crept closer with free throw conversions by Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) and Fasoyiro. It was Fasoyiro's drive and dish underneath that resulted in Sischo's lead-changing three-point play. After another empty STAC possession, Sischo converted two more free throws to put Daemen ahead 69-65 with 1:23 to go. Caraballo finally broke a more-than three-minute scoring drought with a driving layup at the 1:10 mark. Neither team could find of the bottom of the net over the next couple of possessions, until Sischo was fouled going to the hoop with 18 seconds left. He split a pair at the line and then grabbed the rebound of Louis Griffith's missed tying three-point attempt on the other end. Sischo went back to the line where his second free throw gave Daemen a four-point advantage (71-67) with three ticks left. STAC executed a nice game-ending play with a three-pointer by Singleton, but Daemen inbounded the ball and the clock expired. 

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Daemen hit 24-of-48 field goal attempts (50%) and went 9-for-20 from three-point range (45%). STAC shot 30-for-63 from the field (47.6%) and 8-for-21 from downtown (38.1%).
• Daemen outscored STAC by 12 points at the free throw line. The Wildcats converted 14-of-19 in the game (73.7%), including 9-of-11 in the final 4:12. STAC managed just five free throw attempts in the game, making just two.
• Daemen committed 15 turnovers in the game resulting in 21 STAC points, but managed the Spartan pressure fairly well. STAC entered the NCAA tournament ranked first in the country in turnovers forced per game (20.1).
• Defensively, Daemen held STAC to just 70 points - their lowest output of the season and 20 points off their scoring average. 

POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HEAD COACH MIKE MACDONALD & ANDREW SISCHO


GAME NOTES

• It marked just the second time that two ECC affiliates have met in the regional championship game. It last happened in 1999 when St. Rose avenged a loss in the conference tournament final by knocking out Adelphi to advance to the Elite Eight. 
• Daemen advanced to the regional final with an 81-69 victory over third-seeded Bloomfield late Sunday evening. STAC won Sunday's first regional semifinal, defeating fifth-seeded Caldwell 95-72. 
• Tonight's game featured two of the top coaches in the East Region. With 396 wins in 24 seasons, Daemen's Mike MacDonald ranks sixth among active East Region coaches for career wins, while STAC's Tobin Anderson ranks eighth with 366. 
• Since the start of the 2013-14 season, STAC and Daemen rank first and second respectively in overall victories among all ECC teams. STAC's 181 wins in that span also rank first among all Division II teams in New York State, while Daemen's 160 wins ranks second. The two teams have also combined for nine NCAA tournament berths since 2016 (STAC 6, Daemen 3).
• Sischo entered the NCAA tournament ranked third in scoring and first in rebounding among the Division II national leaders. He's averaging 26.7 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, and has now scored 20 points or more in 13 of his 14 games this season and in 58 games during his career. Sischo has scored 10 or more points in 65 straight games.
• In the four games against STAC this season, Sischo produced 26.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per game while shooting 70% from the field (42-for-60). 
• Already Daemen's all-time leading scorer Sischo has totaled 2,194 points and 1,085 rebounds. He trails ECC record-holder Justin Reyes (St. Thomas Aquinas) by 53 points for the all-time conference scoring record. He is 18 rebounds shy of Daemen's all-time mark held by Hall of Famer Alex Nwora, and tonight moved past St. Rose's Garth Joseph for third place on the ECC's all-time rebounding list. 
• Daemen is making its third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Last season's tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Wildcats are now 2-1 all-time in NCAA tournament games. 
• Daemen is coming off back-to-back 24-win seasons that resulted in NCAA tournament berths. Daemen's 89 wins from 2016-17 through 2019-20 represents the most successful four-year span in program history. The Wildcats were hit hard by graduation, losing four of their five starters, all of whom were 1,000-point scorers.

NEXT JUMP BALL
Daemen now sets its sights on the Elite Eight which is slated for March 24-27 at the Ford Center in Evansville. The eight regional champions from across the country will be reseeded and national quarterfinal round matchups will be announced tomorrow. 

Daemen College features the premier 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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