EAST COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
(#2 SEED) DAEMEN WILDCATS (8-4, 7-2 ECC) vs. #15/#8 (#1 SEED) ST. THOMAS AQUINAS SPARTANS (12-1, 9-1 ECC)
SUNDAY, MARCH 7
AQUINAS HALL (SPARKILL, N.Y.) - 1:00 PM
NO SPECTATORS PERMITTED DUE TO COVID-19














FASTBREAK POINTS
1. Two heavyweights collide with the East Coast Conference championship on the line as Daemen meets St. Thomas Aquinas Sunday at Aquinas Hall. The winner earns an automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA tournament.

2. Second-seeded Daemen advanced to the ECC tournament finals with a 78-72 victory over third-seeded Roberts Wesleyan at home Friday evening. Andrew Sischo notched 24 points and 14 rebounds, leading a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Wildcats. Top-seeded STAC cruised to a 110-75 win over fourth-seeded Molloy, also Friday. Seven players reached double figures led by the 18 points of Louis Griffith.

3. Daemen and STAC will be playing for the third time in nine days. Daemen earned its signature win of the season Saturday, snapping #11/#5 St. Thomas Aquinas' 13-game winning streak and knocking them from the ranks of the unbeaten, 84-81 in overtime. The Spartans gained revenge the following day, winning 71-68 to keep Daemen from claiming the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

4. Since the 2013-14 season, St. Thomas Aquinas and Daemen rank first and second respectively in overall and conference victories among all ECC teams. STAC's 179 wins in that span also rank first among all NCAA Division II teams in New York State. Daemen's 158 wins ranks second. The teams have also combined for seven NCAA tournament berths in the last five seasons (STAC 5, Daemen 2).

5. Sunday's game marks the 17th between Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas since the start of the 2015-16 season, and their fifth postseason meeting in that span. The teams have split their regular season meetings in five straight seasons, but the postseason affairs have all gone the way of the Spartans, including an 80-63 triumph in the 2016 ECC tournament finals – Daemen's only prior tip to the title game.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS SCOUTING REPORT

• St. Thomas Aquinas has been among the best NCAA Division II programs in recent years. From 2015-16 through 2019-20, the Spartans averaged 26.2 wins per season and won four of five ECC tournament championships. They've earned five straight NCAA tournament berths, soon to be six after posting an 11-1 regular season record.
• Head coach Tobin Anderson has been the catalyst for STAC's rise, leading the Spartans to 179 wins since taking over in 2013- 14. No Division II team in New York State or in the ECC has won more games in that time.
• The Spartans return eight players, including four starters, from their 2019-20 team that went 25-5.
• Junior forward Osbel Caraballo and junior guard Demetre Roberts headline the Spartan returners after earning All-ECC first team honors last season when they combined for 32.5 points per game.
• Both Caraballo (16.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and Roberts (14.3 ppg, 4.4 apg) are producing again this season, while junior guard Grant Singleton has emerged as well. Singleton is the only player in the ECC 6-foot or smaller shooting better than 50% from the field (53.2%). He ranks third in the ECC lead with 30 three-point field goals (on 40.5% shooting) and is averaging a team-high 17.1 points per game – up from his 10.9 average last season.
• The Spartans have also been boosted by senior guard Elijah Bovell, a transfer from Queens. Bovell is producing 7.1 points and 3.8 rebounds and leads the team in blocks (12).
• Additional production is coming from Louis Griffith (8.8 ppg, 39.3% 3PT), Jamal Barnes (7.2 ppg) and Kevin Lynch (6.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg). Lynch was named the ECC Co-Defensive Player of the Year earlier this week.
• STAC has employed its customary pressure defense this season, forcing opponents into 20.1 turnovers per game – best in Division II. The Spartans also rank first in steals per game (10.6) and their defense fuels an offense that is producing 91.1 points per contest.

SERIES HISTORY VS. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
All-Time Series: STAC 17-7
At STAC: STAC 7-3
In ECC Championship: STAC 4-0
Current Streak: STAC won 1
Last Meeting: STAC 71, Daemen 68 | Feb. 28, 2021 | at Sparkill, N.Y.

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that Daemen is one of only three teams to own multiple wins at STAC's Aquinas Hall since the 2015-16 season? Daemen, Bloomfield and Bridgeport each have two road wins in that span, accounting for six of STAC's 11 home losses.

UNPRECEDENTED SEASON
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc upon collegiate sports with postponements, pauses and cancelations. Daemen, which experienced its own 10-day pause in team activities due to a positive COVID-19 test result, was out of action for 328 days before making their long-awaited season debut on Jan. 29 vs. Gannon. A schedule that includes 12 games overall and 10 ECC contests precedes the ECC Championship which is slated for March 3-7. The limited schedule was comprised with the health and safety of all players, coaches and other Tier 1 personnel in mind, and in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines established by the NCAA. 

RETURN OF THE MAC
Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his seventh season as Daemen's head coach, and his 24th overall as a collegiate head coach. Since beginning to roam the Daemen sidelines, MacDonald has led the Wildcats to a 137-55 overall record. The Wildcats have won at least 19 games in each of MacDonald's first six seasons, and the team's 129 victories in that span are the second most among all NCAA Division II programs in New York State, as well as all East Coast Conference teams. He recorded the 100th win of his Daemen tenure Feb. 10, 2019 against Queens, placing him in an elite fraternity of coaches that have achieved at least 100 wins in each of the NCAA's three divisions. He went on to be named the East Coast Conference, NABC District and Basketball Coaches Association of New York Division II Coach of the Year following the 2018-19 season. Before coming to Daemen, MacDonald transformed the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial powerhouse, averaging 18 wins per season and advancing to the postseason six times in his eight years as head coach. MacDonald made his head coaching debut at the Division I level, leading the program at Canisius from 1997-2006. While there, MacDonald's teams racked up 108 wins making him the third all-time winningest coach in the program's history. The longtime bench boss holds a career record of 394-281.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS
The Daemen program has been built on sustained success, winning at least 19 games in each of the last nine seasons. In that span (2011-20), which encompasses the end of Daemen's NAIA Era, its' NCAA transition period and the first five seasons of full NCAA Division II membership, the Wildcats have won 70% of their contests, going 176-75. Looking more recently, Daemen is 70-22 in the last three seasons (.761 winning percentage), and their 89 wins in the last four seasons is the most successful four-year span in program history. 

BACK-TO-BACK
Daemen has won 24 games (NCAA Era program record) and earned at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons. The team's 2019 bid was the first in program history, and the Wildcats made their NCAA tournament debut as the No. 5 seed in the East Region, falling in the opening round to fourth-seeded New Haven, 72-67. Daemen was awarded the No. 8 seed in the East Region, however the tournament was canceled before it even began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

GOING STREAKING
Daemen has embarked on four winning streaks of at least nine games since the start of the 2018-19 season. Last season, the Wildcats put together an 11-game winning streak, covering games played Nov. 2 through Dec. 13 - the longest of Daemen's NCAA Era. 

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 nine seasons, including identical 15-1 records in the last two seasons 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 20 seasons from 2000-01 through 2019-20, the Wildcats won 83% of all home games, going 220-45. 

POLL POSITION
Daemen has been among the nationally ranked teams for the third straight season. The Wildcats have been ranked as high as No. 21 in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) national media poll and have also received votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) top-25 poll this season. The Wildcats have been ranked 18 times in the D2SIDA poll dating back to the 2018-19 season, rising as high as No. 8, a position they held for three successive weeks early last season. In addition, Daemen is also receiving votes in the D2SDA East Region media poll. The Wildcats have been ranked in 34 of the last 35 regional polls.

WALKING THE STAGE
Daemen has been hit hard by graduation, losing four starters - Breon Harris, Jay Sarkis, Jeff Redband and Joey Wallace - who were each 1,000-point scorers as well as All-ECC honorees at one point or another. Harris, Sarkis and Redband were well entrenched in the Wildcats' lineup, combining for 330 games and 297 starts in their respective careers, and played key roles in leading Daemen to 89 wins. 

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY
Daemen had won 17 consecutive season openers spanning 2002-18. That streak was snapped last season with their loss to No. 1 Northwest Missouri State. This season, back-to-back losses to Gannon put Daemen at 0-2 for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
Redshirt senior center Andrew Sischo, the two-time East Coast Conference and East Region Player of the Year and a consensus All-American, headlines Daemen's returning players. Sischo has already cemented his place among Daemen's all-time great players by racking up 1,820 points, 906 rebounds and a program-record 722 field goals in his first three collegiate seasons. Sischo's 2019-20 season was one for the record books as well. He set Daemen and ECC records for points (773) and field goals (298) in a season, led the country in total rebounds (362) and double-doubles (22) and became the first Division II player since the 2010-11 season to average at least 24 points and 11 rebounds per game while shooting at least 64% from the field. He enters the season having scored 20+ points 45 times in his career, including a record 47-point outburst in the opening round of the ECC Championship tournament last March. Already this season, he's been named a Preseason All-American by Basketball Times, as well as the ECC Preseason Player of the Year - an honor he's now earned in three straight seasons. 

DOUBLE-DOUBLE YOUR DELIGHTMENT
Andrew Sischo has been a double-double machine throughout his career, racking up 57 of them in 100 games - the most for a Daemen player since Gerald Beverly totaled 46 double-doubles in his career spanning 2011-15. In his sophomore and junior seasons alone, Sischo recorded a double-double in more two-thirds of the games he appeared in (39 double-doubles in 58 games). Sischo's 22 double-doubles in 2019-20 led all Division II players.  

BEST OF THE BEST
During Daemen's game vs. Roberts Wesleyan on Feb. 11, 2021, Andrew Sischo became the program's all-time leading scorer, surpassing the 29-year old benchmark of 1,962 points set by Robert Robinson. In 100 career games, Sischo has totaled 2,117 points and 1,053 rebounds. He stands as the only player in program history and one of only two players in ECC history with at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. He is Daemen's and the ECC's all-time leader in field goals with 840. Sischo ranks second in Daemen history in rebounding, and has placed himself among impressive company within ECC history, ranking second in scoring and fourth in rebounding.

MORE SISCHO
By eclipsing 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, Andrew Sischo has joined an elite fraternity of East Region players to reach both milestones:
 
Lambert Shell – Bridgeport – 3,001 / 1,345
John Grochowalski – Assumption – 2,489 / 1,756
Garret Kerr – U. Sciences – 2,434 / 1,391
Michael Allocco – Stonehill – 2,399 / 1,150
James Hector – American Int'l – 2,306 / 1,444
Jon Cronin – Stonehill – 2,301 / 1,044
Cleveland Woods – NH College – 2,247 / 1,170
Justin Reyes – St. Thomas Aq. – 2,247 / 1,144
Norman Taylor – Bridgeport – 2,170 / 1,232
Mario Elie – American Int'l – 2,124 / 1,001
Andrew Sischo – Daemen – 2,117 / 1,053
Peter Alexis – Philadelphia – 2,116 / 1,162
Wayne Robertson – NH College – 2,092 / 1,487
Ed Czernota – Sacred Heart – 2,075 / 1,317
Al Hicks – Keene Stat – 2,023 / 1,076

VETERAN PRESENCE
Daemen will turn to graduate transfer Sean Fasoyiro and senior guard Kyle Harris to provide a veteran presence on a relatively young roster. A 6-foot-3 guard, Fasoyiro appeared in 81 games over the last three seasons for Franklin Pierce, helping them to a 45-38 record. In 28 games last season, including eight starts, Fasoyiro produced career-highs in scoring (7.8 ppg), minutes (21.8 mpg), field goal percentage (45.7), three-point percentage (37.5), rebounding (5.0 rpg) and assists (1.3). The Wildcats have had success in recent years on the transfer market, getting successful one-year contributors such as Joey Wallace and Quinn Lee Yaw. Now in his second season with the program, Harris is Daemen's most experienced returning player after center Andrew Sischo. Harris appeared in all 32 games and made nine starts last season when he shot 38% from three-point range and averaged 4.4 points per game. 

ALL-WNY PEDIGREE
Mike MacDonald and his staff made a sizable dent in the available WNY talent pool by inking 6-foot guard Juston Johnson, 6-foot-6 forward Justin Hemphill and 5-foot-11 guard Tyler Hind in the program's 2020 recruiting class. Johnson and Hemphill represent the first All-WNY first team selections to commit to Daemen out of high school since Mark Coppola in 2010. Hind, a second team All-WNY brings a stellar resume of his own, including 2,244 points which ranks eighth all-time among WNY players. He also set a new WNY record with 400 three-pointers in his career and was named the New York State Class C Player of the Year as a senior.

585 ----> 716
Daemen has had great success recruiting out of the Rochester area through the years. In fact, of the 11 Daemen players that have earned All-ECC honors since the 2013-14 season, eight of them have been products of Section V high schools. The Wildcats are hoping for continued production from the Rochester pipeline as freshmen guards Andrew Mason and Tony Arnold join the list of Section V standouts to choose Daemen. Both were All-Greater Rochester selections who graduated as the all-time leading scorers at their respective high schools. Arnold led the Eastridge, the same school that produced former Daemen guard Supreme Hannah, to their first sectional title in some 56 years last winter. Daemen has signed 11 All-Greater Rochester players since 2010. 

HEY ROOKIE
Freshman guard Andrew Mason has twice earned ECC Rookie of the Week honors this season. Mason is the sixth Daemen player to be named ECC Rookie of the Week since the Wildcats joined the conference in 2013. Mason netted a career-high 25 points in Daemen's 103-69 win at D'Youville on Feb. 15 – the most for a Daemen freshman since the 2017-18 season when teammate Andrew Sischo posted a pair of 25+ point games.

OPTING OUT
Daemen has had eight players exercise their right to opt out of the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19. These players include guard Tajmin Holt, forward Ryan Bradley and center Chris Luke who all saw regular minutes last season. Each player's decision has been fully supported by the Daemen coaching staff and athletics administration.

A NEW STREAK
Daemen's 80-75 loss to Roberts Wesleyan on Feb. 11 snapped a series winning streak that had reached 20 games over a span of 10 years. It was the Redhawks' first win over Daemen since Feb. 15, 2011, and also their first home win in the series since Feb. 21, 2007. Daemen earned some redemption with an 85-69 win over RWC on Feb. 17 and a 78-72 triumph in the ECC Championship semifinals on Mar. 5. The Wildcats have won 29 of the last 31 meetings overall and 12 straight home meetings in the series.

HAVE MERCY
Daemen's 82-51 win over Mercy on Feb. 20 pushed the Wildcats to 16-0 all-time against the Mavericks. Their success in the series is tied for the program's longest active winning streak against any single opponent. Daemen has also won 16 straight meetings with former NAIA rival Houghton, but haven't met the Highlanders since the 2011-12 season.

BUDDING BUFFALO RIVALRY
After not playing since 2004, Daemen met crosstown rival D'Youville three times in as many weeks this season. The Wildcats posted wins in all three matchups, improving to 9-0 all-time in the series. D'Youville is in its first season as a member of the ECC as it transitions to NCAA Division II membership following a long history within Division III. With the two schools separated by less than 10 miles, the Daemen-D'Youville rivalry has the potential to be among the best in the ECC.

INSTANT CLASSIC
Daemen earned its most impressive win of the season on Feb. 2 by defeating #11/#5 St. Thomas Aquinas 84-81 in overtime. The Daemen win snapped STAC's 13-game winning streak and knocked the Spartans from the ranks of the unbeaten. Sean Fasoyiro scored off a miraculous feed from Andrew Mason to even the score at 71-71 with less than five seconds remaining in regulation. In the overtime period, Ryan Salzberg drilled back-to-back three-pointers inside of two minutes left to give Daemen the lead. Andrew Sischo logged 39 minutes – including the last 10 with four personal fouls – and totaled 28 points and 13 rebounds.

NEXT JUMP BALL
With a Daemen victory Sunday, the Wildcats would earn an automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA tournament. As the No. 3 team in the official East Region rankings released by the NCAA this week, the Wildcats are in prime position to earn an at-large bid if they are to lose Sunday. NCAA tournament bids are set to be announced in a selection show posted to ncaa.com at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. The East Regional portion of the NCAA tournament gets underway Saturday, March 13 and runs through Tuesday, March 16 at the Albany (N.Y.) Capital Center.