SPARKILL, N.Y. - Graduate student Kyle Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) drilled  five three-pointers and scored a season-high 19 points to spark the Daemen College men's basketball team to a big 73-61 win over rival St. Thomas Aquinas College in a battle of regionally-ranked teams tonight at Aquinas Hall on the STAC Campus.

Daemen extended its winning streak to six-straight games and took over sole possession of first place in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats improved to 11-6 overall and 8-0 in the ECC. STAC, which entered the game with a region-best eight-game winning streak, dropped to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the league.

Both teams were ranked in this week's NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region Men's Basketball Media Poll, with STAC coming in at No. 3 and Daemen tied for ninth.

Daemen scored the first eight points of the game and never trailed in the contest. The Daemen lead was 18-12 midway through the first half when a 7-3 spurt by the Spartans made it a two point game, 21-19. The Wildcats responded with eight unanswered points and took their first double digit lead of the game, 29-19 after sophomore Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) hit a three-pointer with 4:58 left before intermission. A jumper by Harris with 1:18 left gave the visitors a 33-21 lead, but Daemen went scoreless the rest of the half and the visitors took a 33-26 lead into the break.

STAC outscored the Wildcats 8-2 over the first three minutes of the second half to make it a one point game, 35-34, but a triple by Harris sparked a 14-2 outburst by Daemen that gave the Wildcats a 49-36 lead. Daemen drilled four three-pointers during the run and a triple by junior Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) with 13:09 left capped the spurt and gave Daemen a 49-36 lead. The Daemen lead grew to 21 points, 61-40, after redshirt junior Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.) converted a traditional three-point play with 8:48 left. The Daemen lead was still 21 points, 65-44, with just under seven minutes left when the Spartans staged a late rally. STAC outscored the Wildcats 17-4 over a five minute span and cut the lead to 67-61 after a layup by Grant Singleton with 2:01 left. Daemen turned the ball over on its next possession, but STAC could not convert on the other end. Daemen regained an eight point lead, 69-61, after graduate student Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) hit two free throws with 1:34 left, and Atkins came up with a huge block on STAC's next possession. Fasoyiro scored after the Atkins block and STAC turned the ball over on its next possession. Fasoyiro closed out the scoring with 30 seconds left.

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Harris scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. He went 7-of-12 overall and 5-of-9 from behind the three-point arc and also grabbed six rebounds.
• Redshirt senior Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) went 6-of-11 from the field and totaled 12 points, 16 rebounds and four assists before fouling out late in the game. It marked his NCAA Division II-leading 15th double-double of the season and he's now scored 10+ points in 82 of his last 83 games.
• Fasoyiro scored in double figures for the fifth-straight game and finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
• Salzberg added nine points and three assists, while Mason chipped in eight points, six rebounds and six assists.
• Senior guard Demetre Roberts scored 18 points for the Spartans, while Caraballo added 12 points.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen returns 11 players, including all five starters, from their 2020-21 team that won the NCAA Division II East Region Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight.
• Daemen has now prevailed in four of the last seven meetings between the two rivals. STAC owns an 18-9 advantage in the all-time series. The teams met in the ECC Tournament championship game and the NCAA Division II East Regional championship game last season. STAC prevailed the ECC title game, before Daemen answered with a 71-70 win in the NCAA Tournament to earn its first-ever regional championship.
• Daemen shot 52-percent (26-50) from the field overall and canned 13-of-26 three-pointers. The 13 three-pointers were a season high and the Wildcats have now made 10 or more three-pointers in four of the last five games. STAC shot just 36-percent (23-63) from the field overall and made just 5-of-25 from downtown.
• STAC had scored 90 or more points in its last seven games and entered the game averaging 86.8 points per contest.
• Daemen had 21 assists on 26 field goals. The 21 assists equaled a season-high for the Wildcats.
• Daemen posted a 48-20 edge in total rebounds. The Wildcats have out rebounded their opponent in each of their last nine games.
• STAC forced 27 Daemen turnovers and the hosts posted a 26-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
• Daemen is 8-0 in conference play for the first time since 2003-04. Competing as a member of the now-defunct American Mideast Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the 2003-04 Wildcats won their first eight conference games en route to an 11-3 finish.
• Daemen handed STAC its first home loss of the season. STAC is 96-23 at home since the start of the 2013-14 season with Daemen being one of two teams with four wins at Aquinas Hall during that span (also Bridgeport).
• A two-time consensus All-American and three-time ECC Player of the Year, Sischo was named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 100 Watch List last week. Just nine points shy of 2,600 for his career, he is NCAA Division II's active leader in career points (2,591), rebounds (1,337) and double-doubles (75). He is the all-time leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder in Daemen and ECC history. He ranks 23rd in points and ninth in rebounds among the all-time NCAA Division II career leaders.
• Harris has scored in double figures in the last four games and is averaging 14.8 points over that stretch. He has also connected on 13 of his last 24 three-point attempts.
• Mason has made at least one three-pointer in 11 straight games and has totaled a team-high 39 triples on the year.

NEXT JUMP BALL
The Wildcats return to ECC play Sunday (Jan. 23) at Mercy College.

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 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.

Follow the Daemen College men's basketball program on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @DaemenMBB.