DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - Redshirt senior Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) scored 24 of his 33 points in the second half to lead the Daemen College men's basketball team to a 76-59 victory over Mercy College today at Victory Gym on the Mercy Campus.

Daemen extended its winning streak to seven-straight games and remained atop the East Coast Conference standings with a perfect 9-0 league record. The Wildcats improved to 12-6 overall. Daemen has won 16 of its last 18 conference games dating back to the start of last season. Mercy dropped to 2-13 overall and 2-7 in the league.

Daemen entered the game tied for ninth in the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) East Region Men's Basketball Media Poll.

The first 20 minutes featured runs by both teams. Daemen opened the game with a three-pointer by graduate student Kyle Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) and later took a 13-0 lead following a lay-up by Sischo just 2:40 into the game. The Daemen lead was still double digits, 22-12, when a three-pointer by junior guard Garrett Kirkland ignited an 11-0 run by the host Mavericks. A jumper by Brandon Wilson with 8:30 left before halftime capped the spurt and gave Mercy its first lead of the game, 23-22. Daemen responded with a 10-0 run of its own and opened up a 32-23 lead after Sischo scored with 4:38 left in the frame. The Daemen lead was short lived though, as the Mavericks answered once again, this time with a 12 unanswered points. A steal and dunk by Elijah Mitchell with just under a minute to play in the half capped the run and gave Mercy a 35-32 lead. The Mavericks would take a 37-36 lead into intermission.

The teams traded baskets early in the second half and the Wildcats held a 48-46 lead when they took control with a 14-2 run. Sischo scored 11 points during the run and his layup with 8:16 to play capped the run and gave Daemen a 62-48 lead. Mercy cut the lead to single digits, 68-59, after Kirkland hit his sixth three-pointer of the game with just over three minutes left, but the host went scoreless the rest of the game.

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Sischo connected on 13-of-16 shots and totaled 33 points and 13 rebounds. It marked his NCAA Division II-leading 16th double-double of the season and he has now scored 10+ points in 83 of his last 84 games.
• Junior Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) played a team-high 38 minutes and totaled 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.
• Sophomore Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) went 3-of-6 from downtown and totaled 11 points and five rebounds.
• Graduate student Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) helped the Daemen cause with nine points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Harris finished with nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
• Kirkland played all 40 minutes for the Mavericks, connected on 6-of-11 three-pointers and totaled 18 points. James Taylor, Jr. added four three-pointers and 17 points for the hosts.

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 all 17 meetings between the two teams. It is Daemen's longest active winning streak against any single opponent. In the series, 12 of the 17 meetings have been decided by 10 points or more, including the last five in a row.
• Daemen shot 67-percent (16-of-24) from the field and outscored the Mavericks 40-22 in the second half. The Wildcats shot a season-high 58-percent (29-of-50) from the field overall. Mercy shot just 29-percent (8-of-28) in the second half and finished 22-of-60 (37%) from the field overall.
• Both teams fared well from downtown. Daemen canned 9-of-21 three-pointers, while Mercy went 11-of-19.
• Daemen had 17 assists on 29 field goals. The Wildcats have now dished out 15 or more assists in 11-straight games.
• Daemen posted a 40-21 edge in total rebounds. The Wildcats have out rebounded their opponent in each of their last 10 games.
• Daemen is off to its best start in conference play (9-0) since winning its first eight league games in 2003-04 when the Wildcats were competing as a member of the now-defunct American Mideast Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
• 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. He entered today's game just nine points shy of 2,600 for his career. He is NCAA Division II's active leader in career points (2,624), rebounds (1,350) and double-doubles (76). He is the all-time leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder in Daemen and ECC history. He ranks 21st in points and ninth in rebounds among the all-time NCAA Division II career leaders.
• Sischo's 33 points were four shy of tying his season-high for points (37) which came in an 83-71 win over St. Rose on Nov. 27. It is the fourth time this season and 19th time over his career he has scored 30 or more points in a game.
• Mason has made at least one three-pointer in 12 straight games and has totaled a team-high 42 triples on the year.

NEXT JUMP BALL

The Wildcats are idle until Friday (Jan. 28) when they host ECC newcomer The College of Staten Island in a league tilt.

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.

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