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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
Joey_Atkins_2022-23
Geoff Schneider
Joey Atkins was named tournament MVP
69
St. Anselm SA 1-1,0-0 NE10
81
Winner Daemen Daemen 2-0,0-0 ECC
St. Anselm SA
1-1,0-0 NE10
69
Final
81
Daemen Daemen
2-0,0-0 ECC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
St. Anselm SA 30 39 69
Daemen Daemen 37 44 81

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | CONTACT: Tom McDermott, Director of Athletics Communications | tmcdermo@daemen.edu

Wildcats Down Hawks In Battle Of Regionally-Ranked Teams

Atkins Named Tournament MVP, MacDonald and Glover Earn All-Tournament Honors

AMHERST, N.Y. – Tournament Most Valuable Player Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.) totaled 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and four blocks to lead the Daemen University men's basketball team to an 81-69 victory over Saint Anselm College during second day action of the East Region Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC.

The event brings together teams from each of the three Division II conferences in the NCAA East region. Daemen is a member of the East Coast Conference, while Saint Anselm hails from the Northeast-10 Conference.

In the other second round game, Georgian Court University of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference defeated Roberts Wesleyan University of the ECC, 85-81.

The all-tournament team included Atkins, senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) and freshman Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) from Daemen, senior guard Tyler Arbuckle of the Saint Anselm, redshirt-sophomore forward Jamaal Waters of Georgian Court and sophomore guard Malik Brooks of Roberts Wesleyan.

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Atkins scored 15 points in an opening-round win over Georgian Court yesterday. He connected on 6-of-10 shots today and played 30 minutes.
  • MacDonald, who scored a team-high 16 points yesterday, scored 16 points again today—14 of which came in the second half—and also grabbed six rebounds. He connected on 9-of-10 free throws, several of which came late in the game to secure the win.
  • Glover totaled five points in his season debut yesterday and totaled 15 points and two steals today. He connected on 3-of-5 from downtown.
  • Junior Juston Johnson (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored nine points off the bench, while classmate Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) added seven points and a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) chipped in five points—including a big three-pointer late in the second half—and six rebounds and four assists.
  • Arbuckle connected on 8-of-16 shots and led all scorers with 22 points. Junior Jadon Archer (Enfield, Conn.) added 15 points and five rebounds for the visitors.

GAME NOTES
  • Both teams entered the 2022-23 season ranked in the D2SIDA East Region poll. Daemen, which was picked first in the ECC preseason poll, is ranked sixth in the region. Saint Anselm, which is ranked fourth in both the NE-10 preseason poll and the D2SIDA East Region poll.
  • Daemen is also receiving votes in the NABC Division II preseason poll.
  • Daemen is now 13-1 all-time in East Region Challenge games.
  • Today's game marked the third all-time meeting between the two regional powers. Daemen owns a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series.
  • Daemen jumped out to a 13-1 lead, before the Hawks responded with a 12-3 run that cut the Daemen lead to 16-13. Daemen quickly countered with 11 unanswered points and took their largest lead of the first half, 27-13, following a triple by Johnson with 8:34 left before halftime. The Hawks outscored the Wildcats 17-10 over the final eight minutes and Daemen took a 37-30 lead into halftime.
  • Daemen regained a double-digit lead, 44-34, following a triple by Glover three minutes into the second half, and the lead was still 10 points, 59-49, midway through the second frame.
  • The Hawks got the lead down to four points, 64-60, with just under six minutes left, but Daemen put together an 8-2 spurt that gave the Wildcats a 72-62 lead. A three-pointer by Salzberg with 2:46 left capped the run. Saint Anselm came no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
  • Daemen shot 54-percent (13-24) from the field in the second half and went 28-of-56 (50%) from the field overall. Daemen, which made just 6-of-21 three-pointers yesterday, went a blistering 11-for-20 from behind the arc today.
  • Saint Anselm shot 43-percent (24-56) from the field overall. The Hawks canned 10-of-27 three-pointers during a win over Roberts Wesleyan yesterday but went just 6-of-23 from long range today.
  • Daemen also posted a 37-28 edge in total rebounds, while the Hawks held a 36-20 advantage in points in the paint.
     
NEXT JUMP BALL
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday when they host Mercyhurst University in a non-conference game at 7:30 p.m. Mercyhurst is receiving votes in the NABC Division II preseason poll and is ranked third in the D2SIDA Atlantic Region preseason poll.
 

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