Wildcats Host Redhawks In Conference Opener Saturday

Daemen Has Won Five Of Its Last Six Games

11/30/2023 10:19:00 AM

JUMP BALL
Daemen hosts long-time rival Roberts Wesleyan University Saturday (Dec. 2) at Lumsden Gymnasium. It will mark the 2023-24 East Coast Conference opener for the Wildcats.

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE
Tickets for all 2023-24 Daemen home games are on sale through Daemen's online ticketing portal. Lock in your tickets before arriving at Lumsden Gym. Please note, all tickets must be purchased online. No cash sales will be available at Lumsden Gym.

THE SEASON AHEAD
The Wildcats return several key players and a total of 14 players from their 2022-23 team which went 20-8 overall and 12-4 in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats advanced to the ECC Tournament championship game, where they suffered a 72-66 loss to top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas College. Daemen was picked second in the ECC preseason coaches' poll and was also receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II preseason poll.

POLL POSITION
Daemen is ranked seventh in the D2 College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) East Region poll released Monday, Nov. 27.

THE SEASON SO FAR
Daemen (6-3, 0-0 ECC) has featured a balanced scoring attack and solid defense thus far. All five of Daemen's starters are averaging in double figures. Four different players have led the team in scoring so far this season. Senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) has led the team in points four times this season and was named the MVP of the East Region Challenge hosted by Daemen after scoring 21 points in a 75-67 win over Goldey-Beacom. He has scored over 20 points in three of the last five games and is averaging 15.6 points and ranks second on the team in three-pointers (16). Sophomore Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) has scored in double figures in all eight games he has played in and is averaging 14.0 points and 2.9 assists. Graduate student Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, is averaging 12.9 points and 6.7 rebounds. He leads the ECC in steals (18) and ranks second in blocks (10). Senior Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) has reached double figures in points the last six games and is averaging 10.9 points with a team-high 22 three-pointers. Senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) is contributing 10.2 points per game, while sixth man Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) is producing 9.3 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per contest.

WILDCATS ROLL PAST PSAC OPPONENTS
Daemen rolled to wins over Slippery Rock (86-62) and Clarion (97-76) of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference last week and went 3-0 against the PSAC this season. Senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) scored 23 points and classmate Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) added 22 to lead the way against Slippery Rock. Six players scored in double figures during the win at Clarion. Sophomore Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) led the way with a career-high 19 points.

THERE'S NO I IN TEAM
Daemen features a balanced attack with six players averaging between 9.3 and 15.6 points per game. The Wildcats have had six games where four players have scored in double figures and five players have reached double digits in points four times. A season-high six players scored in double figures during their win at Clarion on Sunday.

SHARP SHOOTERS
Daemen ranks first among ECC teams in field goal percentage (.490) and has shot over 45-percent from the field in seven of its nine games. The Wildcats are 4-0 this year when they shoot 50-percent or better from the field.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Daemen has limited five of its nine opponents to less than 70 points and leads the ECC in team defense, allowing just 69.9 points per game. The Wildcats also rank second in the ECC in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 43-percent from the field. Daemen has produced the ECC Defensive Player of the Week in each of the first three weeks of the season, as Joey Atkins was selected after the first two weeks and Justin Hemphill earned the honor this past Monday.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Wildcats have won their last 10 home games dating back to last season and are 93-18 (.836) at home during Daemen's NCAA Division II era (2015-present).

NOTABLE
Joey Atkins recorded his 300th career rebound and 100th career block during a loss to Dominican on Nov. 18. Dylan Fasoyiro scored his 500th career point during the win over Slippery Rock. Andrew Mason is two three-pointers shy of 200 for his career. Nick MacDonald is five three pointers shy of 150 for his career.

RETURN OF THE MAC
Head coach Mike MacDonald returns for his 10th season on Daemen's bench and his 27^th overall as a collegiate head coach. Daemen has posted at least 20 wins in five of the last six seasons (Daemen only played 16 games during the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season) and MacDonald has led the Wildcats to a record of 184-77, three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and the 2021 NCAA Division II East Region title. He has won more games at Daemen than during previous stints as the head coach at Canisius (108 wins in nine seasons) and Medaille (149 wins in eight seasons). MacDonald is among an elite fraternity of coaches to have achieved 100 victories across all three NCAA divisions. His overall career record stands at 441-303 and Daemen's 81-72 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 8, 2021 was the 400th of his career.

FAMILIAR FACES
All-ECC selections Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.), Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) and Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) all return in 2023-24. Atkins earned first-team All-ECC honors in his first season as a starter last year after averaging 11.9 points and 6.2 rebounds. He also ranked eighth among all Division II players in blocks (65). Fasoyiro averaged a team-high 13.4 points in his first season with the team, while MacDonald contributed 12.4 points. Mason averaged 10.9 points and led all three NCAA divisions in three-point field goal percentage (.516) last year. Veteran point guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.), who started all 28 games last year and averaged 32 minutes a game, was set to return but suffered a preseason injury. Senior Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.), a 6-foot-6 forward, is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged 9.0 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds off the bench. Sophomore guard Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) is set to step into the starting lineup following the loss of Salzberg. Glover played in 23 games (seven starts) as a freshman and averaged 4.9 points and 1.8 assists. Ayden Harrison (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) and Jackson Kulik (Webster, N.Y.) also join the mix after red shirting their freshman season last year.

NEWCOMERS
Three newcomers join the fold in 2023-24. Redshirt sophomore guard Jarius Jones (Gahanna, Ohio) spent the past two years at Ohio Dominican University. Freshmen Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) both earned New York State Class A all-state honors last winter and Philipkoski was also honored as the New York State Class A Player of the Year.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS
The Daemen program has been built on sustained success, winning at least 19 games in 11 of the last 12 seasons. That span encompasses the end of Daemen's NAIA Era, its NCAA transition period and the first eight seasons of full NCAA Division II membership. The Wildcats have won 72% of their contests, going 247-98 in that span. Looking more recently, Daemen is 120-45 since the start of the 2017-18 season (.730 winning percentage).

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
Daemen earned three consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament berths from 2019 to 2021. The Wildcats won 24 games (NCAA era program record) and earned at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 2019 and 2020. The Wildcats entered the 2021 tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East Region and picked up their first-ever NCAA tourney win with an 81-69 defeat of third-seeded Bloomfield in the opening round. The Wildcats then upset top-seeded Saint Thomas Aquinas in the regional championship game en route to the program's first regional championship and Elite Eight appearance. Daemen has posted 20 wins this last two seasons, but was denied an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament each year.

SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS
Roberts Wesleyan (2-4, 1-0 ECC) opened ECC play last night with a 77-74 win over D'Youville. The Redhawks went 10-16 overall and 7-9 in ECC play last year. Mark Saladzius is entering his sixth season as head coach. Roberts Wesleyan lost four of its top five scorers from last season and returns two starters and nine players overall. Senior guard Malik Brooks returns after averaging a team-high 12.6 points last year. He has scored over 20 points in four games this season and is averaging a team-high 21.5 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds. Junior guard Kevin Constant, who played the last two seasons at Le Moyne, has made an immediate impact, He scored 21 points in an 81-75 win over Chestnut Hill during the Daemen East Region Challenge and ia averaging 15.3 points. Junior college transfer Marlon Pratt, Jr. scored 13 points in the win over D'Youville and is averaging 9.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Roberts Wesleyan was picked seventh in the ECC preseason coaches' poll.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's tilt will mark the 62nd meeting between the two long-time rivals. Daemen currently owns a seven-game winning streak against the Redhawks and the Wildcats have prevailed in 27 of the last 28 meetings. Daemen has prevailed in the last 14 meetings between the teams at Lumsden Gymnasium and is 28-2 all-time at home against the Redhawks. Daemen owns a 49-12 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the 1997-98 season.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen is idle until next weekend when the Wildcats travel to Molloy (Dec. 8) and Queens (Dec. 10) for ECC games.

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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