Geoff Schneider

Wildcats Cap 2023 With A Non-Conference Game At Saint Anselm Sunday

12/29/2023 10:34:00 AM

JUMP BALL
Daemen travels to Manchester, N.H. for a non-conference game against the Hawks of Saint Anselm College.

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 eighth in the D2 College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) East Region poll released Monday, Dec. 18.

THE SEASON SO FAR
Daemen (9-4, 2-1 ECC) has featured a balanced scoring attack and solid defense thus far. All five of Daemen's starters are averaging in double figures. Five different players have led the team in scoring so far this season. Senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) has led the team in points seven times and has scored over 20 points in five of the last nine games, He dropped 30 points in an 86-68 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 2 and is averaging a team-high 16.5 points and ranks second on the team in three-pointers (26) and steals (18). Sophomore Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) has scored in double figures in 11 of 12 games 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 11.3 points and and a team-high 7.6 rebounds. A three-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection this year, he ranks second among the ECC in blocks (22). Senior Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) has reached double figures in points the eight of the last nine games and is averaging 11.9 points with a team-high 35 three-pointers. He set a Daemen NCAA-era (2015-present) record for three-pointers in a game (8) and scored a career-high 26 points in a 93-73 win over Franklin Pierce. Senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) is contributing 10.9 points per game, while sixth man Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) is producing 8.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest.

BIG FIRST HALF LIFTS WILDCATS PAST FRANKLIN PIERCE
Daemen will be playing its first game since posting a 93-73 win over Franklin Pierce on Dec. 19. The Wildcats outscored the Ravens 47-27 in the first half. Andrew Mason drilled eight three-pointers and scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Wildcats. Mason went 8-of-9 from downtown and established a new NCAA Division II era (2015-present) program record for three-pointers made in a game.

THERE'S NO I IN TEAM
Daemen features a balanced attack with six players averaging between 8.6 and 16.5 points per game. The Wildcats have had nine 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 Nov. 26.

SHARP SHOOTERS
Daemen ranks first among ECC teams in field goal percentage (.483) and has shot over 45-percent from the field in nine of its 13 games. The Wildcats are 6-0 this year when they shoot 50-percent or better from the field.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Daemen has limited seven of its 13 opponents to less than 70 points and leads the ECC in team defense, allowing just 70.5 points per game. The Wildcats also rank first in the ECC in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 42-percent from the field. Daemen has produced the ECC Defensive Player of the Week four times this season. Joey Atkins earned the honor for the third time on Dec. 4. Justin Hemphill has also been selected.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Wildcats have won their last 14 home games dating back to last season and are 97-18 (.843) at home during Daemen's NCAA Division II era (2015-present). Daemen's 14-game home winning streak is the longest in the East Region and the seventh longest among all Division II schools.

NOTABLE
Joey Atkins recorded his 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 has become the seventh player in program history to reach 200 career three-pointers. He recorded hos 200th during the win over Molloy. Nick MacDonald is one three pointer 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 188-78, 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 445-304 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 HAWKS
Saint Anselm (4-6, 2-3 NE10) is located in Manchester, N.H. and is a member of the Northeast-10 Conference. The Hawks went 22-8 (15-5 NE-10) and claimed the NE-10 Tournament title last year. Saint Anselm hosted the East Regional of the NCAA Division II Tournament, but was upset by Caldwell in the opening round. Saint Anselm has advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament 10 of the last 11 years and boasts 25 NCAA tournament appearances overall. Veteran head coach Keith Dickson returns for his 38th season at Saint Anselm and entered the 2023-24 season with a career record of 703-361 (.661). Fifth-year guard Tyler Arbuckle tops the list of returning players. Arbuckle collected All-Region and All-America honors last year after averaging a team-high 18.0 points per game. He has scored over 20 points four times this season and is averaging 18.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He netted 23 points in a 69-68 loss to nationally-ranked Post back on Dec. 19. Division I transfer Josh Morissette has started all 10 games and is averaging 16.4 points with a team-high 33 three pointers. He went 12-of-15 from downtown and scored 42 points in a 98-77 win over Franklin Pierce. Junior forward Keith Robinson is shooting 70-percent (51-73) and is averaging 13.6 points. Junior forward Sean McCarthy, who spent his first two seasons at Felician, has started all 10 games and is averaging 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds. The Hawks were picked second in the NE-10 preseason coaches' poll.

SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's tilt will mark just the fourth all-time meeting between the Wildcats and the Hawks. The teams first met during the 2018-19 season at Daemen and the Wildcats posted a 78-72 win. The Hawks answered with an 87-59 win at Saint Anselm the following year. Saint Anselm took part in the 2022 East Region Challenge at Daemen and the Wildcats posted an 81-69 win over the Hawks in the opening round. Nick MacDonald paced a balanced attack with 16 points, while Tyler Arbuckle netted 22 points for the Hawks.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen returns to action Wednesday (Jan. 3) when the Wildcats host nationally-ranked Post in a non-conference game.

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.

Print Friendly Version