The Daemen men's basketball bench celebrates a three-pointer during Daemen's win over St. Thomas Aquinas

No. 4/6 Men's Basketball Heads to Vermont for the Doc Jacobs Classic

Wildcats Prepare to Face Southern Connecticut State and Tournament Hosts Saint Michael's

12/19/2024 11:00:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Max Sacco, Assistant Athletics Communications Director | msacco@daemen.edu

OFF TO THE GREEN MOUNTAIN STATE
The No. 4/6 Daemen University men's basketball team will begin their season-long five game road swing by competing in the Doc Jacobs Classic, hosted by Saint Michael's. The Wildcats will face Southern Connecticut State on Dec. 20 before battling the host Purple Knights the next day. The Wildcats, Owls and Purple Knights all qualified for the East Region of the 2024 NCAA Division II Championship last season which was hosted by Saint Michael's.

KEEP ON CLIMBING
For the first time in program history, the Daemen University men's basketball team entered the top five of any national poll as they were ranked No. 4 in the most recent National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll while in the Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) National Poll, the Wildcats remained at the No. 6 spot for the second consecutive week, as announced on Dec. 17. The 'Cats set a program-record for points the second consecutive week as well as they tallied 324 points and one first place vote in the NABC Poll and 258 points in the D2CSC Poll. Daemen is also the first ECC team to be ranked within the top five of any national polls since St. Thomas Aquinas was ranked No. 5 in the D2CSC National Poll on Feb. 23, 2021.

MAKING HISTORY FROM DEEP
Graduate student guard Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) is closing in on history as he sits three 3-pointers away from passing Brian Montanaro (2002-06) and David Skolen (1986-90) for second all-time in career triples with 280. Currently ranked third in program history, Mason is also ranked sixth all-time in the ECC for career 3-pointers and is also closing in on Roger Powers (Saint Rose) and Charlie Marquardt (Molloy) who currently occupy fourth place with 305 makes from deep. So far this season, Mason has knocked down a team-best 19 3-pointers and currently ranks fifth in the conference for 3-pointers per game with an average of 2.11.

DOUBLE DIGITS
Against Mercy (Dec. 15), six different Wildcats ended the afternoon in double figures. Graduate student guard Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y) and redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) paced the Daemen offense with 19 points each, sophomore guards Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) and Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) each tallied 13 points, graduate student Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.), totaled a season-high 12 points in the victory while redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill 11 scored points to aid in the Wildcats winning effort. It marked the first time since Nov. 9 against Saint Anselm that Daemen had five-or-more players score 10-or-more points in a game.

BENCH SUPPORT
This season, Daemen has averaged 40.9 points per game which currently ranks ninth nationally for bench points per game. Last weekend against Mercy (Dec. 15), the Daemen bench accounted for 56 of the Wildcats 106 points against the Mavericks in their 106-78 victory. The best performance for the Wildcats bench came on Nov. 26 against then No. 10/10 California (Pa.) as the 'Cats tallied 60 bench points in their 111-77 triumph over the Vulcans. Leading the Wildcats scoring efforts off the bench have been redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) with his team-high 16.7 points per game and sophomore guard Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) with his 9.3 points per game.

SCOUTING SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT STATE (4-4, 2-3 NE-10)
The Owls recently snapped a three game losing skid with a 65-58 victory over Holy Family on Dec. 14. Tabbed eighth in the NE-10 Preseason Coaches' Poll, SCSU has been led by Albert Vargas and his 17.0 points per game, which ranks fourth in the conference, while on the glass, Cherif Diarra has averaged 11.0 rebounds per game. Also helping on the glass has been Antonio Chandler as currently leads the NE-10 and is seventh in the country for offensive rebounds per game (4.0) The Owls have an affinity for the 3-pointer as well as they lead the NE-10 and currently rank seventh nationally in 3-pointers per game (11.5) and sixth in 3-pointe percentage defense (26.6).

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen and SCSU have never met in men's basketball.

SCOUTING SAINT MICHAEL'S (3-8, 0-5 NE-10)
Tabbed first in the NE-10 Presaeason Coaches Poll, the Purple Knights have only won three games this season, with two of their three wins coming in December. CJ Crews has led the Purple Knights in scoring with an average of 15.8 points per game with his teammate, Nolan Marold, averaging a team-best 6.5 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen is 3-2 all-time against Saint Michaels but the Purple Knights won the last meeting, 86-62, last season in East Region semifinal of the 2024 NCAA Division II Championship

UP NEXT
Daemen is back in action on Jan. 3, 2025, when they travel to New Hampshire to face Franklin Pierce. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m.

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 University men's basketball program on Twitter and Facebook at @DaemenMBB.

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