COLCHESTER, VT. The No. 4/6 Daemen University men's basketball team secured their 10^th win of the season and remained unbeaten with an 84-65 victory over Southern Connecticut State University in their first game of the Doc Jacobs Classic, hosted by Saint Michel's College, Friday evening at the Ross Sports Center. The Owls, who are members of the Northeast-10, dropped to 4-5 with the loss.
 
IMPACT PLAYERS
• Redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) scored 20-or-more points for the third time this season as he dropped a career-high 28 points while going 13-of-15 from the floor.
• Aiding in the Wildcats scoring effort was redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) with his 11 points while fellow forward, graduate student Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) tallied 10 scores of his own. Both big men notched a game-high two blocks as well.
• On the glass, graduate student guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) snagged a team-best eight rebounds while sophomore guard Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) notched a game-high three steals.
• Fellow sophomore guard Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) set a new career-high in assists with six, surpassing his previous high of five which he set against Saint Anselm (Nov. 9) earlier this year.
• Isaac Hester and Albert Vargas led the Owls with 21 and 20 points respectively. On the glass, Christian McClease tied Salzburg for the game-high in rebounds with eight while Cherif Diarra totaled a team-high four assists.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Southern Connecticut State struck first as they scored 13 of the first 21 points of the contest with three makes from deep to command an early lead. The Wildcats were unfazed as a Becker layup ignited a 12-1 spurt for Daemen to put them ahead, 20-14, with 9:24 remaining in the first half.
• A 3-pointer from Vargas cut the Daemen lead to a single possession and made it 20-17 with 9:02 remaining, but the 'Cats again found their groove as Bill sunk a jumper to score two of his first 11 points during a 15-2 spurt for the 'Cats that pushed them ahead, 35-19, with 3:05 left before halftime.
• Daemen went into the locker room with a 43-29 advantage at the end of the first half. Guard Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) scored six of the final eight points for Daemen in the opening half off a pair of triples.
• SCSU struck first to begin the second stanza as they scored nine of the first 12 points of the frame to trim the Wildcats lead down to just eight, 46-38.
• The Owls continued to peck away at the Wildcats lead, but a Hemphill layup at the 12:03 mark ignited a 15-0 run for the Blue and White that saw them push their lead to a then game-high 22, 67-45.
• The two sides traded buckets to close the contest as the Wildcats never relinquished their double-digit advantage and secured the 84-65 win.
• Daemen ended the night shooting 34-of-75 (.459) from the floor and grabbed 47 rebounds compared to 37 for SCSU.
• SCSU went 21-of 61 (.344) from the field and knocked down a game-high 13 3-pointers.
 
GAME NOTES
• Today marked the first meeting between the Wildcats and Owls in program history.
• Entering this evening's contest, the Wildcats 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.
• The contest against SCSU was the Wildcats only regular season neutral site game as well. Dating back to last season, Daemen is now 4-2 in neutral site games.
•  With his two 3-pointers tonight, Mason (Webster, N.Y.) tied Brian Montanaro and David Skolen for second all-time in career triples with 279.
• Bill is the first member of the Wildcats to make 12-or-more baskets in a game since Andrew Sischo had 15 makes against St. Rose on Nov. 27, 2021.
• Salzberg grabbed eight-or-more rebounds in a game for the first instance since he had nine at Slippery Rock on Nov. 22, 2022.
• The Wildcats have won every game this season by 10-or-more points.
• Daemen is now 2-0 this year against the NE-10 with their win this evening.
 
UP NEXT
Daemen will wrap up the Doc Jacobs Classic and the 2024 calendar year tomorrow at 2 p.m. when they face tournament hosts Saint Michael's.

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