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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
D_Fasoyiro_2024_ECC_Tournament
Dorice Arden Madronero
68
Winner Daemen Daemen 24-7,12-4 ECC
56
Staten Island CSI 19-10,13-3 ECC
Winner
Daemen Daemen
24-7,12-4 ECC
68
Final
56
Staten Island CSI
19-10,13-3 ECC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen Daemen 29 39 68
Staten Island CSI 19 37 56

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

Wildcats Advance To ECC Championship Game Following 68-56 Win Over Staten Island

Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas To Meet In The Finals For The Fourth Straight Year

AMHERST, N.Y. – Senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) drilled five three-pointers and scored 23 points to lead third-seeded Daemen University to a 68-56 victory over second-seeded College of Staten Island this evening in semifinal round action of the 2024 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championship at Aquinas Hall on the campus of St. Thomas Aquinas College.

Daemen, which entered the game ranked fourth in the NCAA regional committee East Region poll released today, ran its winning streak to eight games and improved to 24-7 overall. The Dolphins close out the year with a 19-10 record.

The Wildcats advance to the tournament championship game, where they will face a familiar foe in top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas. STAC advanced following a 79-71 victory over fourth-seeded Roberts Wesleyan University. Daemen and STAC will square off in the championship game for the fourth-straight year tomorrow at Aquinas Hall at 2:30 p.m. The host Spartans will be looking to claim their fifth straight tournament championship, while the Wildcats will be looking to hoist the championship trophy for the first time ever.

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Nine different Wildcats scored in the game.
  • Fasoyiro played 36 minutes and went 8-of-16 from the field overall and canned 5-of-11 from downtown. It marked the 12th time this season he has scored 20 or more points in a game. He also contributed two blocks and a steal.
  • Graduate student Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), who played in his 100th career game during Daemen's quarterfinal win over Queens, connected on 6-of-9 shots and totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds. It marked his sixth double-double of the season.
  • Sophomore Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) added 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.
  • Senior Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) played in his 100th career game today and chipped in five points and seven rebounds.
  • CSI did not have a double digit scorer, as the Dolphins were held to a season-low 56 points by the ECC's top defense. Freshman Aaron Goldstein led CSI with nine points.

GAME NOTES
  • Daemen is making its ninth consecutive ECC tournament appearance and seeking its first championship. The Wildcats have advanced to the semifinal round in all nine of their ECC tournament berths. Daemen has played in the tournament's final round on four occasions, falling in 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2023 to St. Thomas Aquinas.
  • Daemen has prevailed in five of the seven meetings between the Wildcats and the Dolphins. CSI swept the regular season series this year, posting a 71-62 win at Daemen and a 79-67 win on Staten Island. Today's meeting was the first post-season matchup between the two teams.
  • Daemen has reached 20 wins for the sixth-straight season. The streak does not include the 2020-21 season, as Daemen only played 16 games during that COVID-10 shortened 2020-21 season.
  • Daemen is one win shy of establishing a new record for most wins in a season (25) during its NCAA-era (2015-present). The Wildcats also posted 24 wins in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
  • Daemen's eight-game winning streak ranks as the longest winning streak for the Wildcats this season.
  • CSI scored the first four points of the game, but Daemen settled in and later took a 13-6 lead following a conventional three-point play by Fasoyiro midway through the first half.
  • Daemen later took its first double digit lead of the game, 27-17, after fifth-year senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) made two free throws with 2:07 left in the first half. The Wildcats would take a 29-19 lead into the break.
  • Daemen opened the second half with a three-pointer by Fasoyiro and later took a 14-point lead, 39-25, after Mason drilled a triple with 15:43 left to play.
  • The Dolphins answered with a 16-5 run and made it a one possession game, 44-41, after junior Shemar Latty made two free throws with 10:06 left.
  • That is as close as the Dolphins would get, as Daemen responded with 12 unanswered points and took a 15-point lead, 56-41, following a bucket by Atkins with just under six minutes left. Fasoyiro hit two three-pointers and scored eight points during the burst.
  • CSI scored the next five points to make it a 10-point Daemen lead, but Fasoyiro hit his fifth three pointer to make it 59-46 with 4:08 left and the Dolphins came no closer than 10 points down the stretch.
  • Daemen shot just 41-percent (23-56) from the field overall and went just 7-of-23 from downtown. The Wildcats canned 15-of-23 free throws.
  • CSI shot a season-low 28-percent (17-of-61) from the field overall and made just 3-of-21 from downtown. The Dolphins entered the game averaging a league-high 9.9 three-pointers per game. CSI connected on 19-of-27 from the charity stripe.
  • Daemen posted a commanding 51-36 edge in total rebounds. The Wildcats collected 15 offensive boards, which they converted into a 19-10 advantage in second chance points.
NEXT JUMP BALL
Third-seeded Daemen takes on top-seeded and nationally ranked St. Thomas Aquinas in the finals of the ECC Championship tournament Sunday (Mar. 10) at Aquinas Hall on the campus of St. Thomas Aquinas. The teams split their two regular season meetings. STAC posted a 92-82 win at Aquinas Hall and the Wildcats answered with an 87-82 win at Daemen.
 

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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