AMHERST, N.Y. – In front of a sold-out crowd, the No. 2/4 Daemen University men's basketball team defeated Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference foe No. 21/7 Gannon University, 82-70, in intercollegiate men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Lumsden Gymnasium.
 
With the win, the Wildcats remained perfect at 16-0 and snapped the Golden Knights 15 game winning streak to drop them to 15-3. Both teams were ranked atop their respective regions in the latest Division II College Sports Communications (D2CSC) Regional Polls with Daemen first in the East Region and Gannon tabbed first in the Atlantic Region.
 
IMPACT PLAYERS
• Redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) led the way as he nearly notched a triple-double with 16 points, a career-high 11 assists and eight rebounds. The Buffalo native also tallied a career-high tying four blocks as well.
• Redshirt sophomore forward Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) led all scorers with 21 points on an efficient 10-of-11 night from the floor.
• Guards Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) and Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) also helped pace the Wildcats offense with 14 and 12 points respectively.
• Five different Gannon players finished with 10-or-more points, highlighted by a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double from Pace Prosser.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The two sides exchanged scores to open the afternoon with the Wildcats and Golden Knights tied at seven at the first media timeout. Graduate student guard Matt Becker led the early scoring efforts for the 'Cats with four points.
• Daemen and Gannon continued to trade baskets, but a layup from Bill at the 12:55 mark uncorked a 14-4 run for the 'Cats which put them ahead 29-20 with 5:29 to play.
• The Wildcats ended the half on a high note as they scored eight of the final 12 points of the frame, emphasized by layup as time expired from sophomore guard Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) to enter the locker room ahead by double-digits, 42-31.
• Out of the halftime break, Daemen came out on fire as they scored 13 of the first 15 points of the frame to command a game-high 22-point lead, 55-33, with 14:44 remaining.
• The Golden Knights responded with a 16-6 spurt of their own, led by six points from Prosser, to trim the Daemen lead to 12, 61-49, with 8:51 remaining.
• Still, the Wildcats weathered the push from the Golden Knights, never letting them get within more than 12 for the remainder of the contest. Both sides traded scores to the final buzzer with Daemen sealing the victory with five makes from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds.
• Daemen ended the afternoon shooting 32-of-59 (.542) from the floor. The 'Cats dominated in the paint as they outscored the Golden Knights, 48-24, and led in fast break points, 17-5.
• Gannon ended the day shooting 24-of-67 (.358) from the floor and held a slim 41-38 advantage on the glass.  
 
 
GAME NOTES
• Daemen is now 4-0 against teams ranked within the top 25 or receiving votes in any national poll this season.
• Entering today, Daemen was ranked No. 2 in the most recent National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll and No. 4 from the newest D2CSC National Poll.
• Daemen is now 14-0 this season when leading at halftime and have only ended the first half down on two occasions.  
• The 'Cats are now 2-0 against PSAC schools this season and 5-0 against schools from the Quaker State dating back to last year.
• Bill finished with 20-or-more points for the fifth time this season. The Hamburg, N.Y., native has also scored 10-or-more points in five consecutive games for the second time this season as he opened the year with seven consecutive games finishing in double figures.
• Hemphill is the first member of the Wildcats to have 10-or-more assists in a game since Jay Sarkis had 11 assists at Queens on Jan. 21, 2018.
• Daemen has scored 40-or-more points in the first half for the fifth straight contest.
• For the first time since Dec. 21 at Saint Michael's, a Daemen player played above 30 minutes as Glover and graduate student guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) each played just over 31 minutes.
 
UP NEXT
Daemen is back in action on Jan. 21 when they head to Clarion for their final non-conference game of the regular season. Tip-off is set for 5 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.