ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The No. 2/3 Daemen University men's basketball team never trailed as they thumped Roberts Wesleyan in wire-to-wire fashion, 98-75, in East Coast Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Voller Athletic Center.
With the win, the Wildcats maintained their perfect record and improved to 17-0 and 8-0 in ECC play while the Redhawks dropped their second consecutive game and fell to 7-11 and 4-4 during conference action.
IMPACT PLAYERS
• Redshirt sophomore center
Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) led all Daemen scorers with 25 points on a highly efficient 11-of-12 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.
• Redshirt senior forward
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y) notched his second consecutive double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. He also added in a team-best five assists.
• Graduate students
Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) and
Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) each tallied 12 points each to help the Wildcats scoring efforts.
• For Mason, he knocked down a game-high three 3-pointers as well
• Arnado Camacho led Roberts Wesleyan in scoring with 22 points and grabbed a team-best six rebounds.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Daemen commanded the game off the tip-off as they scored 19 of the first 21 points of the contest to command an early lead just under five minutes into the game. Mason and Hemphill paced the 'Cats early scoring efforts with six points each.
• The 'Cats continued to push as a layup from Bill sparked a 19-10 run that saw Daemen shoot an impressive seven-of-nine from the floor to command a 38-15 lead with 8:41 left in the half.
• Daemen and Roberts Wesleyan traded buckets to close the half with the 'Cats never letting their lead dip below 15 as they entered the locker room ahead, 56-32.
• The Blue and White traded scores with the host Redhawks at the start of the second half, but a triple from Salzburg kicked-off a short 9-3 run that saw Daemen push their lead to 30, 76-46, with 12:41 to play.
• Roberts Wesleyan attempted to chip away at the 'Cats lead, but Daemen never relinquished their double-digit edge en route to their 98-75 victory.
• Daemen finished shooting above .500 from the floor for the sixth consecutive game as they finished the afternoon going 33-of-60 (.550). The 'Cats dominated Roberts Wesleyan in all facets of the game, highlighted by a 41-30 edge in rebounds, 46-16 advantage in bench points and
• Roberts Wesleyan finished the contest shooting 28-of-65 (.431) from the floor.
GAME NOTES
• Daemen entered tonight's contest coming in at No. 2 in the most recent National Association of Basketball Coaches National Poll and No. 3 from the newest D2CSC National Poll.
• The Blue and White scored 55-or-more points in the first half for the first instance since Jan. 10 at Molloy when they dropped 57 points.
• Daemen is now 52-12 all-time against Roberts Wesleyan and has won the last 10 meetings.
• The 'Cats ended the first half shooting .655 (19-of-29) from the floor. It marked their best shooting performance in any half this season.
• Daemen has won all eight of their ECC games by 20-or-more points this season.
• Bill finished with 10-or-more makes from the floor for the third time in his last five games and fifth time this season. He also finished with 20-or-more points for the third time in his last five games as well.
• Bill finished with 10-or-more points for the sixth consecutive contest while Hemphill tallied double-figures in scoring for the fourth outing in a row.
• Hemphill is the first player to notch consecutive double-doubles since Andrew Sischo had back-to-back double-doubles against Bloomfield (March 14, 2021) and St. Thomas Aquinas (March 16, 2021).
UP NEXT
Daemen returns to Amherst, N.Y., to face the College of Staten Island on Jan. 31. Tip-off is set for 7:30 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.
