Amherst, N.Y. – Red-shirt senior Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delphi) totaled 23 points, nine rebounds and two blocks to lead the Daemen College men's basketball team to a 73-71 victory over the University of the District of Columbia here tonight in quarterfinal round action of the 2017 East Coast Conference Championship Tournament.
Daemen, the tournament's fourth seed, improved to 19-8 on the year and advances to take on top-seeded and defending tournament champion St. Thomas Aquinas College (23-5) in the semifinals Saturday (March 4) at 5 p.m. The tournament semifinals and championship game are being hosted by the University of Bridgeport. The tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA Division II Championship Tournament. Second-seeded Molloy College (17-10) will faced third-seeded Bridgeport (18-11) in the other semifinal game Saturday. Bridgeport posted an 85-74 win over sixth-seeded Queens College tonight in the other quarterfinal game.
UDC, which lost in the tournament quarterfinals for the second-straight year, closed out the year at 14-13.
Daemen closed out the 2016-17 season with a 14-2 record at home, which ties the program record for home wins in a season set in 1999-00. Daemen is now an impressive 70-10 in the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium since the start of the 2011-12 season.
The Wildcats, who rallied from a halftime deficit for the sixth time this season, are also now 5-1 during the month of March under head coach Mike MacDonald.
It marked the seventh 20-point game of the season for Mehmetaj, and Daemen is now 6-1 when he scores 20 or more points. He was an efficient 6-of-11 from the field tonight and made 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. Red-shirt sophomore Deion Hamilton (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) continued his solid play of late and finished with 16 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. He was 7-of-10 from the field and Daemen is now 14-2 this season when he shoots 50-percent or better from the field. Red-shirt freshman Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) scored in double figures for the first time in five games and contributed three three-pointers, 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y./Notre Dame) ignited the crowd with several thunderous dunks and added seven points for the hosts.
The Firebirds were led by seniors Joseph Nickerson (Newark, N.J.) and Kasim Chandler (Newark, N.J.), who entered the game as the second leading scoring duo in the ECC. Nickerson scored 25 points in the second half and finished with 29 points. Chandler scored 18 points, 14 of which came in the first half, and also registered three steals. Junior Khalil Jackson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Both teams drilled three-pointers in the first minute of action, but neither team scored over the next two minutes and the game was tied at 12-12 midway through the first half. The game was tied for the fourth time during the first half at 14-14 when a three-pointer by senior Reggie Sidbury (Landover, Md.) sparked the Firebirds on a 12-2 run. Chandler scored seven of the 12 points during the run and his layup with 4:06 left in the half capped the spurt and gave the visitors a 26-16 lead.
Daemen answered with a three-pointer by Redband, and Chandler picked up his second personal foul on UDC's next possession—sending him to the bench for the rest of the half. Daemen took advantage and eventually cut the lead to two points, 28-26, following a conventional three-point play by Mehmetaj with 19 seconds left in the half. A buzzer-beating layup by junior Jahkeem Folks (New York, N.Y.) closed out the first-half scoring and gave the visitors a 30-26 halftime lead.
The teams traded points early in the second half and UDC held a 32-28 lead when a dunk by Garvin sparked the hosts on a 12-2 run. A triple by Redband with 12:07 left to play capped the run and gave Daemen a 40-34 lead. The Wildcats took their first double-digit lead of the game, 47-37, after Hamilton drove the lane and floated a shot over a UDC defender with 8:49 left, and the lead was still 10 points (56-46) three minutes later when Redband drilled his third three-pointer of the game.
A nice spin move in the lane by Mehmetaj with just over four minutes left gave Daemen a 63-51 lead, but a three-pointer by Nickerson on UDC's next possession sparked the Firebirds on a 9-1 run. A tip-in by Nickerson with 1:59 left capped the run and made the score 64-60. Senior Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) canned two free throws for Daemen 17 seconds later, and after a UDC turnover Mehmetaj swished two more free throws to make it an eight point game, 68-60, with just over a minute left. A three-point attempt by UDC was off the mark at the other end, and the hosts regained a double-digit lead after Redband made two from the line with 50 seconds left. Daemen made things interesting by hitting just 3-of-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch. Hamilton made 1-of-2 with five seconds left to make it a five-point game, 73-68, before Nickerson drained a three-pointer at the buzzer.
After making just 11-of-31 shots (35%) in the first half, Daemen shot 50-percent (13–26) from the field in the second half and finished 24-for-57 (42%) overall. The Wildcats, who entered the game averaging a league-high 8.9 three-pointers a game, connected on just 6-of-20 from downtown. The hosts attempted just three free throws in the first half, but made 17-of-23 from the charity stripe in the second half. UDC shot just 40-percent (25-for-63) from the field overall and made 8-of-27 from behind the three-point arc. The Firebirds made 13-of-16 from the free throw line.
The Wildcats finished with a 42-32 edge in total rebounds and the hosts also posted a 27-4 advantage in bench points. Daemen, which entered the game averaging a league-low 11 turnovers per game, committed 18 turnovers tonight (11 in the first half) and UDC converted those turnovers into a 19-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Provided by the Daemen Sports Information Department.
