Amherst, N.Y. - The No. 3 seed Daemen College men's basketball team led for more than 35 minutes and withstood late rally to pull out a 75-69 win tonight over sixth-seeded Roberts Wesleyan College in the opening round of the East Coast Conference Championship Tournament at Lumsden Gymnasium. Daemen, which is ranked eighth in the latest NCAA East Region poll, improved to 22-7 overall, and they'll move on to the semifinal round Saturday against second-seeded and two-time defending ECC champion Saint Thomas Aquinas College. It marks the third straight season that Daemen has advanced to at least the ECC Tournament semifinals.
The win tonight was Daemen's eighth straight. The Wildcats have won 17 of their last 18 games dating back to a Dec. 31road win over regionally-ranked College of Saint Rose. It was also their 15th straight win in the all-time series with Roberts Wesleyan. The two longtime rivals were meeting in postseason play for the first time since Feb. 21, 2012, a 65-45 Daemen win in the semifinals of the now-defunct American Mideast Conference Tournament. RWC, which was picked ninth in the ECC preseason poll this year, was making their first postseason appearance at the NCAA Division II level. The Redhawks suffered their eighth consecutive defeat, and closed their season at 14-14.
The Daemen backcourt led the way tonight as Jay Sarkis (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting, Breon Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) went for 15 points and five steals, and Darius Garvin (Elmira, N.Y.) stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Sarkis canned a game-high four three-pointers, the 22nd time this season he's made at least two in a game. Harris, who entered the game ranking 14th in the country in total steals, now has 66 steals on the season, the most for a Daemen player since Casey Sheehan's 68 during the 2012-13 season. Garvin logged a game-high 37 minutes, and was pivotal down the stretch when he shot 6-for-7 from the charity stripe.
Redshirt senior forward Aleks Miljenovic (Belgrade, Serbia) chipped in with 10 points off the bench. Redshirt sophomore forward Jeff Redband (Batavia, N.Y.) hit a pair of triples and totaled nine points. Redshirt freshman center Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) saw his personal streak of consecutive double-figure scoring games snapped at 20, but he still contributed eight points, eight boards and two steals.
Sophomore guard Isaiah Lewis (Churchville, N.Y.) paced the Redhawks with a game-high 20 points. Senior guard/forward Manny Joseph (Brooklyn, N.Y.) chipped in with 15 points, and freshman guard/forward Gintaras Bartaskas (Utena, Lithuania) added eight. Junior guard/forward Peyton McLuarin (Syracuse, N.Y.) hauled in a game-high 10 rebounds.
The teams traded baskets before a 10-4 Daemen run gave the hosts a 27-18 lead with under 10 minutes to play in the opening stanza. But, the Redhawks limited Daemen to just three field goals over the next eight minutes, and the guests pulled ahead 34-33 on Bartaskas' steal and dunk with 1:18 to go in the period. Daemen reclaimed the lead on the next possession when Harris tipped in Miljenovic's missed jumper, and the Wildcats took a slim 35-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Daemen scored the first five points of the second half, but RWC came back with six unanswered of their own, drawing even at 40-40 on a pair of Jean Toussaint (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Daemen answered with a three-pointer by Sarkis to re-establish a lead they would not relinquish.
A layup by RWC senior Malik Dare (Cohoes, N.Y.) at the10:33 mark pulled the Redhawks within a single point (53-52). Daemen again turned to Sarkis who hit a fade-away jumper on the baseline, igniting a game-altering 14-5 spurt that saw Daemen establish its first double-figure lead of the game (67-57). Harris, Redband and Garvin all totaled four points apiece in the run which was capped by two Garvin free throws at the 5:02 mark.
Daemen led 69-59 with 3:53 to play, but the Redhawks refused to go away. They forced Daemen into four consecutive turnovers and got back-to-back buckets by Joseph and a layup by Lewis to trim the deficit to just four points (69-65) with 2:13 to play. Garvin came through with another conversion of two free throws, but Lewis answered back with a layup to make the score 71-67 with 1:19 to play. Daemen bled clock on their next possession which ended in a missed jumper, but the Redhawks couldn't capitalize as Lewis committed a turnover. Sarkis, the No. 2 free throw shooter in the league, sank a pair to push it back to a six-point lead (73-67) with 18 seconds left. Sischo put the exclamation point on with a dunk 11 seconds later to seal the deal.
Daemen shot 43.5 percent from the field (27-for-62) and limited RWC to just 40.5 percent shooting (30-for-74). The Wildcats outscored the Redhawks by 15 points from three-point line (Daemen: 8-for-23; RWC: 3-for-22), helping offset disparities of 46-28 in paint points and 17-7 in fastbreak points in favor of the guests. Daemen, which leads the ECC in points per game allowed, is now 13-1 this season when giving up less than 70 points.
The win sets up another postseason showdown between Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas. STAC has bounced Daemen out of the conference tournament in each of the last two seasons. The teams split their two regular season meetings; STAC scored an 83-73 win at Lumsden Gymnasium on Dec. 8; the Wildcats responded with a 73-66 road win on Feb. 2 which snapped the Spartans' region-best 19-game home winning streak. Tip-off Saturday is set for7:30 p.m. from the Voller Athletic Center on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester. The winner Saturday moves on the tournament finals on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Provided by the Daemen Sports Information Department.
