Sparkill, N.Y. - Graduate student Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) totaled 35 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks to lead Daemen College to an 85-70 victory over Molly College in the semifinals of the 2022 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament today at Aquinas Hall on the campus of St. Thomas Aquinas College.
The second-seeded Wildcats improved to 20-8 on the year and will take on top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas (25-4) in the tournament championship game tomorrow. STAC advanced with an 84-64 victory over fifth-seeded Roberts Wesleyan College. Third-seeded Molloy closed out the year with a 12-17 record.
Daemen advances to the ECC Tournament championship game for the second-straight year and the third time in program history. The Wildcats will face the Spartans of STAC for the second-straight year. The Spartans have eliminated the Wildcats from the ECC Tournament five of the previous six seasons, including last year's title game. The ECC Tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the upcoming 64-team NCAA Division II Championship tournament. Daemen is looking to claim its first-ever ECC Tournament title and make its third-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament field.
The teams traded buckets early in the game and it was tied at 16-16 when the Wildcats mounted a 15-5 run. Sischo scored 10 of the 15 points and his jumper with 5:48 left tin the half capped the run and gave Daemen a 31-21 lead. The Wildcats later took their largest lead of the half, 40-28, following a bucket by Sischo with 48 seconds left before the break, and Daemen would go on to take a 42-32 lead into halftime.
Molloy cut the lead to six points, 44-38, early in the second half, but the Lions come no closer than that the rest of the game. Daemen regained a double-digit lead, 52-42, following a bucket by Sischo six minutes into the second half, and the Wildcats later increased the lead to 13 points, 59-46, after junior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) drilled a three-pointer with 12 minutes to play. The teams traded baskets for the next seven minutes and the Daemen lead was 12 points, 71-59, when the Wildcats put together a decisive 8-2 spurt. Graduate student Kyle Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) hit a clutch three-pointer during the run and Sischo's free throw with 2:47 to play capped it and gave Daemen a 79-62 lead.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Sischo played 36 minutes and connected on 13-of-19 shots en route to his Division II leading 23rd double-double of the year. He has scored 10+ points in 92 of his last 93 games and in 124 games total for his career. His seven assists today tied his career-high, which he set earlier this season during a win over UDC on Dec. 20.
- Harris went 4-of-7 from behind the arc and finished with 14 points, four rebounds, and two assists.
- Graduate student Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) added 11 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
- Junior Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) played 35 minutes and totaled eight points, a career-high 10 rebounds, and three assists.
- Five players scored in double figures for Molloy.
- Freshman guard Darren Fergus scored a team-high 18 points, while junior forward William Muller added 15 points. Freshman guard Kenny Lazo chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Senior guard Steven Torre, who scored 25 points last week when the Lions posted an 81-72 win over Daemen, was limited to 11 points today.
GAME NOTES
- Daemen returns 11 players, including all five starters, from their 2020-21 team that won the NCAA Division II East Region Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight.
- Daemen entered the game ranked eighth in this week's NCAA Division II East Region poll.
- Today's game marked the first-ever post-season meeting between the two teams. Daemen has prevailed in five of the last six meetings and improved to 12-6 all-time against Molloy.
- Daemen shot 31-for-66 from the field (47%) overall and went 10-for-27 from three-point range. Daemen has shot at least 45% from the field in 19 of its 28 games this season. It marked the 10th time this season Daemen has made 10 or more three-pointers in a game.
- Molloy finished 26-for-66 from the field (39%) and 7-for-24 from downtown.
- Daemen had 19 assists on 31 field goals. The Wildcats have totaled 15 or more assists in a game 19 times this season.
- A two-time consensus All-American, Sischo was named ECC Player of the Year for an unprecedented fourth-straight season yesterday. and was also recently named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List. He recently became only the 18th player in NCAA Division II history to reach 2,800 career points. He is the active leader in career points (2,864), rebounds (1,465) and double-doubles (83) across all NCAA divisions. He is the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Daemen and ECC history, as well as the all-time leading scorer among all NCAA men's basketball programs in the state of New York. Sischo ranks 17th in career points and fifth in career rebounds all-time in Division II.
- It was the seventh time this season and 22nd time over his career that Sischo has scored 30 or more points in a game.
- Fasoyiro scored his 1,000th career point during a recent win over D'Youville. He totaled 494 points during his three seasons at Franklin Pierce and has netted 583 points in 44 games at Daemen (13.3 ppg). Daemen is now 30-14 with Fasoyiro in the starting lineup.
- Harris took over the team lead for total three-pointers made this season with 58. He passed sophomore Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) who has totaled 56 triples this year and sat out today's game due to injury.
- Daemen has now won at least 20 games eight times over the past 11 seasons—and 14 times over the last 23 seasons.
NEXT JUMP BALL
The ECC Tournament championship game is set for tomorrow (March 6) at 2:30 p.m. at Aquinas Hall.
Provided by the Daemen Sports Information Department.
