Albany, N.Y. - For the first time in program history, the Daemen men's basketball team will compete for an NCAA Division II regional championship. Daemen, the No. 2 seed in the East Region, dispatched of third-seeded Bloomfield 81-69 tonight at the Albany Capital Center. The win pushes the Wildcats into the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship where they'll meet top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in the final round of the East Regional Tuesday.
It marked the first-ever NCAA tournament victory for the Wildcats as they improve to 9-5 this season. Daemen has earned three consecutive NCAA tournament berths. The Wildcats made their NCAA tournament debut in 2019, falling in the opening round to fourth-seeded New Haven. Last season's tournament was called off due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; the announcement was made as Daemen was en route to their opening round game in Bridgeport, Conn.
Bloomfield, which had advanced into tonight's regional semifinal with a 71-58 victory over sixth-seeded Nyack last evening, ended its season with a 7-4 record. Tonight's loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Bears who were awarded an automatic bid to the tournament after finishing as the regular season champion from the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. The Bears were making their ninth NCAA tournament appearance in the 19-tenure of head coach Gerald Holmes.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- All five Daemen starters reached double figures, led by redshirt senior center Andrew Sischo (Guilderland N.Y.) who scored a game-high 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting. It was a homecoming of sorts for the Daemen big man who grew up just over 10 miles away. He grabbed 10 boards to record his 11th double-double of the season, and equaled his season-high with three assists.
- Graduate student Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Texas) scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half, and added seven rebounds and two steals.
- Senior guard Kyle Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.), sophomore guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) and freshman guards Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) and Juston Johnson (Buffalo, N.Y.) accounted for eight of Daemen's nine three-pointers. Harris (12), Salzberg (10) and Mason (10) all hit double figures, while Johnson scored eight points off the bench, all in the first half.
- Bloomfield racked up 45 points off their bench, led by Izaiah Poole and Tony Godwin who scored 17 and 16, respectively. Rich Chapman chipped in with nine points.
- Isaiah Sparks was the lone Bloomfield starter to reach double digits, finishing with 13 points.
First Half (Daemen 42, Bloomfield 29) - Daemen led for more than 18 minutes in the opening stanza, taking advantage of a favorable matchup inside as Sischo scored 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the period. Johnson came off the bench to spark the Wildcats midway through the period, knocking down a pair of three-pointers and converting a steal into an easy layup during a 10-5 spurt. After going to the under-eight-minute media timeout leading 26-22, Daemen emerged with another 9-2 run and ultimately outscored the Bears 15-7 in the remainder of the period. Sischo scored six straight points to push the Wildcat lead to its widest margin at 41-26, before Daemen took a 13-point edge into the break.
Second Half (Bloomfield 40, Daemen 39) - Bloomfield started the half strong, scoring 15 points in less than five minutes to cut the Daemen lead to 51-44. Back-to-back buckets by Fasoyiro sparked Daemen's signature run of the game, a 14-0 spurt that put the Wildcats firmly in front. Fasoyiro netted seven points in the run which was capped by a corner three-pointer from Mason that extended Daemen's lead to 65-44 with 12:06 to play. The Wildcats stayed comfortably ahead for the duration. The lead reached 26 points (76-50) on Harris' three-pointer at the 7:07 mark. Bloomfield closed the game with an 13-3 run spanning the final 3:59.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Daemen was firing on all cylinders offensively throughout much of the contest, shooting 29-for-55 from the field (52.7%), 9-for-21 from three-point range (42.9%) and 14-for-18 at the charity stripe (77.8%). It's the third time this season the Wildcats have shot at least 50% from the field, 40% from downtown and 75% from the free throw line in the same game.
- Playing their second game in as many nights, Bloomfield did not find sustained success at the offensive end. The Bears shot just 38% overall (27-for-71) and 25% from behind the three-point arc (7-for-28).
- Daemen collected 38 rebounds to Bloomfield's 33. Despite having only one starter taller than 6-foot-3, the Wildcats entered the game ranked ninth nationally with a +8.6 average rebounding margin.
GAME NOTES
- Tonight's game featured two of the top coaches in the East Region. With 395 wins in 24 seasons, Daemen's Mike MacDonald ranks sixth among active East Region coaches for career wins. Bloomfield's Gerald Holmes ranks ninth with 344.
- It marked the first ever meeting between Daemen and Bloomfield. Daemen has now won 14 consecutive games against CACC opponents. Since joining the ECC in 2013-14, Daemen is 18-3 against CACC teams.
- Sischo entered the game ranked third in scoring and first in rebounding among the Division II national leaders. He's averaging 26.8 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, and has now scored 20 points or more in 12 of his 13 games this season and in 57 games during his career. Sischo has scored 10 or more points in 64 straight games.
- Already Daemen's all-time leading scorer Sischo has totaled 2,169 points and 1,072 rebounds. He trails ECC record-holder Justin Reyes (St. Thomas Aquinas) by 78 points for the all-time conference scoring record. He is 31 rebounds shy of Daemen's all-time mark held by Hall of Famer Alex Nwora, and tonight moved into a tie with St. Rose's Garth Joseph for third place on the ECC's all-time rebounding list.
- Mason has scored in double figures in nine straight games, averaging 15.7 points in that span. For the season, the rookie guard is producing 13.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest while shooting 55% overall and 47% from three-point territory.
- Daemen has won seven of their last nine games. Their only two losses in that span are to Tuesday's opponent, St. Thomas Aquinas.
- Daemen and STAC split two regular season meetings in late February - the fifth time that's happened in the last six seasons. STAC drew last blood with an 83-67 victory in the final round of the ECC Championship last weekend. The Wildcats and Spartans have met 17 times since the start of the 2014-15 season, including five conference tournament matchups.
- Daemen is coming off back-to-back 24-win seasons that resulted in NCAA tournament berths. Daemen's 89 wins from 2016-17 through 2019-20 represents the most successful four-year span in program history. The Wildcats were hit hard by graduation, losing four of their five starters, all of whom were 1,000-point scorers.
NEXT JUMP BALL
Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas meet for the fourth time this season, tipping off Tuesday's (March 16) regional championship game at 7 p.m. from the Albany Capital Center. The winner of Tuesday's game advances to the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Elite Eight which is set for March 24-27 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
Provided by the Daemen Sports Information Department.
