Evansville, Ind. - The Cinderella slipper didn't fit during Daemen's first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Elite Eight.
Playing with a roster reduced to 10 players due to injuries and opt-outs, the eighth-seeded Wildcats, champions of the East Region, suffered a 97-83 setback to No. 1 seed West Texas A&M in the national quarterfinals this afternoon at the Ford Center. The highly-touted Buffs, ranked in the top six of both Division II national polls and champions of the South Central Region, outscored Daemen 32-14 over the final 10:43 of the first half, turning a six-point lead into a commanding 56-32 advantage. The Wildcats put up 51 points in the second half, outscoring the Buffs by 10, but couldn't string together enough defensive stops to cut the deficit to single digits.
With the win, West Texas A&M improved to 18-2 this season. The Buffs advance to Thursday's national semifinal to face fourth-seeded Lincoln Memorial who defeated fifth-seeded Colorado Mines 90-76 in today's first quarterfinal matchup. It's the Buffs' second Final Four appearance in the last four seasons.
Daemen ends its season with a 10-6 overall record. After starting the season with back-to-back losses to Gannon and having to replace four 1,000-point scorers in their starting lineup, the Wildcats went 10-4 since February 1 with three of their four losses coming against nationally-ranked opponents.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- The dynamic backcourt of Joel Murray, Qua Grant, and Jon'il Fugett - all juniors - led the way for the Buffs. Murray and Grant, who came into the contest ranked ninth and 13th respectively among the national scoring leaders, were as advertised. Murray shot 13-for-26 from the field and totaled game-highs of 31 points and six assists. He scored 24 points in the first half alone. Grant scored 14 of his 20 points after halftime. And Fugett hurt the Wildcats for much of the game, finishing with 22 points, 10 more than his season average, on 8-for-12 shooting including 4-for-6 from three-point range.
- Redshirt senior center Andrew Sischo (Guilderland, N.Y.) overcame a sluggish start to finish with 29 points and a game-high 16 rebounds to lead the Wildcats. It marked Sischo's 14th 20-point game and his Division II-leading 13th double-double of the season.
- Graduate guard Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Texas) shot 4-for-7 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free throw line, finishing with 16 points.
- Sophomore guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) and senior guard Kyle Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) also reached double figures for the Wildcats, scoring 13 and 12 points, respectively.
PERIOD-BY-PERIOD SUMMARY
First Half (West Texas A&M 56, Daemen 32) - Both teams found early success at the offensive end. A Harris three-pointer at 13:58 mark evened the score at 12-12. Murray scored six points during a 12-2 spurt by the Buffs as they opened up their first double-figure lead at 24-14. After the Wildcats crawled within 24-18 on a layup by Fasoyiro, the Buffs embarked on the game's most decisive run, a 19-4 spurt that included 11 unanswered points at its climax. Fugett hit a pair of three-pointers and Zach Toussaint drilled another to cap the run with West Texas leading 43-22. Daemen got within 44-28, but Murray scored seven points in the final 2:28 of the period as the Buffs took a 24-point lead into the locker room.
Second Half (Daemen 51, West Texas A&M 41) - Daemen made 11 of its first 13 field goal attempts, cutting the West Texas A&M lead to 68-52 on a layup by Sischo with 13:58 to go. The Buffs pushed it back to a 26-point lead by the 9:11 mark, thanks to an old-fashioned three-point play by Fugett. The Wildcats got the deficit back under 20 points on a three-pointer by Harris, part of a game-closing 15-6 run spanning more than six minutes that included eight points by reserve guard Tyler Hind (Randolph, N.Y.). Daemen shot 78% in the period (18-for-23).
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Both teams managed to shoot 56% from the field, but West Texas A&M made nine more field goals, shooting 39-for-70 compared to Daemen's 30-for-54.
- The Buffs racked up 50 points in the paint and turned 13 Daemen turnovers into 18 points. The Buffs committed just four turnovers of their own.
- The Buffs entered the game averaging 91.6 points per outing - sixth-best among all Division II teams this season.
- It marked Daemen's first loss when scoring at least 80 points since their 2019-20 regular season finale at New York Tech.
GAME NOTES
- It marked the first-ever meeting between Daemen and West Texas A&M. Since transitioning to Division II, the Wildcats are 2-2 against members of the Lone Star Conference.
- Daemen advanced to the Elite Eight with a 71-70 victory St. Thomas Aquinas in the East Regional final at the Albany Capital Center on March 16.
- West Texas A&M was making their third Elite Eight appearance in the last four seasons. They defeated Lubbock Christian 101-92 in the South Central Regional final on March 16.
- The Buffs are ranked fifth in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II coaches poll and sixth in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) national media poll. Daemen finished 2-3 against nationally-ranked opponents this season.
- Daemen is now 2-2 all-time in NCAA tournament games. The Wildcats have earned NCAA tournament berths in three straight seasons.
- Sischo entered the Elite Eight ranked fourth in scoring and first in rebounding among the Division II national leaders. He finished the season averaging 26.9 points and 13.0 rebounds per game. Sischo, who averaged 24.9 points per game as a junior, becomes just the second player in program history to average 25+ points for a season and his scoring average breaks the single-season program record held by Robert Robinson (25.6 ppg in 1990-91). His rebounding average, a career-best, ranks second in program history behind Jim Chapman's 14.1 in 1988-89.
- Sischo has now scored 20 points or more in 59 games during his career. Sischo has scored 10 or more points in 66 straight games.
- In Daemen's three NCAA tournament games, Sischo averaged 26.3 points and 13.0 rebounds per game.
- Already Daemen's all-time leading scorer Sischo has totaled 2,223 points and 1,101 rebounds. Tonight he became only the second player in East Coast Conference history to reach 2,200 career points and he trails the conference's all-time record-holder Justin Reyes (St. Thomas Aquinas) by 24 points. He also became only the second player in Daemen history to reach 1,100 career rebounds, trailing record-holder Alex Nwora by just two caroms.
- Daemen has posted 10 consecutive winning seasons. The Wildcats had won at least 19 games in nine straight seasons before this year's pandemic-shortened campaign.
Provided by the Daemen Sports Information Department.
