by DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – The No. 2/3 Daemen University men’s basketball team scored 15 of the first 19 points over the first six minutes of the contest and never looked back as they picked up an 80-60 wire-to-wire victory over Mercy in East Coast Conference men’s basketball action Sunday afternoon at Victory Gymnasium.
With the win, the Wildcats improved to 21-0 overall and 12-0 in ECC play while Mercy dropped to 5-15 and 4-7 in conference action.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The Wildcats attacked the Mavericks early as they commanded a 15-4 lead just over six minutes into the contest. Hemphill and Salzberg paced the ‘Cats early scoring efforts with five points each.
• Daemen and Mercy traded scores over the next few minutes, but a triple from sophomore guard Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) sparked a 16-6 spurt that lasted for most of the remainder of the first half and pushed Daemen ahead by a then game-high 22 points, 39-17.
• Mercy nabbed two quick buckets to close the half, but the Wildcats entered the locker room with a 39-21 edge after 20 minutes of action.
• After both sides traded buckets to open the second stanza, the Mavericks began to chip away at the ‘Cats lead as they used a 12-4 run, paced by five points from Nathan Robertson, to trim the Daemen lead to just 11, 52-41, with 10:26 remaining.
• That would be as close as Mercy got for the remainder of the contest as a layup from Bill kicked off a 10-2 run that put Daemen ahead nearly 20, 62-43, with 7:43 to play.
• The two sides traded buckets the remainder of the way with Daemen ending the contest on a high note by scoring 10 of the final 16 points of the afternoon to leave Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., with an 80-60 win.
• Daemen ended the afternoon shooting 31-of-60 (.517) from the floor and held a 40-35 edge in rebounds. The ‘Cats also dominated in bench points as they tallied 40 compared to 12 for Mercy.
• Mercy shot 25-of-66 (.379) for the game and nearly tied Daemen in 3-pointers with six compared to the Wildcats seven.
