by Max Sacco
WASHINGTON D.C. Three different members of the #8/#7 Daemen University men’s basketball team finished in double figures, led by 17 points from redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.), as the Wildcats defeated the University of the District of Columbia, 80-52, in East Coast Conference men’s basketball action at the E.B Henderson Sports Complex Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Wildcats are 7-0 to begin the year for the first time since the 1998-99 season and began ECC play 2-0 for the second consecutive season. As for the Firebirds, they dropped to 3-6 and evened out at 1-1 in conference action.
IMPACT PLAYERS
• Redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) notched his second double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
• Along with his 17 points, Bill added in eight rebounds and a season-high four blocks to assist in the Wildcats winning effort.
• Fellow Queen City native, junior guard Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.), ended his afternoon with a season-high 15 points.
• Graduate student forward Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) dished out a season-high eight assists, one short of his career-high, while adding in eight points and six rebounds.
• Khyrie Staten led UDC with 13 points while his teammate, Greg Williams, added 11 tallies of his own. On the glass, Williams and Vernon Simmonds each hauled in a team-best five rebounds.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Daemen came out of the gates hot as they scored 10 of the first 14 points of the contest with Hemphill notching five scores of his own to begin the afternoon.
• The Firebirds began to chip away at the Wildcats lead and got to within five, 16-11, with 12:09 left in the half. That was as close as UDC got for the remainder of the afternoon as a layup from sophomore guard Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) sparked a 12-5 run for Daemen that extended their lead to double-digits, 28-16, with 7:58 remaining.
• Daemen and UDC traded buckets to close out the opening stanza with the Blue and White able to keep their double-digit lead intact, 36-24, after 20 minutes of action.
• Both sides traded baskets to open the second half, but the Wildcats again found their spark, this time in the form of a 3-pointer from Glover to unleash a 18-7 that spanned the middle part of the frame and extended their lead to a then game-high 21, 59-38, with 9:26 remaining.
• The Wildcats continued to pressure the Firebirds for the remainder of the contest and extended their lead by as much as 28 on two occasions to seal their 80-52 victory.
• Daemen ended the afternoon going 33-of-58 (.569) from the floor compared to 20-of-68 (.294) for UDC. The Blue and White also found support from their bench as they accounted for 33 points compared to just 16 for the hosts.
