Pace Prosser
Mike Gallagher
70
Gannon Gannon 15-3,10-0 PSAC
82
Winner Daemen Daemen 16-0,7-0 ECC
Gannon Gannon
15-3,10-0 PSAC
70
Final
82
Daemen Daemen
16-0,7-0 ECC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Gannon Gannon 31 39 70
Daemen Daemen 42 40 82

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Golden Knights See 15-Game Winning Streak End at No. 2/4 Daemen

AMHERST, N.Y. – Two teams riding 15-game winning streaks collided on Saturday afternoon. When the action concluded it was Daemen boosting its winning streak to 16 games while snapping Gannon's winning streak at 15 games. The Wildcats came away with an 82-70 victory as defense won out over offense.
 
Daemen came into the game ranked second in the NABC Division II Top 25 and fourth in the D2CSC poll while Gannon was ranked seventh in the D2CSC poll and 21st in the NABC rankings. Daemen remained undefeated at 16-0 while Gannon dropped to 15-3. All three of Gannon's losses have come to teams currently in the NABC top 10. The Golden Knights began the year with losses to Nova Southeaster, ranked first most of the year and currently third, and Lake Superior State who is eighth.
 
The game featured a Daemen team that came in ranked fourth in scoring defense (60.3 ppg.) against a Golden Knight squad that was fifth in scoring offense (97.3 ppg.). The Wildcats have been dominant all year with just one game decided by less than double figures.
 
Prior to Saturday the lowest point total Gannon had in a game was 87 points against Lake Superior State in the second game of the season.
 
The Golden Knights will return to PSAC action on Wednesday, January 22 hosting Pitt-Johnstown. Tipoff at the Highmark Events Center is 7:30 p.m. Daemen was Gannon's final non-conference game with the final 10 games against PSAC West competition.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The contest went back-and-forth for the first ten minutes of the game with two ties and two lead changes. Gannon held its final lead at 18-17 on Lucas Sekasi's (Washington, DC/Jackson-Reed) layup 1ith 12:55 left in the half. The Wildcats answered with a 17-5 run to ahead by 11 points at 34-23 with 3:37 left. Gannon would trail by that same margin at the half at 42-31. Daemen shot 63.0 percent (17-of-27) in the first half.
 
Poor shooting in the second half denied Gannon an opportunity to rally. The Golden Knights made just 29.7 percent (11-of-37) in the final 20 minutes. Daemen opened the second half with a 13-2 run to build Gannon's deficit to 55-33. Gannon missed its first nine shots during that stretch before Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) hit a jumper and was fouled on the play. He missed the free throw to snap a string of 32 consecutive free throws made.
 
The Golden Knights spent the rest of the game playing catch up. They made several runs at the Wildcats but each time Daemen responded. Layne Sarver's (New Madison, Ohio/Tri-Village) 3-pointer at the 1:52 mark cut the deficit in half to 55-44 but Daemen scored the next six points.
 
Gannon to within 12 points on numerous occasions and cut the lead to nine points at 77-68 on Shelton's 3-pointer, but by that time just 30 seconds remained.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
Gannon finished the game shooting just 34.8 percent for the game (23-of-66) while making 6-of-24 3-pointers. Daemen, meanwhile, rode the hot first half to finish at 54.2 percent (32-of-59), converting on 4-of-17 from beyond the arc. Gannon made 16-of-25 free throws and Daemen was 14-of-21.
 
The Golden Knights held a narrow advantage in the rebounding department, 41 to 38. They were able to force just 14 turnovers while committing 15. The points off turnovers were even at 16-16.
 
Five Golden Knights scored in double figures led by Pace Prosser (Berlin, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) with 14 points. In fact the 6-foot-2 freshman contributed his first double double with a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
Tasman Goodrick (Sydney, Australia/St. Joseph's College) added 13 points and seven rebounds while Ernest Shelton (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge), Lucas Sekasi (Washington, DC/Jackson-Reed) and Layne Sarver (New Madison, Ohio/Tri-Village) all scored 10 points.  Sekasi, another freshman guard, added five assists. Mike Montano (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) finished with nine points and six rebounds.
 
Daemen was led by its two Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch players Benjamin Bill and Justin Hemphill. Bill, a 6-foot-10 center, made 10-of-11 shots to finish with 21 points. Hemphill added 16 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists and four blocks. 
 
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