AMHERST, N.Y. (Feb. 19, 2023) – Despite a near double-double from junior Jayden Dewaal (Toronto, Canada/Trinidad State Junior College), the Mercy College men's basketball team dropped an 82-51 decision to ECC foe Daemen University on Sunday afternoon at Lumsden Gymnasium.
The Mavericks (5-19, 2-12 ECC) see their two-game winning streak come to an end, while the Wildcats (18-7, 11-4 ECC) have won six games in a row and improve to 20-0 all-time against Mercy.
Dewaal had a team-high 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting with a game-high nine rebounds. Senior James Taylor Jr. (South Chesterfield, Va./Neosho County CC) and graduate students Sean Smith Jr. (Yonkers, N.Y./University of New Haven) and Korey Lee (Huntington Station, N.Y./Trinity-Pawling) all added nine points apiece.
Daemen was led by Nick MacDonald who had a game-high 15 points.
Mercy held a 6-5 lead at the 17:35 mark of the first half following a Dewaal jumper. The Wildcats stormed back on an 8-0 run to take a 13-6 lead with 16:12 on the clock. A Smith Jr. jumper with 13:07 left in the half cut the Daemen lead to three, 15-12.
However, the Wildcats followed with a 15-3 run to increase their lead to 15, 30-15, with 6:32 left in the half. Back-to-back baskets from Taylor Jr. and Lee made it 30-19, but Daemen went on a 10-5 run to take a 40-24 lead at the 2:01 mark. A Taylor Jr. three with 14 seconds left made it 43-32, but a late MacDonald jumper gave the hosts a 45-32 lead at halftime.
A Dewaal jumper to open the second half cut the Daemen lead to 11, 45-34. The Wildcats came back on an 18-2 run to increase their lead to 27, 63-36, with 13:33 left. Daemen later increased the lead to a game-high 31 points, 76-45, with 6:12 remaining and led the rest of the way to secure the win.
Mercy shot 35.7 percent (20-of-56) from the floor, 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from downtown and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from the foul line. Daemen shot 54.4 percent (31-of-57) from the field, 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from beyond the arc and 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from the charity stripe. Daemen held a 42-30 edge on the glass.
Interim Head Coach Chris Watts and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, February 22nd when they host Molloy for Senior Day at 7 p.m.
