Edinboro Fighting Scots (5-2, 5-1 PSAC West) at Daemen Wildcats (1-3, 0-0 ECC)Saturday, December 12, 2015 2:00 PM | Lumsden Gymnasium | Amherst, N.Y.Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/daemen/mbball/
Live Video: http://daemenwildcats.com/watch/
The Game StoryAfter a week off for final exams, the Edinboro University men's basketball team looks to extend their winning streak to four games on Saturday with a non-conference game at Daemen at 2:00 p.m.
This marks the first time since the 1996-97 season that the Fighting Scots and Wildcats will square off. Edinboro has won all nine previous contests against Daemen.
The Fighting Scots last week posted three crucial PSAC road victories to improve to 5-2 overall and 5-1 in the PSAC West. They won at PSAC West preseason favorite Mercyhurst on December 1, 77-67, defeated PSAC East preseason favorite East Stroudsburg on December 4, 68-66, and handed West Chester its first loss of the season on December 5, 69-66. Against ESU, redshirt sophomore guard
Jaymon Mason buried the game-winning jumper with 2.9 seconds remaining to top the Warriors. The three teams combined for a record of 17-2 heading into their games against Edinboro.
Senior guard
Henri Wade-Chatman will look to make history on Saturday, as he is nine points away from becoming the 27
th player in Edinboro history to tally 1,000 career points.
Wade-Chatman and Mason lead the backcourt game for the Fighting Scots. Mason is averaging 22.0 ppg., good for second in the PSAC, while Wade-Chatman adds 17.3 ppg., which ranks 10
th in the conference. Senior center
Tommy Scales handles the action down low, registering 13.9 points per game and a team-leading 8.9 rebounds per game. He is eighth in the PSAC in rebounds. As a team, Edinboro averages 75.9 points per game while allowing 74.3 points per game. They own a plus 2.8 rebounding margin.
Watch It LiveThe Edinboro-Daemen game will be video streamed through Daemen's athletic website at http://daemenwildcats.com/watch/
All-Time SeriesEdinboro leads Daemen, 9-0
First Meeting: 1978-79 – Edinboro 107, Daemen 85
Last Meeting: 1996-97 – Edinboro 89, Daemen 58
Current Streak: Edinboro W9
Cleary vs. Daemen: N/A
Last Meeting1/6/97 – Edinboro 89, Daemen 58Edinboro led from start to finish, opening with a 16-2 run and leading by as much as 19 in the first half before going into halftime with a 42-25 advantage. The Fighting Scots would continue their onslaught in the second half, using a 15-2 run to open the half to increase their lead to 30, their largest lead of the game. Junior guard Michael Cassidy led the Fighting Scots with 21 points. Brian Ellis posted a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Bill Besser collected 10 points and eight rebounds and John Saunders came off the bench to score 14 points and register seven boards.
Last Time Out12/5/15 – Edinboro 69, West Chester 66Leading 64-56 with 1:08 to go, the Fighting Scots would hang on for the win while making seven of 11 free throws down the stretch. The Golden Rams would cut Edinboro's lead down to two (67-65) with 11 ticks to go thanks to a layup by Matt Penecale.
Sheldon Brogdon would make one of two free throws, but he would foul Mike Wilson. Wilson made his first free throw, and missed the second, with WCU coming up with the possession. That gave the Golden Rams one last chance to draw the game even with six seconds to play. Their final chance came up short, as Matt Wisely missed what would be the game-tying layup, with
Tommy Scales pulling down the rebound with two ticks showing on the clock. Scales was fouled and converted one of his two free throws to seal the 69-66 victory.
Jaymon Mason led the Scots with 23 points, connecting on 4-of-7 shots from 3-point range.
Henri Wade-Chatman added 15 points and led the team in rebounds with eight. Senior center
Tommy Scales had seven points and seven boards, while Brogdon finished with 14 points. The Boro pulled out the win despite being outrebounded, 42-37, and being outscored in the paint, 38-16.
12/1/15 – Slippery Rock 72, Daemen 51The Wildcats opened the second half with an old-fashioned three-point play by Ryan Grandits which cut the deficit to nine at 35-26. The Wildcats had four straight chances to further cut into the SRU edge, but the turned the ball over twice and missed a pair of field goals in that span. SRU would build the lead back to a 14-point advantage (40-26). The Wildcats would never pull closer than that the rest of the way. SRU scored the next seven points to go ahead by 49-33 with 13:00 remaining. Slippery Rock owned a commanding 46-33 edge in the rebound column. Arif Mehmetaj was the only Wildcat player to reach double figures with 13 points. Nick Petrucelli grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
The Head CoachesEdinboro: Pat Cleary (29-31, 3rd Year)Pat Cleary sat at the right side of Edinboro head men's basketball coach Greg Walcavich for 14 years. On March 26, 2013, Cleary moved over a seat as he was officially introduced as Edinboro's tenth head coach after Walcavich announced his retirement. Cleary's first season ended with a 10-16 record. Edinboro lost three games to nationally-ranked teams and suffered a number of close losses, including two overtime losses and two defeats at the buzzer. Season number two saw the Fighting Scots make the PSAC playoffs as the number five seed after being picked to finish eighth in the PSAC coaches' poll. Edinboro ended the year with a 14-13 record, falling at Slippery Rock, 64-60, in the first round of the PSAC Playoffs. Among the victories was a 79-77 overtime upset of 16th-ranked Indiana (Pa.). The Crimson Hawks would go on to reach the NCAA Division II national championship game.
Daemen: Mike MacDonald (22-13, 2nd year; Career Record: 278-239)MacDonald, who was introduced as the sixth head coach in program history on September 16, 2014, led Daemen to a 21-10 overall record in his first year roaming the Daemen sidelines. In doing so, he became one of the only active head coaches in the country to have achieved 20-win seasons at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. He previously was the head coach at Division I Canisius College from 1997-2006 and served a similar role at Division III Medaille College from 2006-2014.
The Fighting ScotsEdinboro's Probable StartersTop Reserves Players to WatchHenri Wade-Chatman (G, Sr.) was named to the 2015 All-PSAC West first team after finishing second in the PSAC with 18.9 points per game and third in total points with 511. Better known as "Booka," Wade-Chatman stands at 991 career points, nine points shy of becoming the 27
th Fighting Scot in school history to reach the 1,000 point milestone. He is currently second on the team with 17.3 points per game and second with 5.9 rpg.. Wade-Chatman is shooting 35.6 percent on 3-pointers (16-for-45). He had a season-high 27 points against Mansfield, connecting on seven of 12 3-pointers.
Tommy Scales (C, Sr.), a former transfer from Fairmont State, leads the team and is eighth in the PSAC with 8.9 rpg. and is third on the Edinboro squad with 14.8 ppg.. He is shooting 54.3 percent from the floor, good for sixth in the PSAC. Scales posted two consecutive double-doubles last week, the first at Mercyhurst (15 points and 11 rebounds) and the second at East Stroudsburg (16 points and 11 boards). Last season, he finished third on the team in scoring (7.7 ppg.) and was second on the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg.). He shot 55.8 percent from the floor and blocked 23 shots.
Jaymon Mason (G, R-So.) was named the 2015 PSAC Freshman of the Year, the first Fighting Scot to receive this honor since Dan Grabill in 2002. Mason is the Scots leading scorer with 22.0 ppg., which is second in the PSAC. Mason is shooting 45.0 percent from the field (49-for-109) and 37.8 percent on 3-pointers (17-for-45). He ranks second in the PSAC and 23
rd in Division II in free throw percentage at 92.9% (39-for-42). He opened the season making his first 24 attempts from the charity stripe. He notched a career-high 39 points against Kutztown earlier this year. Mason was named the PSAC West men's basketball athlete of the week on Monday after averaging 23 points per game in three PSAC road games last week, including a double-double at East Stroudsburg (27 points, 11 rebounds). He hit the game-winning shot with 2.9 seconds remaining.
Scouting DaemenThe Wildcats enter Saturday's game with a 1-3 record and compete in the East Coast Conference. Their lone win came against Wilmington in the season opener, 109-87. Saturday will mark Daemen's first game in 11 days.
This marks the first season that the Wildcats are playing at the NCAA Division II level. They previously competed at the USCAA Division I level. The 2014-15 Daemen Wildcats won the USCAA Division I national championship with a 21-10 record under first-year head coach Mike MacDonald.
Daemen is 0-2 against PSAC competition. They lost to Mercyhurst earlier this year, 75-69, and fell at Slippery Rock in their last contest, 72-51.
The Wildcats average 78.8 points per game while allowing 80.8 points per game. They are being outrebounded by a 3.8 margin. Daemen also holds a minus 1.2 turnover margin. They are shooting 45.3 percent from the field (107-for-236) and are 36.0 percent in 3-pointers (32-for-89).
Probable Starters| P / No. | Player | Ht/Wt/Yr | Hometown | PPG / RPG |
| F / 44 | Ryan Grandits | 6-5/190/Gr. | Kenmore, NY | 9.5 / 5.0 |
| F / 21 | Arif Mehmetaj | 6-7/220/Jr. | Jamaica, NY | 17.3 / 6.8 |
| G / 3 | Supreme Hannah | 6-0/165/Sr. | Rochester, NY | 11.5 / 2.3 |
| G / 10 | Jaleo Wilkes | 5-10/175/Jr. | Niagara Falls, NY | 2.8 / 1.3 |
| G / 4 | Torrence Dyck | 6-5/200/Sr. | Rochester, NY | 17.8 / 4.5 |
Top Reserves| G / 5 | Jay Sarkis | 6-1/175/Fr. | Rochester, NY | 5.8 / 1.3 |
| G / 24 | Nick Petrucelli | 6-3/180/So. | Hicksville, NY | 7.5 / 3.5 |
| G / 11 | Jesse Lalka | 6-2/200/Jr. | Tonawanda, NY | 4.5 / 2.5 |
Next GameWednesday, December 16 vs. Gannon, 7:30 p.m.
