Daemen
Wildcats Maul Highlanders
(Amherst, N.Y.)—The
Daemen Wildcats mauled the Houghton College men’s basketball team
76-46 in the Highlanders’ American Mideast Conference North Division
opener Tuesday night.
The
Highlanders actually got out to an early lead, but then started to
turn the ball over and miss opportunities, according to Highlander
head coach Brad Zarges.
“We were
throwing the ball out of bounds or traveling,” said Zarges, “so even
though we were turning it over, at least we could get our defense
set.”
The
Highlanders had 15 turnovers in the first half, but trailed by only
four. However, Houghton turned the ball over 17 more times in the
second half. “Mostly on live balls—steals and errant passes,” said
Zarges, “and that allowed them to generate a lot of offense. They
love to use their transition offense.”
The
Highlanders wasted a career-best effort from Mada Abdelhamid, who
shot 13-for-17 from the field and finished with 27 points. “Mada was
awesome,” said Zarges, “There’s no other word for it. He was
unstoppable.”
The problem,
Zarges added, was that “we didn’t really have more scoring punch.”
Ben Kopp was second on the team in scoring with nine.
“We played
them hard, but just didn’t take care of the ball,” said Zarges.
Houghton’s
record is 5-8, 0-1 in the AMC North. They have a non-conference game
at 8 p.m. Thursday against SUNY Canton at Houghton.
