AMHERST, N.Y. -- After matching their longest winning streak of the season at five games following their win over Bloomfield College on December 30th, the magic ran out for Post University Men's Basketball on Wednesday afternoon against Daemen University on the road. After shooting struggles for both sides in the first half led to a closely contested game, the continued shooting woes for the Eagles would be their undoing as they fell for only the second time this season, 71-55, to the Wildcats who were ranked eighth in the D2CSC East Region Poll before the winter break.

The loss for Post comes just a day after they moved up two more spots in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25 National Poll to 18th, their highest ranking in program history. 

THE BASICS

#18/21 Post University 55, Daemen University 71

#18/21 Post University (10-2)

Daemen University (11-4)

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first half saw both sides shoot just 28% from the floor overall while Post held a slight edge from beyond the three-point line having hit four long balls compared to just one from Daemen. But foul trouble for the Eagles would lead to 17 free throw attempts in the opening 20 minutes for the Wildcats where they would struggle from as well making 9-of-17. Junior guard Bol Akot, who led the team with 12 points, along with last game's hero in junior guard Robert Sanders would lead an early 5-0 run for Post who led 7-2 in the early going of the contest. The responding 6-0 run by Daemen would make that lead short-lived as the two sides battled for command of the game in a low-scoring first half.

The Post lead would balloon to as many as eight points, 19-11, with 7:31 left in the opening frame following a three-point play from graduate forward Harrison Warnock who was playing in his third game this season since coming back from a knee injury. The largest lead the Eagles would maintain was a nine-point edge with 4:08 left in the first half, 23-14, before scoring just two points the rest of the way on a layup from senior forward Derrick Thomas II. That lull gave the Wildcats the opportunity to get back into the game, an opportunity they would seize with a 13-2 run to end the half which gave them a 26-25 halftime lead.

While the Eagles' shooting numbers would improve slightly to 37.9% in the second half, they would go cold from three-point land as they missed all 10 of their attempts to finish the game 4-for-22 from beyond the arc. On the other side, it was Daemen who got the hot hand going with a 51.7% shooting half which included making 50% of their threes (5-of-10) to help them outscore Post, 45-30, in the second half en route to their 16-point victory. 

An Akot jumper with 18:10 remaining in regulation got the Eagles to within two points, 31-29, but that would be the closest they got the rest of the way as the Wildcats responded with a 14-2 run that gave them a 16-point cushion, 50-34, with 11:10 left. That run would prove to make all the difference as Post would be unable to get the deficit back to single digits the rest of the way and dropped their second game of the season and first on the road, 71-55. 

Only two players finished in double figures for the Eagles in Akot with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting as well as Thomas II who scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Junior forward Kyle Alcy led the way with 10 rebounds to give him four games this season with 10-plus rebounds and his second straight game with 10 or more rebounds. Fifth-year guard Nick MacDonald led the way for the Wildcats with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting while graduate forward Joey Atkins was right behind him with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting to lead Daemen to their third straight win. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Deng Deang had his streak of double-digit scoring games come to an end at 11 straight after only scoring two points in 18 minutes while going 1-for-5 from the field and grabbing six rebounds
• Although falling to 10-2, Post University is off to their best start in program history, the next closest mark after 12 games was the 2012-13 team which started 9-3 on the year
• Both of Post University's losses this season have come at the hands of teams ranked in the D2CSC East Region Poll with the first coming against Southern New Hampshire before dropping today's matchup against Daemen University
• Post University is now 0-2 all-time against Daemen University in the all-time series, this was the first meeting between the two teams since the 2014-15 season 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University returns home and back to conference play on Saturday at 3:00 PM against Holy Family University in the Drubner Center. The Eagles have won six consecutive matchups against the Tigers, winning last season by scores of 93-55 and 62-55 in the home-and-away head-to-heads they had during the season.