LAKELAND, FL - The No. 4 Daemen Wildcats defeated No. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne 75-69 in a matchup between two nationally ranked teams.
Leading the way for the Bears was big man
Conrad Luczynski, who opened up his junior year with a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: #4 Daemen 75, #19 Lenoir-Rhyne 69
Records: Daemen 1-0, Lenoir-Rhyne 0-1
Location: Lakeland, Fla. | Jenkins Field House
STORY OF THE GAME
- Daemen jumped out to a 14-8 lead four minutes in.
- The Bears tied it up on a free throw from Akili Evans, but the Wildcats answered and went back up 24-17.
- A Junior Hodnett layup capped off an 11-3 Lenoir-Rhyne run, giving them a 28-27 lead, their first of the night.
- Down 32-28, Lenoir-Rhyne closed on an 8-3 run to take a 36-35 lead into the break.
- The teams went back-and-forth early in the second half with a Tyler Burraston three pointer putting Lenoir-Rhyne up 49-46 with 13 minutes left in the game.
- With Lenoir-Rhyne up 51-50 Daemen went on a 13-5 run to go up seven.
- Julian Dozier cut the lead to one with a three with 1:59 left in the game.
- Daemen held the Bears to one more field goal the rest of the game to seal the six point victory.
STATS OF THE MATCH:
- Conrad Luczynski led the team in both points (17) and rebounds (12).
- Julian Dozier had three assists to go along with three steals.
- Junior Hodnett joined Dozier and Luczynski in double-figures with 10 points.
- Lenoir-Rhyne shot 22-57 (38.6%) from the field and 7-19 (36.8%) from three.
- Daemen was 29-63 (46%) from the field and 8-26 (30.8%) from three.
- The Bears led 20-10 in bench points.
- Daemen took advantage of 20 Lenoir-Rhyne turnovers, scoring 22 points off of them.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- This was the earliest official game in Lenoir-Rhyne men's basketball history.
- This was Luczynki's ninth double-double of his Lenoir-Rhyne career.
- These teams had never met prior to today.
UP NEXT: The Bears are in for another battle tomorrow as they face off against No. 13 Michigan Tech. The Huskies made a statement earlier today by defeating No. 3 and 2025 national semifinalist Dallas Baptist 75-70 in overtime. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.