Men's Basketball Set To Face Staten Island In ECC Championship Semifinals

Top-Seeded St. Thomas Aquinas To Host Semifinal and Championship Games This Weekend

3/8/2024 10:51:00 AM

JUMP BALL
Third-seeded Daemen takes on second-seeded College of Staten Island in semifinal round action of the 2024 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championship. The winner advances to the tournament championship game. The championship game will be hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The ECC Tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the upcoming 64-team NCAA Division II Championship tournament. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Sunday, March 10.

POLL POSITION
Daemen is ranked fourth in the third and final NCAA East Region poll released this past Wednesday by the NCAA Tournament regional advisory committee. The Wildcats were also ranked fourth in the final D2 College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) East Region poll released Monday, Feb. 19.

DAEMEN IN THE ECC TOURNAMENT
Daemen is making its ninth consecutive ECC tournament appearance and seeking its first championship. The Wildcats are two-time ECC regular season champions (2013-14 & 2018-19) and have advanced to the semifinal round in all nine of their ECC tournament berths. Daemen has played in the tournament's final round on four occasions, falling in 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2023 to St. Thomas Aquinas.

THE SEASON SO FAR
Daemen (23-7) has gone 11-1 since suffering a 92-82 loss at St. Thomas Aquinas back on Jan. 19. Daemen has featured a balanced scoring attack and solid defense thus far. Six players are averaging in double figures and the Wildcats lead the ECC in fewest points allowed per game (71.7). Senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) recently returned to the lineup after missing six games with a hand injury. He has averaged 19.0 points since returning from the injury and is averaging a team-high 17.0 points overall. Graduate student Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, is averaging 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds. A five-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection, he ranks third among the ECC leaders in both blocks (50) and steals (48). Sophomore Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) is averaging 12.3 points and 3.5 assists with 49 three-pointers. Fifth-year senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) is averaging 11.0 points, while senior Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) is also contributing 11.0 points with a team-high 76 three-pointers. Senior Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) is producing 11.1 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per contest.

WILDCATS ADVANCE WITH FIRST ROUND WIN OVER QUEENS
The Wildcats opened the post season with a 76-68 win over Queens in the first round of the ECC Championship Wednesday night at Daemen. Dylan Fasoyiro scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the way. Fasoyiro played 36 minutes and went 7-of-17 from the field. It marked the 11^th time this season he has scored 20 or more points in a game. He also contributed two steals and a block. He scored his 400^thpoint of the season during the game and is averaging a team-high 17 points a game. Joey Atkins, who played in his 100^th career game, connected on 7-of-12 shots and totaled 16 points, six rebounds and three steals.

STREAKING
Daemen is riding a seven-game winning streak, which ranks as the longest winning streak for the Wildcats this season and the second longest current winning streak in the East Region behind Jefferson (9). Daemen has averaged 92.3 points and has outscored its opponents by an average of 14.9 points over the seven games. Staten Island is the last team to defeat the Wildcats, as they posted a 79-67 win over the Wildcats at CSI back on Feb. 9.

RECORD SETTING PERFORMANCE
In a 123-75 win over Mercy on Feb. 18, Daemen scored 100 or more points during a regulation game for the first time since the 2021-22 season. The 123 points were the most scored by the Wildcats since the program gained NCAA Division II status in 2015. The last time the Wildcats scored as many points was a 123-122 double overtime win over Cincinnati Christian University on Dec. 19, 2009 during the Malone University Tournament.

THERE'S NO I IN TEAM
Daemen features a balanced attack with six players averaging between 11.0 and 17.0 points per game. Daemen has six players ranked among the Top-25 ECC scoring leaders. No other team has more than three players. The Wildcats have had 22 games where four players have scored in double figures and five players have reached double digits in points 11 times. A season-high six players scored in double figures during their win at Clarion on Nov. 26, their double OT win at Saint Anselm on Dec. 31 and their double OT win over UDC on Feb. 22.

SHARP SHOOTERS
Daemen ranks first among ECC teams in overall field goal percentage (.468) and three-point field goal percentage (.391) and has shot over 45-percent from the field in 16 of its 30 games. The Wildcats are 10-0 this year when they shoot 50-percent or better from the field.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Daemen has limited 14 of its 30 opponents to less than 70 points and leads the ECC in team defense, allowing just 71.7 points per game. The Wildcats also rank first in the ECC in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 42-percent from the field. Daemen has produced the ECC Defensive Player of the Week seven times this season. Joey Atkins has earned the honor five times, while Justin Hemphill is a two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Wildcats finished 14-1 at home this season and have won 23 of their last 24 home games dating back to last season. They are 106-19 (.848) at home during Daemen's NCAA Division II era (2015-present).

NOTABLE
Joey Atkins played in his 100th career game this past Wednesday. He played 15 games at Jefferson as a freshman and has played in 85 games at Daemen. He recorded his 100th career block during a loss to Dominican on Nov. 18. He has totaled 141 career blocks and has moved into the top five in career blocks among Daemen's all-time leaders. Dylan Fasoyiro went over 400 points for the season during Wednesday's win over Queens. After scoring just 23 points during his two seasons at Ashland, he has racked up 782 points in 52 games (15.0 ppg) at Daemen. Andrew Mason has become the fourth player in program history to reach 250 career three-pointers. He recorded his 250th triple during the regular season finale at Roberts Wesleyan and ranks fourth in career three-pointers at Daemen with 252. He has shot 47-percent (252-542) from three-point land over his career and ranks second in the ECC in three-pointers made (76) and three-point field goal percentage (.425) this season. Mason will be playing in his 100th career game Saturday and scored his 1,000th career point during the win at UDC on Feb. 11. Nick MacDonald leads the East Region and ranks seventh nationally in free throw percentage (85-94/.904). He scored his 1,000th career point during the win over Queens on Jan. 28 and will be playing in his 140th career game Saturday. Justin Hemphill ranks second among the ECC leaders in offensive rebounds (90) and sixth in total rebounds per game (7.9). Justin Glover ranks seventh among the ECC leaders in assists per game (3.5) and second in assist/turnover ratio (2.7).

MACDONALD NOTCHES WIN NO. 450 OVERALL AND NO. 200 AS DAEMEN HEAD COACH
Head coach Mike MacDonald registered the 450th win of his career following the victory over Molloy on Jan. 26. Among active NCAA Division II coaches, he ranks first in the ECC, fifth in the East Region and 26th nationally in career wins with 459. MacDonald reached another milestone on Feb. 25 when he recorded his 200th win as head coach at Daemen. MacDonald is in his 10th season on the Daemen bench and his 27^th overall as a collegiate head coach. Daemen has posted at least 20 wins in five of the last six seasons (Daemen only played 16 games during the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season) and MacDonald has led the Wildcats to a record of 202-81, three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and the 2021 NCAA Division II East Region title. He has won more games at Daemen than during previous stints as the head coach at Canisius (108 wins in nine seasons) and Medaille (149 wins in eight seasons). MacDonald is among an elite fraternity of coaches to have achieved 100 victories across all three NCAA divisions. His overall career record stands at 459-307.

FAMILIAR FACES
All-ECC selections Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.), Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) and Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) all returned in 2023-24. Atkins earned first-team All-ECC honors in his first season as a starter last year after averaging 11.9 points and 6.2 rebounds. He also ranked eighth among all Division II players in blocks (65). Fasoyiro averaged a team-high 13.4 points in his first season with the team, while MacDonald contributed 12.4 points. Mason averaged 10.9 points and led all three NCAA divisions in three-point field goal percentage (.516) last year. Veteran point guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.), who started all 28 games last year and averaged 32 minutes a game, was set to return but suffered a preseason injury. Senior Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.), a 6-foot-6 forward, is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged 9.0 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds off the bench. Sophomore guard Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) is set to step into the starting lineup following the loss of Salzberg. Glover played in 23 games (seven starts) as a freshman and averaged 4.9 points and 1.8 assists. Ayden Harrison (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) and Jackson Kulik (Webster, N.Y.) also join the mix after red shirting their freshman season last year.

NEWCOMERS
Three newcomers joined the fold in 2023-24. Redshirt sophomore guard Jarius Jones (Gahanna, Ohio) spent the past two years at Ohio Dominican University. Freshmen Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) both earned New York State Class A all-state honors last winter and Philipkoski was also honored as the New York State Class A Player of the Year. Philipkoski was named the ECC Rookie of the Week after scoring 34 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in a recent win at Mercy.

ANOTHER 20 WIN SEASON
Daemen has posted its sixth-straight 20-win season. The streak does not include the 2020-21 season, as Daemen only played 16 games during that COVID-10 shortened season.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS
The Daemen program has been built on sustained success, winning at least 19 games in 12 of the last 13 seasons. That span encompasses the end of Daemen's NAIA Era, its NCAA transition period and the first nine seasons of full NCAA Division II membership. The Wildcats have won 72% of their contests, going 251-98 in that span.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
Daemen earned three consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament berths from 2019 to 2021. The Wildcats won 24 games (NCAA era program record) and earned at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 2019 and 2020. The Wildcats entered the 2021 tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East Region and picked up their first-ever NCAA tourney win with an 81-69 defeat of third-seeded Bloomfield in the opening round. The Wildcats then upset top-seeded Saint Thomas Aquinas in the regional championship game en route to the program's first regional championship and Elite Eight appearance. Daemen has posted 20 wins this last two seasons, but was denied an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament each year.

SCOUTING THE DOLPHINS
Staten Island (19-9) went 7-1 down the stretch and secured the second seed in the ECC Championship after closing the regular season with wins over Molloy and Queens. The Dolphins went 9-19 overall and 7-9 in ECC play last year and made their first-ever ECC Tournament appearance. T.J. Tibbs is entering his sixth season as head coach at Staten Island. Staten Island returns four starters and five of its top six scorers from last year. Junior forward Messiah Mallory, the 2021-22 ECC Rookie of the Year, led the team in scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.9 rpg) last year. He has posted nine double-doubles on the year and is averaging 14.2 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds. He also ranks second in the ECC in blocked shots (55). Long range threat Bryce Waterman leads the ECC in three-pointers made (96) and three-point percentage (.440) this season and is averaging 14.2 points. Freshman Aaron Goldstein is a five-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection and is averaging 10.0 points and 3.1 assists. He drilled six three-pointers and totaled 28 points in CSI's 79-67 win over Daemen back on Feb. 9. CSI was tied for third in the ECC preseason coaches' poll.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will mark the seventh all-time meeting between Daemen and Staten Island. Daemen owns a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series. Staten Island posted its first-ever win (71-62) over the Wildcats on Jan. 12 at Lumsden Gymnasium and completed the regular season sweep with a 79-67 win at CSI on Feb. 9.

CSI IN THE ECC TOURNAMENT
The Dolphins made their first ever appearance in the ECC Tournament last year and suffered an 85-75 loss at District of Columbia in the first round.

ON THE HORIZON
The championship game of the ECC Championship tournament will be hosted by top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas Sunday (March 10) at 2:30 p.m.

Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen men's basketball program on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @DaemenMBB.

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