Men's Basketball Set To Face Familiar Foe In ECC Tournament Title Game Sunday

Daemen and St. Thomas Aquinas To Meet In The Finals For The Fourth Straight Year

3/9/2024 9:44:00 PM

JUMP BALL
Third-seeded Daemen takes on top-seeded and nationally-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas College in the title game of the 2024 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championship. 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.

SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE
Sunday's championship game will feature the ECC's top-rated offense against the league's stingiest defense. STAC is averaging a league-high 91.9 points per game, while Daemen gives up the fewest points per game (71.2).

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 (24-7) has gone 12-1 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 (71.2). Senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) recently returned to the lineup after missing six games with a hand injury. He has averaged 19.6 points since returning from the injury and is averaging a team-high 17.2 points overall. Graduate student Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, is averaging 12.4 points and 7.4 rebounds. A five-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection, he ranks third among the ECC leaders in both blocks (51) and steals (49). Sophomore Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) is averaging 12.1 points and 3.5 assists with 50 three-pointers. Fifth-year senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) is averaging 10.7 points, while senior Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) is also contributing 10.8 points with a team-high 77 three-pointers. Senior Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) is producing 10.9 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per contest.

STREAKING
Daemen is riding a eight-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 (10). Daemen has averaged 89.3 points and has outscored its opponents by an average of 14.5 points over the seven games.

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 10.7 and 17.2 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 (.466) and three-point field goal percentage (.388) and has shot over 45-percent from the field in 16 of its 31 games. The Wildcats are 10-0 this year when they shoot 50-percent or better from the field.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Daemen has limited 15 of its 31 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 41-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 86 games at Daemen. He recorded his 100th career block during a loss to Dominican on Nov. 18. He has totaled 142 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 805 points in 53 games (15.2 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 253. He has shot 46-percent (253-546) from three-point land over his career and ranks second in the ECC in three-pointers made (77) and three-point field goal percentage (.421) this season. Mason played in his 100th career game Saturday and scored his 1,000th career point during a win at UDC on Feb. 11. Nick MacDonald leads the East Region and ranks seventh nationally in free throw percentage (87-96/.906). He scored his 1,000th career point during the win over Queens on Jan. 28 and played in his 140th career game Saturday. Justin Hemphill ranks first among the ECC leaders in offensive rebounds (93) 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 (2.6).

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 460. 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 203-81, 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 460-307.

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.

ONE SHY OF A NEW STANDARD
Daemen is one win shy of establishing a new program record for most wins in a season (25) during its NCAA Division II era (2015-present). The Wildcats also posted 24 wins in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

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 252-98 in that span.

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
St. Thomas Aquinas (24-5) has won its last five games and advanced to the championship game following a 79-71 win over fourth-seeded Roberts Wesleyan in the semifinals. STAC was ranked No. 1 in the region for the majority of the season by the D2CSC. Nationally, the Spartans come in at No. 15 in this week's NABC Division II poll and are ranked ninth in the D2CSC poll. The Spartans went 26-5 overall (15-1 ECC) and claimed their fourth-straight ECC Tournament title last year. STAC advanced t the NCAA Division II Tournament for the eighth-straight year and suffered a loss to Southern New Hampshire in the opening round. Matt Capel, a long-time assistant coach at STAC, was named ECC Coach of the Year in his first season as head coach last year. STAC returns three starters and 11 players from last year. The Spartans lead the ECC and rank fifth nationally in points per game (91.9). Sophomore forward James Patterson, the 2022-23 ECC Rookie of the Year and the 2023-24 ECC Player of the Year, ranks fourth among the NCAA Division II leaders in points per game (23.8). He is also contributing 8.4 rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in the ECC. Senior Jamal Barnes leads the team in three-pointer field goals (64) and is averaging 10.9 points, while sophomore Kyle Pulliam is averaging 13.9 points. STAC was ranked first in the ECC preseason coaches' poll.

SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's game will mark the 33rd all-time meeting between Daemen and STAC. The Spartans have prevailed in five of the last seven meetings and own a 21-11 advantage in the series. The teams split their two regular season meetings this year. STAC posted a 92-82 win at Aquinas Hall and Daemen answered with an 87-82 win at Daemen. Daemen rallied from a 20-point deficit in its win at Lumsden Gym. This is the eighth time the teams have met in the ECC Tournament (fifth time in the championship game) and STAC has prevailed in each of the previous ECC Tournament meetings. STAC has defeated the Wildcats in each of the previous three ECC Tournament title games.

ON THE HORIZON
Selections for the 2024 NCAA Division II Tournament will be announced Sunday night at 11 p.m. on NCAA.com.

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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