Game #3 - East Region Challenge presented by WNY Knee & Orthopedic Surgery
#4 Daemen Wildcats (2-0, 0-0 ECC) vs. Felician Falcon (0-0, 0-0 CACC)
Friday, Nov. 14 | 7 PM | Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium
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Game #4 - East Region Challenge presented by WNY Knee & Orthopedic Surgery
#4 Daemen Wildcats (2-0, 0-0 ECC) vs. Saint Anselm Hawks (0-0, 0-0 NE10)
Saturday, Nov. 15 | 2 PM | Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium
Links: Gameday Info |
Live Stats |
Watch on FloCollege (Subscription Required) |
Tickets
BACK IN THE NEW YORK GROOVE
The Daemen University men's basketball team opens the home portion of its 2025-26 season this weekend by hosting the East Region Challenge, a four-team, classic-style tournament featuring competitors from the East Coast Conference (Daemen, Roberts Wesleyan), Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (Felician) and Northeast-10 Conference (Saint Anselm). The Wildcats, ranked No. 4 in the NABC Division II coaches' poll to start the season, will face Felician in their tournament opener Friday night, before taking on perennial East Region power Saint Anselm in a Saturday afternoon matinee. Roberts Wesleyan faces Saint Anselm (Friday, 5 p.m.) and Felician (Saturday, 12 p.m.) in preambles to the Wildcats' main event each day.
WHAT A RIDE
The Wildcats are coming off the most successful season in program history when they posted a 28-1 overall record, won the ECC regular season and tournament championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the fifth time. Daemen rattled off 28 straight victories to start the season, earning the distinction of being the last remaining unbeaten team across all three levels of NCAA basketball. Along the way, they ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II poll for the first time in program history. Their 85-64 win over Roberts Wesleyan on March 1 gave the Wildcats a perfect 16-0 mark in ECC play; they became just the fourth ECC team ever and the first since C.W. Post in 2008-09 to finish the regular season undefeated. The Wildcats went on to earn ECC tournament wins over fifth-seeded Staten Island and second-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas, the latter giving Daemen its first-ever ECC tournament crown after five runner-up finishes. The Wildcats were awarded hosting rights for the NCAA Division II Championship East Regional, entering the tournament as the No.1 seed. They promptly knocked off eighth-seeded Bridgeport in the opening round, but their bubble burst in the regional semifinals against St. Thomas Aquinas - the teams' fourth meeting of the season.
RETURN OF THE MAC
Mike MacDonald returns for his 12th season on the Daemen bench - his 29th as a collegiate head coach. MacDonald was named the ECC, NABC District and BCANY Division II Coach of the Year last season after leading Daemen to a 28-1 record. He was also the recipient of the Clarence "Big House" Gaines Award given to the top coach in all of Division II basketball by collegeinsiders.com. MacDonald has led Daemen to a 234-84 record during his tenure, including eight 20-win seasons and five NCAA tournament berths. He enters this weekend just nine wins shy of 500 for his career.
HIGH PRAISE
With 13 players returning from last season, including their top four scorers (all of whom earned All-ECC honors), Daemen opens the season at
No. 4 in the NABC preseason coaches' poll. The Wildcats were one of only two teams to garner first-place consideration, joining preseason No. 1 and defending national champion Nova Southeastern. The No. 4 ranking is Daemen's highest to start a season since transitioning to the NCAA Division II level more than a decade ago. Daemen has also been selected first in the
ECC preseason coaches' poll released in mid-October. It marks the third time in the last four seasons that Daemen has topped the preseason poll.
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
Redshirt junior center
Benjamin Bill headlines the Daemen returners after earning ECC Player of the Year and consensus All-American honors last season. Bill averaged 16.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while setting a new program record for single-season field goal percentage (.708), numbers only emphasized by the fact he came off the bench in all but one game, and averaged just 22.7 minutes per game. Big things are expected again from the Hamburg, N.Y. native as he was a unanimous selection as the ECC Preseason Player of the Year.
THEY'RE BACK TO??!!
Fellow All-ECC selections
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.),
Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) and
Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) also return to the fold. Hemphill, a redshirt senior forward who also earned All-Region accolades, averaged 11.9 points and was the first player in program history to lead the team in total rebounds (215), assists (116) and steals (43) in the same season. He already ranks sixth in program history for career rebounds with 641, and enters his final collegiate season just 55 points shy of 1,000. Glover and Philipkoski are back to man the backcourt, along with junior
Ryan Heath who appeared in all 29 games off the bench a season ago. Glover, a 5-foot-9 senior, shot 50% from the field and 42.7% from three-point range while producing 9.6 points per game. The 6-foot-4 Philipkoski, who was named the 2023 New York State Player of the Year in Class A, averaged 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game last season.
WHAT'S NEW
The Wildcats' roster also features several high-profile newcomers, including sophomore guard
Jaiden Harrison (Buffalo, N.Y.), the all-time leading scorer in Western New York high school basketball history. Harrison spent his first collegiate season at Division II Anderson University (S.C.), but headed back to Buffalo where he joins fellow Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School product
Nakyhi Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) and St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute graduate
Jaymeir Goosby (Buffalo, N.Y.) with the Wildcats.
DOWNTOWN TUNE UP
Daemen tuned up for the 2025-26 regular season by defeating Division III Nazareth 75-48 in exhibition action on Oct. 25. The game was played at KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo - home to the NHL's Buffalo Sabres and the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament First and Second Rounds - as part of a doubleheader with the Syracuse Orange and Buffalo Bulls in the nightcap. The Wildcats dominated the glass with a 48-23 rebounding advantage, and went 12-for-30 from three-point range in the win.
Benjamin Bill posted a double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) and
Zach Philipkoski canned five three-pointers as part of his 16-point outing to lead the way. It marked Daemen's third excursion to KeyBank Center. The Wildcats earned a thrilling 83-81 win over Wilmington (Del.) on Nov. 23, 2019, and suffered a three-point setback (83-80) to Franklin Pierce on Dec. 18, 2021. Daemen head coach
Mike MacDonald sports a 19-12 lifetime record in the building, achieving the most wins of any basketball coach in the venue's history.
FUN IN THE SUN
Daemen opened the season with a pair of impressive wins in Lakeland, Fla. at the
Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, a 10-team, classic-style tournament that has become the premier event to tip-off the NCAA Division II college basketball season. The Wildcats opened with a gritty, 75-69 win over #19 Lenoir-Rhyne on Nov. 1, getting 19 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks from All-American big man
Benjamin Bill to lead the way.
Justin Hemphill (14 points, seven assists),
Zach Philipkoski (13 points) and
Justin Glover (11 points) all reached double figures in a game that featured 28 lead changes. The following night, the Wildcats went bonkers from three-point range, shooting 15-for-26 from downtown, including a torrid 12-for-13 in the first half, en route to a 96-62 rout of Alaska Anchorage. Bill posted his first double-double (17 points, 16 rebounds) of the season, and
Ryan Heath chipped in 16 points and three steals as both were named to the all-tournament team. It marked Daemen's second invitation to the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, having last participated in the event - then held in St. Joseph, Mo. - to open the 2019-20 season.
HOME SWEET HOME
Success on their home court has been a staple for Daemen through the years. In the program's NCAA Division II (2015-present), the Wildcats are an astounding 122-20 at home (.859 winning percentage). They've won at least 10 home games in eight of the last nine seasons; the only season they didn't was the COVID-19-shortened 2020-21 campaign. That includes last season when the Wildcats won a program-record 16 home games. They'll enter this weekend's tournament having 23 of their last 24 games at Lumsden Gymnasium.
EAST REGION CHALLENGE THROUGH THE YEARS
This weekend marks the 10th time in the last 12 seasons that Daemen has hosted some iteration of the East Region Challenge (formerly the ECC-CACC Challenge). The only years it wasn't held were in 2020 and 2021 when it was shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Daemen has posted a 17-1 overall record at the event, with wins in 14 straight games heading into this weekend. The Wildcats feature three players who have earned all-tournament team honors in tournament's past -
Justin Glover (2022, 2023),
Zach Philipkoski (2024) and
Benjamin Bill (2024) who was the tournament MVP last season. Roberts Wesleyan, which has also participated in the event each year that it's been held, has gone 7-11. Saint Anselm is appearing for the second straight season and third time overall. The Hawks are 2-2 all-time at the tournament. Felician also returns for a third time, albeit its first since 2019. The Falcons own a 1-3 all-time tournament record.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Felician returns six players from their 2024-25 team that posted a 14-12 overall record and a 7-9 mark in CACC play, but just three who played more than 10 minutes per game. Gone are the Falcons' top four scorers from a year ago, a group that accounted for 72% of their scoring. Head coach Ivan Lewis, the program's all-time leader in wins, is back for his 11th season at the helm, and will look to get the Falcons back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2022. Felician's roster includes Buffalo native Noah Hutchins, a Park School graduate who spent the last two seasons at D'Youville where he appeared in 43 games and averaged 8.7 points per game. The Falcons were picked eighth out of 11 teams in the CACC preseason coaches' poll.
SERIES HISTORY
Friday's game marks the fourth all-time meeting between Daemen and Felician, all of which coming since the start of the 2015-16 season. Daemen owns a 3-0 record in the series.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Saint Anselm returns just three players from their 2024-25 team that went 15-15 overall and 9-11 in NE10 play, headlined by senior guard Josh Morissette who canned a team-high 79 three-pointers and averaged 14.5 points per game. Sophomore guard Will Davies (5.6 ppg, 36.5% 3PT) is the only other returner that played more than 10 minutes per contest last season. Five of the Hawks' seven newcomers are Division I transfers, including junior forward Jack Medalie (Navy), sophomore forward Paulius Rapolis (Northern Kentucky) and redshirt sophomore guard Jovan Ristic (Loyola Marymount) who all started Saint Anselm's 80-78 exhibition loss to Division I Vermont late last month. Davies netted a team-high 16 points to lead four double-figure scorers. The Hawks were picked seventh out of 10 teams in the NE10 preseason coaches' poll. Second-year head coach Chris Santo is looking to lead the Hawks back to the NCAA tournament for the 27th time in program history, and for the first time since 2023.
SERIES HISTORY
Daemen and Saint Anselm have engaged in some epic battles through the years, including a 112-109 Daemen win at the Hawks' Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in December of 2023. All five of the teams' prior meetings have come since 2019, with Daemen owning a 4-1 edge in the series, including wins in three straight meetings.
WHAT'S NEXT
Preseason #4 Daemen welcomes preseason #5 Fairmont State to Lumsden Gymnasium for an early season top-10 battle next Tuesday, Nov. 18 with tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m.
