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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
Mike MacDonald smiles in a team huddle during a timeout
Geoff Schneider
83
Winner Daemen Daemen 11-0,3-0 ECC
65
Mercy Mercy 1-8,1-2 ECC
Winner
Daemen Daemen
11-0,3-0 ECC
83
Final
65
Mercy Mercy
1-8,1-2 ECC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Daemen Daemen 38 45 83
Mercy Mercy 31 34 65

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | CONTACT: Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for Communications/Operations | 716-839-8385 | mmiranto@daemen.edu

MacDonald wins 500th, Men's Basketball Stays Undefeated at Mercy

DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – The No. 3 Daemen University men's basketball team improved to 11-0 and 3-0 in East Coast Conference play with an 83-65 road victory over Mercy on Friday. Head coach Mike MacDonald earned his 500th career win.
 
MacDonald is in his 12th season on the Daemen bench, and his 29th as a collegiate head coach. A two-time ECC Coach of the Year and the 2025 Clarence "Big House" Gaines Award recipient for the top coach in Division II men's basketball, MacDonald has led Daemen to a 243-84 record in his tenure. He now sports a career record of 500-310, including previous head coaching stints at Division I Canisius College (1997-2006) and Division III Medaille College (2006-14). 
 
The Wildcats have won 42 consecutive regular season contests, dating back to February 2024. Daemen was a perfect 25-0 in regular season play last year.
 
Just two Wildcats, Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.), tallied double-digit points and combined for over half of Daemen's points. The Wildcats shot 52.5% (32-of-61) from the field while knocking down 8-of-19 three-pointers (42%). They outscored the Mavericks 21-10 in transition and led for 37:47 compared to Mercy's 1:16.
 
IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Philipkoski, a junior, led all scorers with 27 points, the second-best mark of his career. The guard's career-high performance was also against Mercy, 34 points in January 2024. Twenty-eight tallies is the most a Wildcat has scored in a game this season. Philipkoski went 11-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-6 on three-pointers, the most field goals he has made this year and tied for the most triples he has converted in a single contest this season. The junior also tied a season-high with three steals and added eight rebounds.
  • Nwugwo, a redshirt junior, contributed a season-high 17 points off of Daemen's bench, the second-best mark of his career following a 20-point performance against Mercy in February 2024. The forward also notched a game-high and career-high 11 rebounds, securing his first collegiate double-double. Nwugwo picked up two blocks after entering the game with four total across his first 10 appearances of the campaign. The redshirt junior went 7-of-11 from the field.
  • Redshirt senior Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) filled the stat sheet with six points, nine rebounds, eight assists and five steals. The forward has racked up a season-best five steals in three straight games. Hemphill's eight helpers tied for his second largest total of the year. He has secured eight or more assists in three consecutive games for the first time in his career and has recorded at least seven assists five times this season despite only having done so three times in his career prior to this year, all of which came in the 2024-25 campaign.
  • Senior guard Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) was the only Wildcat besides Philipkoski to make multiple three-pointers. Glover knocked down a pair of triples on his way to a nine-point showing and also boasted season-highs in rebounds (5) and assists (5).
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Daemen sailed ahead early. The Wildcats opened up a 14-9 lead after six minutes of play. They converted on six of their first eight field goal attempts. Mercy responded with an 11-6 stretch over the following 4:30 of game time, tying the contest at 20-20 with 9:30 remaining in the first half.
  • Daemen then put together an 8-0 run in just over two minutes. A pair of Philipkoski layups followed two Nwugwo finishes at the rim to put Daemen ahead 28-20. The Mavericks ended the period by scoring 11 of the final 21 points, trimming the Wildcats' advantage to seven (38-31) at halftime. Philipkoski led all scorers with 13 points and Nwugwo was second with 12, which already marked the redshirt junior's season-best total.
  • The Wildcats began the second half on a quick 5-0 spurt on a pair of free throws by Glover, one by Hemphill and a layup by Nwagwo, boosting their lead to 43-31, their largest of the game to that point. Another 5-0 Daemen run, all courtesy of Philipkoski, later lifted the Wildcats' advantage to 14 (53-39). The Mavericks climbed back to within single digits with six consecutive points, cutting their deficit to eight, but a three-pointer and transition reverse layup by Jaiden Harrison within 30 seconds of each other handed Daemen a 58-45 lead with just under 12 minutes to play.
  • The Wildcats' advantage hovered between 10 and 14 for the following eight minutes. They boosted it to 15 (72-57) for the first time with four minutes left on a Philipkoski triple, his fourth of the night. Daemen's largest lead proved to be 21 points (81-62) with less than 60 seconds to play before closing out an 18-point victory.
GAME NOTES
  • Daemen remained No. 3 in the latest NABC coaches' poll. The Wildcats returned 13 players from last year's 28-1 squad and have been in the top four in every poll this season.
  • The Wildcats were picked to finish first in the East Coast Conference preseason poll for the third time in the last four years.
  • Today was the 25th all-time meeting between Daemen and Mercy. The Wildcats have won all 25 contests. The series dates back to the 2013-14 season when Daemen joined the ECC.
  • Daemen's 83 points marked the seventh time this season that the Wildcats have scored at least 80 out of their 11 games. Their 18-point victory was their fourth-largest of the year and their sixth of at least 15 tallies.
  • Daemen kept Queens to 65 points and has allowed 65 or fewer eight times this season. Opponents have managed to crack the 70-point plateau only twice and have not reached 80.
  • The Wildcats dished out 21 assists as a team, tied for their third-best total of the year, compared to 12 by the Mavericks. Daemen has had more assists than its opponent in all but one game this season. 
  • Daemen outrebounded Mercy 42-27. The Wildcats have won the rebounding battle in 10 of 11 contests and in each of their last 10.
UP NEXT
Daemen returns to action and continues ECC play on Dec. 14 at 3:00 p.m. when it visits St. Thomas Aquinas. The Spartans are the only team to have beaten the Wildcats since the start of the 2024-25 season. They knocked off Daemen in last year's NCAA Division II Championship regional semifinal.
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 University men's basketball program on Twitter and Facebook at @DaemenMBB.
 
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