Hemphill Earns Third Straight Defensive Player of the Week Selection

12/22/2025 1:00:00 PM

AMHERST, N.Y. - Daemen University redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) has been named the East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Week for Dec. 15-21. It's the third straight week that Hemphill has earned the accolade, and the fifth time in six weeks that the honor has gone to a Daemen player.

Hemphill continues to be a big presence defensively for Daemen, helping the Wildcats lead the ECC and rank top 25 nationally in both field goal percentage defense and scoring defense. This past week, Hemphill's efforts helped Daemen, the No. 2 ranked team in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II poll, move to 14-0 this season by defeating No. 21 Assumption (77-67) and Saint Michael's (73-61).

Despite fouling out with more than nine minutes remaining, Hemphill had five defensive rebounds, one block, and one steal in Wednesday's 10-point win over No. 21 Assumption, helping the Wildcats hold the high-powered Greyhounds to season-lows in points (67) and field goal percentage (35.7).

In Saturday's 73-61 win over Saint Michael's, Hemphill provided elite rim protection as he recorded a career-high seven blocked shots to go with five more defensive rebounds and a steal.

For the season, Hemphill ranks second in steals (2.4 spg), sixth in rebounds (7.5 rpg) and blocks (1.4 bpg) among the ECC leaders - the only player to rank in the top six of all three categories.

In addition to Hemphill's selection, both Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) were named to the ECC weekly honor roll. Glover, a senior guard, and Philipkoski, a junior guard, were each catalysts in the two Daemen wins last week. Glover averaged 16.0 points per game and shot 54.5 percent from three-point range. Philipkoski averaged 19.0 points and 11.0 rebounds, and narrowly missed a triple-double against Assumption (20 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists).

Daemen is idle through the NCAA-mandated holiday break, and will return to action Thursday, Jan. 1 when Adelphi visits Lumsden Gymnasium for a 2 p.m. tip.

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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