AMHERST, N.Y.. – The third-ranked Daemen University men's basketball team remained perfect in East Coast Conference play with a dominant 94-62 win over Molloy University on Sunday afternoon from inside Lumsden Gymnasium.

The Wildcats began Sunday's ECC contest with a 20-5 run across the opening six minutes of play and never trailed, winning their 10th consecutive game to start the 2025-26 season. With the blowout, Daemen's average margin of victory increases to 17.4 points per game.

IMPACT PLAYERS

• Junior Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.), tallied a game-high 16 points in the win with seven rebounds. The guard made 6-of-10 shot attempts, including three three-pointers, the fourth game with three or more made attempts from deep.

• Redshirt-junior Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.), a 2024-25 All-American and the reigning ECC Player of the Year, followed close behind with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the floor, while also pulling down 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Bill, the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, has scored in double figures in 21 consecutive games dating back to last season.

• Reserves Nakyhi Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively, to provide a scoring punch off of the bench for Daemen.

• Redshirt-senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) filled the stat sheet with eight points, nine assists, and five steals in just 27 minutes of action.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Wildcats held a sizable 44-32 scoring advantage in the paint and made 51.7 percent of their shots in the game compared to a 38.2 percent shooting mark by the Lions.

• Daeman made 10 three-pointers on Sunday, going 10-for-27 (37%) from deep. This marks the second game of the season in which the Wildcats made 10 or more three-point attempts.

GAME NOTES

• Daemen are No. 3 in the latest NABC coaches' poll. The Wildcats' roster features 13 returners 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.

• The 32-point triumph earned Daemen its second-largest margin of victory of the season and largest margin of victory of the year on its home floor.. The Wildcats downed Alaska Anchorage by 34 points (96-62) on Nov. 2 at the 2025 Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Lakeland, Florida.

• The Wildcats handed out a season-high 26 assists in the game compared to just 14 assists by Molloy. Daemen has had more assists than its opponent in all but one game this season. 

• Daemen outrebounded Molloy 49-29, including 13 offensive boards. The Wildcats have won the rebounding battle in nine of 10 contests this year.

• Sunday's contest marked the 25th all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Lions. Daemen is 17-8 against Molloy dating back to 2012 and have won the last five games in the series.

• Daemen has now won 41 consecutive regular season contests, dating back to February 2024.

UP NEXT

The Wildcats continue East Coast Conference play on Friday, Dec. 12 when they travel to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. to take on Mercy University at 7:00 p.m. inside the Neil Judge Student-Athlete Center

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.