Ryan Salzberg drives to the basket against Chestnut Hill

No. 2/3 Men's Basketball Returns to The City of Good Neighbors to Face Molloy and Queens

Wildcats one win away from clinching third ECC Regular Season Title

2/13/2025 12:17:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Max Sacco, Assistant Athletics Communications Director | msacco@daemen.edu

LOVE IS IN THE AIR
The No. 2/3 Daemen University men's basketball returns to Buffalo, N.Y., for Valentines Day Week- end as they face Molloy (Feb. 14/7:30 p.m.) and Queens (Feb. 16/2 p.m.). The Wildcats end the year with all four of their final regular season games taking place in Western New York as well with three at home and one at nearby D'Youville University.

THE CLINCH
Daemen is one win away from clinching the 2024-25 ECC Regular Season Championship and snapping St. Thomas Aquinas' streak of winning four consecutive regular season championships. Since joining the ECC in the 2013-14 season, the 'Cats have won the regular season crown twice, earning the title in the 2013-14 season and 2018-19 campaign. The last undefeated ECC Regular Season Champion came during the 2008-09 season when C.W. Post went 30-1 with their lone loss coming in the Elite Eight.

SEEING DOUBLE
Redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) is the first Daemen player this season to notch back-to-back double-doubles on two separate occasions. This past weekend, Hemphill dropped a 12 point, 12 rebound double-double against St. Thomas Aquinas (Feb. 7) before follow- ing that performance with a 15 points, 12 rebound outing against Mercy (Feb. 9). The first instance of Hemphill accomplishing the feat came on Jan. 18 when he had 16 points and 11 assists versus Gannon (Jan. 18) and followed that with 15 points and 10 boards at Roberts Wesleyan (Jan. 25).

CHARTING THE 'CATS
The Wildcats held multiple top three rankings for the fourth consecutive week as they were tabbed No. 2 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll and No. 3 in the most recent Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) National Poll. Daemen garnered 381 points and one first-place vote in the NABC poll and 316 points from the newest D2CSC Poll. Daemen was tabbed to the No. 2 spot for the fifth consecutive week within the NABC National Poll. Washburn (MIAA) topped both polls while the combination of Washburn, Daemen and Nova Southeastern (Sunshine State) made up the top three of both polls as well. Since Jan. 6, the 'Cats been ranked within the top five of both national polls.

THERE'S A LID ON THE BASKET
Daemen only allowed 20 points to STAC in the second half on Feb. 7. It marked the second time this season that the 'Cats allowed 20-or-less points to an opponent in any half with the first instance coming on Feb. 2 when Daemen only let UDC tally 19 first half points. Prior to February, the Blue and White last allowed less than 20 points in a half on March 9, 2024, against Staten Island in the semifinal of the ECC Championship.

MR. 100
Currently at 98 career games played, graduate student guard Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) is just two games away from playing 100 career games during his collegiate career. Prior to Daemen, Becker played 77 games with 76 starts over four years at Saint Anselm where he averaged 8.3 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game. The Fairfield, Conn., native would join Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) and Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) as the only three active players for Daemen to play in 100 career games.

SCOUTING MOLLOY (8-13, 4-6 ECC)
The Lions lost their last game at home, 92-75, back on Feb. 9 to Roberts Wesleyan. Through 21 games this season, Rob Matos has led the Lions and conference in scoring with an average of 23.5 points per game while Bryace Merchant ranks third with 17.2 ppg. On the glass, Matt Lane leads the league in rebounds per game with an average of 11.3. As a team, Molloy ranks second in the ECC behind Daemen in total 3-pointers with 439.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen leads the all-time series, 15-8, and in their last meeting on Jan. 10, set a new record for largest margin of victory with a 95-50 decision over the Lions.

SCOUTING QUEENS (9-13 (5-5 ECC)
The Knights have split their last two contests, falling 92-68 at Molloy (Feb. 1) but squeaked out a 73-72 against Roberts Wesleyan (Feb. 7) at home. Nasan Ayala has led the Queens scoring efforts with 12.1 ppg while Jaden Pena has collected a team-best 5.7 rpg. As a team, the Knights lead the ECC in both total blocks with 113 and blocks per game with an average of 5.14 blocks per game.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen is 20-4 all-time against Queens and has won four of the last five meetings.

UP NEXT
The 'Cats will head 20 minutes south to downtown Buffalo to face crosstown rival D'Youville on Feb. 22. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. from the Saints Center Gym.

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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