Round Four! #1 No. 1/2 Men's Basketball has #5 St. Thomas Aquinas on Tap

3/15/2025 10:51:00 PM

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

THE BRACKET

YOU AGAIN?
The #1 seed No. 1/2 Daemen University men's basketball team will look to punch their ticket to the NCAA East Region final with a 7:30 p.m. tilt against St. Thomas Aquinas in the second round first. The 'Cats will play the Spartans for the fourth time this year. The 'Cats are 3-0 against the Spartans this year. The two sides also played each other four times during the shortened 2020-21 season. Each side won a regular season game with STAC winning the ECC Final and Daemen defeating the Spartans in the NCAA East Region Final to go their first Elite Eight in program history.

BEVO FRANCIS TOP 25
Redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) was tabbed to the Bevo Francis Top 25 Watch List which was announced by Small College Basketball, a national organization which highlights the accomplishments of non-NCAA Division I basketball teams and student-athletes. Bill joins former Wildcat Andrew Sischo as the only two players in program history to be named within the top 25. Across all of Division II, Bill is one of 12 players and one of two East Region members (Tray Alexander of Pace) to be tabbed within the top 25 as well.

PHIL'S BIG DAY
Redshirt sophomore Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) dropped a season-high 12 points to help Daemen defeat #8 Bridgeport in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 80-68, on March 15. Nwugwo ended the day with five makes on six shots and was two-of-three from the free-throw line while helping the Wildcats bench provide 35 overall points in the win. He surpassed his previous season-high of 11 which he set on Jan. 16 against crosstown rival D'Youville.

LUCKY NO. 28
With their win over #8 Bridgeport, Daemen secured a "Modern Era" program record 28 wins. Their 28 wins surpass the previous record of 27 which was set during the 2012-13 season, Across both record years, Daemen faced Molloy, Queens, Gannon and Roberts Wesleyan.

D2CCA HONORS
Redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) was tabbed to the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-East Region First Team and redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) was selected to the second team. It marks the first time in both players' careers that they earned D2CCA honors. The full announcement of the D2CCA All-East Region Teams was made in a press release and can be found here. It is the third major award each player has earned this year as Bill was tabbed East Coast Conference Player of the Year and tabbed to the All-ECC First Team while Hemphill was named the ECC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and also an All-ECC First Team selection. For Bill, he is now eligible for D2CCA All-America honors which will be announced on March 26.

Daemen tied Southern Connecticut State of the Northeast 10 for the most selections with two each. Joining Bill on the first team was Tray Alexander of Pace (NE-10), Aliou Cisse of Bridgeport (CACC), Antonio Chandler of SCSU and Cash McClure of Bentley (NE-10). Hemphill, Dayshaun Walton of Adelphi (NE-10), Cam Edmonds of Georgian Court (CACC), Malik Brooks of Roberts Wesleyan (ECC) and Albert Vargas of SCSU were tabbed to the second team. Pace's Alexander was also tabbed the D2CCA East Region Player of the Year as well.

DAEMEN NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY

23-24 (NO. 4 SEED)

First Round - No. 4 Jefferson - Colchester, Vt. (W, 74-66)

Second Round - No. 1 RV/22 St. Michael's - Colchester, Vt. (L, 62-86)

20-21 (NO. 2 SEED)

East Semifinal - No. 2 Bloomfield - Albany, N.Y. (W, 81-69)

East Final - No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas, Albany, N.Y. (W, 71-70)

Elite Eight - No. 1 #5/6 West Texas A&M, Evansville, Ind. (L, 83-97)

19-20 (NO. 8 SEED)

First Round - No. 1 Bridgeport - Bridgeport, Ct. (Canceled - COVID-19)

18-19 (NO. 5 SEED)

First Round - No. 4 New Haven - Manchester, N.H. (L, 67-72)

SCOUTING STAC (24-9, 13-3 ECC)
The Spartans made it through the first round of the East Regional with a 79-72 victory over Pace (NE-10) on March 15. Deshawne Crim led all STAC scorers with 17 points while Hartnel Haye collected a team-best 10 rebounds in the win. This year, Luis Risquez leads St. Thomas Aquins in scoring with an average of 11.9 points per game while on the glass, Haye has paced the Spartans with an average of 7.8 rpg.

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen is 14-22 all-time against STAC and 8-6 at home against the Spartants all-time.

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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