Top-Seeded No. 1/2 Men's Basketball Readies for Staten Island in ECC Semifinals

3/7/2025 3:24:00 PM

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

ECC MEN'S BASKETBALL BRACKET
2025 ECC Men's Basketball Championship Bracket - Semifinal Round

SEMIFINAL BOUT
The top-seeded No. 1/2 Daemen University men's basketball team will open the postseason against the #5 seeded College of Staten Island Dolphins with tip-off from Lumsden Gymnasium set for 5 p.m. This is the second consecutive year the Wildcats and Dolphins will meet in the semifinal round of the ECC Championship. Daemen won last year in Sparkill, N.Y., 68-56.

ALL-ECC 'CATS
Daemen collected two major honors and had four players collect all-conference accolades, the league office announced Thursday afternoon. Redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) was named the East Coast Conference Player of the Year while head coach Mike MacDonald was named the ECC Coach of the Year. Additionally, the reigning 2024-25 ECC Regular Season Champions had four all-conference honorees with Bill and redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) tabbed to the first team, junior guard Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) was named to the second team and sophomore guard Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) placed on the third team. Bill collected all-conference honors and player of the year honors for the first time in his career after missing last season. The Hamburg, N.Y., native is the first Daemen player to be tabbed player of the year since Andrew Sischo won the award during the 2021-22 season for the fourth consecutive year. Bill ended the regular season ranked third nationally and the ECC leader in field goal percentage at .730. The redshirt sophomore leads the 'Cats and ranks fourth in the ECC for both points per game (16.8) and total points (421). Bill has scored 10-or-more points in all but three games and on seven occasions, notched a double-double. Bill has also excelled on the defensive side of the ball this year as he leads Daemen and ranks 22^nd nationally in blocks per game with 1.92 and 31^st nationally for total blocks with 31.

Hemphill collected all-conference honors for the second consecutive year after getting tabbed to the third team last season. The Buffalo, N.Y., led the Wildcats in total assists (98), total rebounds (186) and steals (38). One of four players to start all 25 games, Hemphill ranked sixth in the ECC with his 98 assists and in assists per game with an average of 3.9 while ranking third in field goal percentage at .530. Hemphill finished in double-figures in 17 games this season, highlighted by a 22-point outing against St. Michael's on Dec. 21, and notched a team-best eight double-doubles, highlighted by a 16 point, 11 assist and eight rebound outing against then No. 21/7 Gannon on Jan. 18.

Glover earned All-ECC Second Team honors for the first time in his career and collected all-conference honors for the second consecutive year. One of four players along with Hemphill to start all 25 games this year, Glover ranks fourth on the squad in points per game (9.2) and total points (231), third in 3-pointers (41), second in steals (30) and is the team leader in minutes per game with an average of 26.9. The St. Joe's product dropped 10-or-more points on 12 occasions and against St. Thomas Aquinas on Dec. 13, scored a season-high 20 points on eight-of-nine shooting and was four-of-five from deep.

Philipkoski collected All-ECC Third Team honors for the first time in his career. The sophomore guard ranked third on the Wildcats in points per game (10.2), free-throw percentage (.780) and total assists (68), fourth in 3-pointers (29), rebounds per game (5.1), total rebounds (118) and total steals (25) and helped the Daemen bench rank second nationally in bench points per game with an average of 38.6 ppg. Philipkoski finished with 10-or-more points on 11 occasions and dropped a season-high 22 points against D'Youville (Jan. 16). The New Hartford, N.Y., tallied a career-best seven assists against Roberts Wesleyan (March 1) and notched two double-doubles this year (Dec. 6 at Staten Island & Feb. 22 at D'Youville). The sophomore guard ended the regular season ranked second in the ECC in assist/turnover ratio at 2.2.

Head coach Mike MacDonald earned coach of the year honors after leading the Wildcats to one of the best seasons in program history. The longtime Wildcats head coach led Daemen to an undefeated 25-0 record and became the first team since C.W. Post during the 2008-09 campaign to go undefeated during the regular season. MacDonald also led the Wildcats to a No. 1 national ranking for three consecutive weeks, the first Division I or II school in New York to accomplish the feat since Syracuse was ranked No. 1 in three consecutive AP Polls from Feb. 3 - Feb. 17, 2014. The Wildcats, who have been ranked top five in at least one national poll since Dec. 17, claimed their third ECC Regular Season Title in program history and earned 20-or-more wins for the the seventh consecutive full season under MacDonald, the longest such streak of any Western New York school.

THE EAST RUNS THROUGH AMHERST, N.Y.
The Wildcats topped the final NCAA Division II Regional Rankings, as released by the regional advisory committee through games completed by March 2. The East Region consists of the top teams from the East Coast Conference, the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, and the Northeast-10 Conference, and the regional rankings are used to determine at-large bids to the East Regional portion of the NCAA Tournament following conference tournaments this weekend. Daemen (25- 0) topped the East Region for the second consecutive week with NE-10 schools Adelphi (25-4) and Pace (23-6) rounding out the top three in second and third respectively. Southern New Hampshire (19-8/NE-10) were tabbed fourth while Dominican (N.Y.) landed in fifth (19-7/CACC).

FEBRUARY ALL-STATS STARTING FIVE
Redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) was tabbed to the DII men's basketball All-Stats Starting Five by Wayne Cavadi of TNT Sports. During February, Bill finished with 10-or-more points in all six games the Wildcats played and notched three double-doubles. The Hamburg, N.Y., native dropped a 19 point, 12 rebound performance against Queens (Feb. 16) to highlight his double-double efforts. Bill was joined by Tray Alexander (Pace) & Dallas Graziani (Nova Southeastern) (tied for guard ranking), Adrian McIntyre (Westmont), Caleb Van De Griend (Minot State) and Cenker Evran (Edinboro) on the all-stats team for February.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Against Saint Michael's (Dec. 21), graduate student guard Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) tallied the 281st 3-pointer of his career to pass Brian Montanaro (2002-06) and David Skolen (1986-90) for second all-time in program history for career triples with 280. Now at 315 for his career, Mason needs two 3-pointers to surpass Jeff Redband's (2015-20) program record of 316 triples. Graduate student guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) has the unique distinction of playing with both 3-pointer specialists as Salzberg was a freshman when he took the court with Redband. Looking at the ECC as a whole, Mason is also ranked fourth all-time in the conference for career 3-pointers as he passed Roger Powers (Saint Rose) and Charlie Marquardt (Molloy) who currently occupy fifth place with 305 makes.

STILL NO. 1 IN THE COUNTRY
The Daemen University men's basketball team held their No. 1 ranking for the third consecutive week in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll with 392 points and 11 first-place votes, as released on March 4. The last undefeated men's basketball team across all of Division I, II or III, Daemen topped the poll for the third week followed by Nova Southeastern (Sunshine State) who remained in second with 387 points and snagged the remaining five first-place votes while Alabama Huntsville (GSC) closed the top three with 372 points. The Wildcats are the only Division I or II school across New York to be ranked No. 1 in a national poll for three-or-more consecutive weeks since the 2019-20.

DAEMEN IN THE ECC TOURNAMENT
The Wildcats have made the ECC Tournament the past 10 seasons with the streak dating back to the 2015-16 campaign. This season is the first time Daemen has been the #1 overall seed since the 2018-19 when they faced #4 seeded Bridgeport in the semifinal round. Overall, Daemen is 9-9 in the postseason and 5-4 in the semifinal round. However, the 'Cats are 5-0 at home in any round of the ECC Championship. Last year in the 2024 ECC Men's Basketball Championship, Daemen was the #3 overall seed and defeated Queens at home in the first round, 76-68. Daemen followed that with a 68-56 win over Staten Island in the semifinal which took place in Sparkill, N.Y. The Wildcats fell in the final to #1 overall seeded St. Thomas Aquinas, 77-66.

SCOUTING STATEN ISLAND (12-17, 7-9 ECC)
The #5 seeded Dolphins defeated #4 seeded Roberts Wesleyan in their last game, 81-75, on March 5 in the first game of the ECC Men's Baskteball Championship. Shemar Latty led the Dolphins with 18 points andwent 4-of-5 from beyond deep while Aaron Goldstein knocked down five triples and finished with 17 points. Asa Kone was a major factor as well for CSI as he scored 10 points and collecting 14 rebounds. The Dolphins also placed one member on an All-ECC team as Messiah Mallory was tabbed to the first team. Mallory ended the year as the Dolphins leading scorer (14.6 ppg) and rebounder (7.4 rpg).

SERIES HISTORY
Daemen is 7-2 all-time against Staten Island and has won the lone prior meeting between the two sides in the postseason. Daemen won last year in Sparkill, N.Y., 68-56, in the semifinal round of the 2024 ECC Men's Basketball Championship. This year, Daemen was 2-0 against Staten Island as they defeated the Dolphins, 67-47, on Dec. 6 and followed that with an 85-61 home win on Jan. 31.

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