AMHERST, N.Y. - For the first time in program history, the NCAA Tourmament East Regional will take place in Lumsden Gymnasium as the No. 1/2 Daemen University men's basketball team was selected as the top seed in the East Region after compiling an unblemished 27-0 record and winning their first East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championship. The eight regional tournaments begin later this week across the country, and the full 64-team NCAA tournament bracket was announced late this evening in a selection show on NCAA.com.
The tournament consists of a 64-team field, including 23 automatic bids, with regionals determining the eight quarterfinalists that will advance to the Men's Elite Eight at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, on March 25-29. Daemen is one of 23 conference champions to earn an automatic qualifying bid to the tournament. The Division II Men's Basketball Committee selects the remaining 41 at-large bids.
Daemen comes into the region as the No. 1 overall seed and will face former ECC member and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tourmament champions No. 8 Bridgeport in the first round on March 15. Other matchups include No. 2 Adelphi (Northeast 10) facing No. 7 Dominican (N.Y.) (CACC), NE-10 Tournament champions No. 3 Southern New Hampshire will battle fellow NE-10 member No. 6 Assumption and No. 4 Pace (NE-10) will take on No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas (ECC). The ECC and CACC each have two representatives within the East Regional while the NE-10 represents the remaining four teams.
Game times, ticket and broadcast information for the East Region Championship will be announced later this week.
The only undefeated NCAA men's basketball team across Division I, II and III, the Wildcats earned their first ECC Tournament Championship with an 88-80 victory over the No. 2 seeded St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans on March 9. The win marked the first time that Daemen defeated St. Thomas Aquinas in any round of the ECC Tournament as well. Redshirt sophomore forward
Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) led Daemen with 23 points and notched a game-high three blocks. Redshirt senior forward
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) poured in 21 points while knocking down 10 shots to propel the Daemen offense. The forward collected his team-leading ninth double-double of the year with 10 boards and seven assists. His performances over both games netted him ECC Championship Most Outstanding Player honors as well. Earlier this season, Daemen joined C.W. Post (1989-90 & 2008-09), Adelphi (2000-01) and Philadelphia U. (1992-93 & 1993-94) as the only four schools in ECC history to finish the regular season undefeated.
The Wildcats have qualified for the NCAA Tournament four prior times and last year made it to the tournament as an at-large bid as the No. 4 seed. Daemen defeated No. 5 Jefferson in the first round, 74-66, but lost to No. 1 St. Michael's in the second round, 86-62. The Wildcats deepest tournament run came during the 2020-21 campaign when they defeated No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas, 71-70, in the East Region final and advanced all the way to the Elite Eight. Three players from the 'Cats Elite Eight run are still on the 2024-25 roster with graduate students
Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.) and
Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) along Hemphill still representing Daemen on the court.
A full opening-round preview will be posted to daemenwildcats.com later this week.
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.
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