AMHERST, N.Y. -- Daemen University head men's basketball coach
Mike MacDonald has announced the pairings for the 2025 East Region Challenge presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC. The tournament, which takes place at Daemen's Lumsden Gymnasium over the weekend of November 14 and 15, and brings together teams from all three of the Division II conferences in the NCAA East Region.
This year, Roberts Wesleyan University of the East Coast Conference, Felician University of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, and Saint Anselm College of the Northeast 10 Conference will all be participating in the 2025 East Region Challenge.
The tournament will kick off on Friday, Nov. 14 with Roberts Wesleyan taking on Saint Anselm at 5
PM. RWU has been a part of each of the previous nine tournaments while Saint Anselm is making its third appearance. The Hawks made their tournament debut in 2022.
The 7 PM Friday nightcap has Daemen taking on Felician. The Golden Falcons make their return to the East Region Challenge for the first time since 2019 back when it was the ECC-CACC Challenge. The Wildcats have won their last 14 tournament games and own an all-time tournament record of 17-1.
The matchups flip on Saturday, Nov. 15. Roberts Wesleyan takes on Felician at noon, followed by Daemen taking on Saint Anselm at 2 PM.
Daemen put together their best season in program history in 2024-25, setting a program record for single-season wins with 28 after going 28-1 and spending four weeks ranked as the No. 1 team in the NABC poll for the first time in program history. The Wildcats collected their first East Coast Conference Championship in program history with an 88-80 win over St. Thomas Aquinas on March 9. Daemen's 28 game winning streak was the longest this season of any Division I, II or III men's basketball team across the nation and set a new program record for consecutive wins. The 'Cats 28 wins also marked the seventh consecutive full season that they earned 20-or-more wins, the longest active streak of any Western New York school. 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 as the Wildcats went 25-0, winning by an average of 22.6 points. The Cats also set the record for the largest postseason win during the Division II era (2015-present) with a 90-57 win over Staten Island in the semifinal round of the ECC Championship on March 8. Daemen, who was ranked within the top five in at least one national poll dating back to Dec. 17, claimed their third ECC Regular Season Title and earned the right to host the ECC Tournament in Lumsden Gymnasium for the first time in program history. MacDonald and the Wildcats also hosted the 2025 NCAA East Regional at home, becoming the first ECC team since former conference member Bridgeport during the 2020 season to be tabbed as NCAA East Region Tournament hosts.
Four members of the 'Cats earned All-ECC honors during the 2024-25 campaign with
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) and
Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) on the first team,
Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) tabbed to the second team and
Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) a third team selection. Bill became just the second consensus All-American in program history as he was named to the NABC Division II All-America Team and D2CCA Third Team All-American while also being tabbed to the Bevo Francis Top 25 watch list.
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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