AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen University men's basketball team remains ranked No. 4 in the final National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Poll of the 2025-26 season. The Wildcats have been ranked in the top five for 28 straight NABC polls and have appeared in the last 31. Today's ranking marks the sixth consecutive No. 4 ranking for the Wildcats.
Daemen won the East Coast Conference Championship for the second year in a row this past weekend. As the regular season champions and hosts of the tournament, the top-seeded Wildcats advanced to the ECC title game for the sixth straight season with a 73-59 win over #5 seed D'Youville in the semifinals on Saturday night. Sunday's championship game was a Western New York affair as the Wildcats squared off against #6 seed Roberts Wesleyan who punched their ticket to the title game for the first time in program history after knocking off #2 seed St. Thomas Aquinas in their semifinal game. Daemen dominated their longtime rivals from the start and cruised to an 86-66 victory over the Redhawks to bring bring home the hardware yet again. Redshirt junior
Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament after averaging 22 points per game, while redshirt senior
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) and junior
Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) were each named to the All-Tournament Team.
With their ECC Championship victory on Sunday, the Wildcats set a record for the most wins in program history with 30, posting a 30-1 record on the year as well as recording their second straight undefeated mark (16-0) in ECC regular season play. Daemen had just one ECC game decided by single digits, and owned a +22.6 points per game scoring margin in all conference games this season. They've won 38 consecutive ECC regular season games, a streak that dates back to February of 2024. Since the start of the 2024-25 season, Daemen men's basketball has compiled a 58-2 overall record.
Daemen's success this season has been rooted at the defensive end of the court, where they're allowing just 65.8 points per game, ranking 17th nationally. Daemen's stingy defense includes the best shot-blocking numbers in Division II, averaging 5.8 blocks per contest. They also own a +9.7 rebounding margin per game (fourth in Division II) and are holding opponents to just 39.5 percent field-goal shooting (ninth in Division II).
The Wildcats have been led this season by veterans
Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.),
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) and
Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.). Philipkoski, who was named the ECC Player of the Year last week, is shooting 50.5 percent from the field and averaging a team-high 17.5 points to go with 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He has scored in double figures in all but two games this season, with 12 outings of 20 points or more to his credit. He ranks fourth in scoring, and seventh in rebounding and assists among the ECC's leaders.
Hemphill leads the team in rebounds (8.5 rpg), assists (5.2 apg) and steals (1.8 spg) while scoring 11.9 points per outing. He was named the ECC Defensive Player of the Year and has posted a team-best nine double-doubles. Hemphill is the only player among the league's top five leaders in rebounds (fourth), assists (third), blocked shots (fourth) and steals (fifth). He's also the only player from an ECC team to record a triple-double this season, totaling 13 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a win over Mercy on Feb. 13.
Bill, the 2025-26 ECC Preseason Player of the Year and a consensus All-American last season, has posted seven double-doubles and is producing 16.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, while shooting 65.8 percent from the field. The redshirt junior center missed 11 games with an injury, but returned to the lineup Jan. 31 vs. Roberts Wesleyan. He joined Philipkoski and Hemphill as an All-ECC First Team selection.
Philipkoski and Bill were recently named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 50 Watch List, putting them in contention for one of Small College Basketball's highest honors, which goes to the non-Division I player deemed to have had the finest overall season. Hemphill was recently named to the Trevor Hudgins Award Top 15 Watch List, an honor that goes to the non-Division I player with the best overall career.
The Wildcats have also gotten solid contributions from the likes of
Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.),
Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) and
Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.).
Now in his third season as a full-time starter, Glover has played in 114 games with 91 starts to his credit. He scored the 1,000th point of his career in Daemen's earlier win over D'Youville, and is averaging 11.2 points per outing with a career-high 60 three-point field goals this season. Glover was named to the All-ECC Second Team last week.
Heath is in the starting lineup for the first time in his career, and has responded by averaging 9.7 points, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game - all career highs. He's also been a two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week selection.
Nwugwo has scored 10+ points in 18 of the last 21 games. He had only four double-figure scoring games in his career coming into the season. The 6-foot-6 redshirt junior forward stepped into the starting lineup while Bill was out of the lineup, and has raised his contributions significantly. For the season, Nwugwo is averaging 9.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.
The Wildcats are one of just four Division II teams with one or fewer losses. Daemen is now 58-2 since the start of the 2024-25 season, and the Wildcats have gone 4-1 against nationally ranked teams this year. They own wins over No. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne (Nov. 1), No. 5 Fairmont State (Nov. 18), No. 21 Assumption (Dec. 17) and No. 22 Adelphi (Jan. 1).
Daemen will host the 2026 East Region Tournament this weekend at Lumsden Gymnasium. The top seed in the East, the Wildcats open the tournament on Saturday, March 14 with a 5 PM quarterfinal game against #8 seed Goldey Beacom. The winner of that game advances to the regional semifinals on Sunday, March 15 at 5 PM. The East Region final is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17 at 7 PM at Lumsden Gymnasium.
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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