AMHERST, N.Y. -- The postseason honors keep coming for Daemen University men's standout Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.)! The 6-foot-4 junior guard has been elevated to the Bevo Francis Award Top 25 Watch List, announced on Sunday by Small College Basketball. Philipkoski is the second Wildcat to be named one of the final 25 players in the country on the watch list, joining Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) who was on the 2025 top 25 list. Philipkoski, Bill and Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) were all on the Top 100 watch list, and Bill and Philipkoski represented Daemen on the Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List in February.

A national organization that spotlights the achievements of non-NCAA Division I men's basketball teams and student-athletes, Small College Basketball has presented the Bevo Francis Award annually to the player deemed to have had the finest overall season. The award is named for the former basketball star at Rio Grande College who averaged 50.1 points per game during the 1952-53 season. 

Finalists for the award will be revealed on April 4, and the award recipient will be crowned on April 6. 

Named the 2026 East Coast Conference Player of the Year and a member of the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-East Region First Team, Philipkoski has shined in his breakout junior campaign. Shooting 50.4 percent from the field and averaging a team-high 17.3 points to go with 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, Philipkoski is Daemen's biggest threat from beyond the arc and averages 2.3 triples per game (third in the league) and ranks second in the ECC shooting 40 percent from the three-point line. Philipkoski was named to the ECC All-Tournament Team after averaging 15 points and five rebounds per game en route to Daemen's second consecutive ECC Tournament championship this past weekend. He has scored in double figure 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. The third Daemen player to earn ECC Player of the Year honors over six years, Philipkoski scored his 1,000th career point in the ECC final last weekend. He becomes the third Wildcat to earn First Team All-D2CCA honors, joining Bill (2025) and Andrew Sischo (2019, 20, 21, 22).

Philipkoski has helped lead the Wildcats to a No. 4 ranking in the nation in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll throughout the season. With one of the toughest schedules to date, Daemen cruised through the season, posting a program-record 31 wins (31-1) while going undefeated through ECC regular season play for the second year in a row, becoming the first team to tally back-to-back unbeaten conference regular seasons since Philadelphia U. in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons. The Wildcats won their second ECC Tournament title and earned the top seed and hosting rights in the NCAA Division II Tournament. Daemen dominated their East Region quarterfinal match up against #8 seed Goldey Beacom, 111-78, on Saturday evening, posting their largest postseason win (33 points) in program history. The Wildcats will play #5 Saint Michael's in the regional semifinals on Sunday at 7:30 PM at Lumsden Gymnasium.