Jaiden Harrison points during semifinals

James P. McCoy

Sweet 16 Up Next For No. 4 Men's Basketball

3/16/2026 4:15:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Director of Athletics Communications | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

BACK IN THE SWEET 16
The No. 4 ranked Daemen University men's basketball team is back in the NCAA Division II East Region Finals for the second time in program history! Winners of the East Coast Conference, the top-seeded Wildcats will face #3 seed Saint Anselm, winners of the Northeast 10 Conference, in the regional championship game on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 PM. The East Region winner will punch their ticket to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Pittsburgh, Pa. on Wednesday, March 25.

SEMIFINAL VICTORY
The Wildcats earned their spot in the regional championship game with an 85-62 semifinal win over #5 seed Saint Michael's on Sunday night. Facing a tough Saint Michael's team that came back from a 16-point deficit to defeat No. 4 seed Bentley in the quarterfinals on Saturday night, Daemen capitalized in the second half after leading the Purple Knights by 11 at the break, shooting 52.9 percent from the field in the second half while banking 18 shots from the field. The Wildcat defense held Saint Michael's to shoot just 40 percent all game and out-rebounded Saint Michael's 40 to 29 along with totaling five blocks and three steals and forcing 14 turnovers. Four Daemen players finished with double-digit points, led by the tremendous efforts of redshirt junior center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) at the blocks. Bill finished with a game-high 21 points while shooting 9-of-11 from the floor. Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) added 16 points, Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) totaled 12, and Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) finished with 11.

BEEN HERE BEFORE
Daemen returns to the Sweet 16 for the second time in the program's NCAA era (2015-present), and the first since winning the East Region title in 2021. In the 2021 regional championship game, the #2 seeded Wildcats clashed against their ECC rivals in St. Thomas Aquinas, the top seed in the tournament, and paced by a strong effort in the second half, took down the Spartans 71-70 to take home the hardware for the first time in program history. 2021 marked the first and only time the Wildcats had advanced to the regional championship game until this season. Saint Anselm is also no stranger to the East Region championship game, advancing to the NCAA Division II Regional Final five times in program history, and winning the East Region twice (2000, 2019).

DAEMEN IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Making their third straight and sixth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats boast a 6-3 record all-time in the East Regional and a 6-4 overall record in the NCAA Tournament. Daemen has advanced to the regional semifinals in each of the past three seasons. In 2024, the Wildcats entered the regional tournament as the #4 seed and took down #5 seed Jefferson (74-66) in the quarterfinal round before falling to #1 seed Saint Michael's (62-86) in the regional semifinals in Colchester, VT. Hosting the East Region tournament in 2025 as the No. 1 team in the country riding a perfect 27-0 record, top-seeded Daemen cruised to an 80-68 win over #8 seed Bridgeport in the quarterfinals, but ran into ECC rival St. Thomas Aquinas for the fourth time in the season in the semifinals. As the #5 seed in the tournament, the surging Spartans mounted a second-half comeback to stun the Wildcats 74-79 and end Daemen's perfect season prematurely. Daemen's first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2019 where they earned an at-large bid as the #5 seed in the region but fell (67-72) to #4 seed New Haven. The Wildcats' best postseason run came in 2021 where they topped #3 seed Bloomfield (81-69) and beat #1 seed St. Thomas Aquinas 71-70 to win the East Region for the first time in program history and advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. As the #8 seed in the Elite Eight, Daemen fell to #1 seed West Texas A&M (83-97).

BIG TIME BEN BILL
Daemen's all-star center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) is putting up big time numbers in the East Region tournament, averaging 21.5 points per game while shooting 85.9 percent from the field (18-of-21) in the quarterfinals and semifinal games, adding 6 rebounds per game, two assists per game and 1.5 blocks per game in the tournament. After sustaining an injury in mid December that kept him sidelined for 11 games until his return to the court on Jan. 31, Bill looks to be back at the top of his game, scoring 20+ points in each of the last three games, including a dominating 23-point performance in the ECC Championship game against Roberts Wesleyan on March 8.

PHILIP-CLUTCH-SKI
The 2026 ECC Player of the Year and First Team All-Region honoree Zach Philipkoski has been money for the Wildcats all season long, averaging 17.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 39.8 percent beyond the arc. Scoring in the double-digits for all but two games this season, Philipkoski was named to the ECC All-Tournament team last weekend after averaging 15 points per game en route to Daemen's second straight ECC Tournament title.

ALL-REGION CATS
Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) have been named to the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-East Region Team, the association announced on Thursday morning. The 10-player team consists of the top players in the region, which includes the East Coast Conference (ECC), Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC). Philipkoski earned First Team honors for the first time in his career, while Ben was named to the All-Region team for the second consecutive season, picking up Second Team honors in 2026.

MOST WINS IN PROGRAM HISTORY
The Wildcats are in the middle of a historic season, posting a program-record 32 wins this year (32-1 overall) as well as recording their second straight undefeated mark (16-0) in ECC regular season play. The Wildcats became the first ECC team to post back-to-back undefeated regular seasons since Philadelphia Textile in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons. 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 an outstanding 60-2 overall record.

ECC WINNERS x2
The Wildcats earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the East Coast Conference Tournament last weekend for the second year in a row. 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.

JUSTIN "SWISS ARMY KNIFE" HEMPHILL
Justin Hemphill continues to impress in his redshirt senior season, becoming the fifth Daemen player to earn ECC Defensive Player of the Year along with earning First Team honors for the second straight season. A five-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week and one-time Player of the Week honoree this season, Hemphill ranks fourth in the conference averaging a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game while adding 11.9 points, 5.2 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.9 steals per game. The Buffalo, N.Y. native recorded his 1,000th career point on Nov. 18 over #5 Fairmont State, becoming the 29th player in team history to reach this milestone. He ranks 15th in points, third in blocked shots and fifth in steals, rebounds and assists among Daemen's all-time leaders. Hemphill is now the only player in program history with at least 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 300 assists. He is presently the only player to rank among the ECC's top five leaders in rebounds (2nd), assists (3rd), blocks (4th) and steals (5th). Hemphill has also posted a team-best nine double-doubles this season, and his 13-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist outing vs. Mercy on Feb. 13 marked the first triple-double by a Daemen player since Dec. 17, 2014 (Gerald Beverly vs. St. Thomas (Fla.)). On Sunday, Hemphill was named to the Trevor Hudgins Top 15 Award Watch List, an award gifted to a player with the most outstanding collegiate career in small college basketball. He was named to the ECC All-Tournament Team after averaging 11.5 points and eight rebounds per game.

J GLOVE
Justin Glover was named to the Second Team All-ECC for the second consecutive season. In his senior campaign, Glover ranks fourth on the team offensively with 11.2 points per game while shooting 38.8 percent from the field as well as a 37.6 percent three-point shooting percentage. The Buffalo, N.Y. native ranks 5th in the ECC with 2.2 three-point field goals per game, scoring multiple triples in 20 games on the year. Glover has scored in the double digits in 17 matches this season, knocking down a season-high 20 points against Staten Island on Jan. 11. During Daemen's 90-65 win over D'Youville on Jan. 24, Glover became the 30th player in team history to reach the 1,000 point milestone. In his third season as a full-time starter, Glover has appeared in 114 games with 91 starts to his credit, and he now ranks 25th in career scoring (1,081 points) and ninth in career three-pointers (175) among Daemen's all-time leaders.

BIG TIME CONTRIBUTIONS
Junior Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) has made an impact in the starting lineup this season, averaging 9.3 points per game while shooting an impressive 50.9 percent from the field. Daemen's shifty point guard plays some stellar shutdown defense too and has been paired up against some of the top guards in the region during this tournament. In Sunday's semifinal victory over Saint Michael's, Heath held SMC's guard Quintin Floyd, who leads the Purple Knights in scoring, to zero points through the first half of play. On the year, Heath has 46 steals (1.4 per game) and 96 assists (2.9 per game).

Redshirt junior Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) stepped up in a big way while Bill was out of the lineup and has shined ever since. During the 12-game period that Nwugwo started for the Wildcats, he averaged 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game including a double-double (17 points and 11 rebounds vs. Mercy on Dec. 12) along with 1.75 blocks per game (including a career-high five blocks vs. UDC on Jan. 9). Since Bill's return to the lineup, Nwugwo has remained a pivotal player off the bench and is averaging 9.8 points per game over the past 11 games.

MAC ATTACK
Leading the Wildcats on another storybook season, head coach Mike MacDonald is named ECC Coach of the Year honors for the third time after guiding Daemen to another undefeated ECC season (16-0) en route to the No. 4 ranked Wildcats' 30-1 record season mark. Daemen became the first ECC team since Philadelphia University (1993-94) to tally back-to-back undefeated conference records. The Wildcats earned their fourth ECC regular season title in program history, collected their second straight ECC Tournament title and has the program record for wins (30). Under MacDonald's leadership, the Wildcats have won 38 consecutive ECC regular season games and a 58-2 overall record in the past two seasons. Ranked fourth in the final NABC coaches' poll, Daemen has been ranked in the top-5 for 27 consecutive polls.

HOME, SWEET HOME
The Wildcats really have a home court advantage at Lumsden Gymnasium! Since becoming a full fledged NCAA Division II member in the 2015-16 season, the Wildcats have mounted an impressive 129-17 record at home for a 88.1% win percentage. In that stretch, Daemen has lost one or fewer home games in six seasons. This season, the Wildcats have a perfect 19-0 home record. Over the last three seasons, Daemen has a 47-2 home record. In those two losses (74-79 to St. Thomas Aquinas in 2025 East Region semifinal; 62-71 to Staten Island in 2024 ECC game), the Wildcats lost by an average of just seven points.

DEFENSIVE MINDED
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).

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Daemen and Saint Anselm meet on the court at Lumsden Gymnasium for the second time this season in a rematch of the East Region Challenge on Nov. 15. The Hawks entered the East Region Tournament as the Northeast 10 champions, going 14-4 through NE10 play and earning the top seed in the conference tournament where they beat #4 seed Assumption (90-77) and #6 seed Saint Michael's (75-69) to win the NE10 championship. The #3 seed in the East Regional, the Hawks opened up tournament play on Saturday with a 92-81 comeback victory over #6 seed Assumption and punched their ticket to the regional championship with a massive 99-77 win over #2 seed Felician in the semifinals on Sunday. Boasting a 25-7 overall record this season, Saint Anselm is led by senior guard Josh Morissette who averages 17.8 points per game and NE10 and D2CCA East Region Player of the Year Will Davies who scores 13.8 ppg while shooting 52% from the field and doled out 7.2 assists per game. Junior forward Jack Medalie has had an impressive regional tournament, averaging 20.5 ppg.

SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats own a 5-1 all-time record over Saint Anselm and defeated the Hawks 80-63 in the Nov. 15 meeting.

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