AMHERST, N.Y. -- Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) of the Daemen University men's basketball team have earned All-District honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the league announced in a press release on Monday morning. The 80 NABC All-District selections represent the top players from each region throughout the country. Philipkoski and Bill are two of the ten players on the East Region's All-District Teams. The East Region is comprised of the top players from the East Coast Conference (ECC), Northeast 10 Conference (NE10) and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC). This is the second all-region honor for both Philipkoski and Bill, as both players earned All-Region honors from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) honors last week. 

Zach Philipkoski, First Team All-District -- The postseason accolades keep coming for the 6-foot-4 junior guard Zach Philipkoski! Already being named the 2026 ECC Player of the Year, D2CCA First Team All-East Region, First Team All-ECC, and to the Bevo Francis Award Top 25 Watch List this season, Philipkoski collects NABC All-District honors for the first time in his career. In his standout junior campaign, Philipkoski has taken the reigns of Daemen's high-powered offense, leading the team with a team-high 18 points and 3.7 assists per game along with 7.1 rebounds per game. Philipkoski is shooting 51 percent from the field and 41.8 percent beyond the arc. Scoring in the double-digits for all but two games this season, Philipkoski was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Division II East Region Tournament after averaging 22 points per game en route to the Wildcats winning the East Region and punching their ticket to the Elite Eight. He was also named to ECC All-Tournament team after averaging 15 points per game en route to Daemen's second straight ECC Tournament title. 

Benjamin Bill, Second Team All-District -- Earning NABC All-District honors for the second consecutive season, 6-foot-10 redshirt junior center Benjamin Bill adds more accolades to his impressive Daemen career with Second Team honors this year. A consensus All-American after his red-hot redshirt sophomore season last year, Bill picked up where he left off at the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign, averaging 19 points and 10.2 rebounds per game with six double-doubles until a lower body injury sidelined him on Dec. 12. Bill spent weeks sidelined and rehabbing, and after missing 11 games, he returned to the starting lineup on Jan. 31. In the past 12 games since he has been back on the court, the redshirt junior center averages 15.6 points per game. On the year, Bill is shooting an incredible 61.8 percent from the field while averaging 16.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game along with 39 blocks. He was named the 2026 ECC Tournament Most Outstanding Player and earned a spot on the East Region All-Tournament team. 

Philipkoski, Bill and the entire Daemen men's basketball team continue their storybook season in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight on Wednesday, March 25 in Pittsburgh, Pa.. Boasting a 33-1 overall record, the Wildcats garnered the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will face No. 5 seed Lander on Wednesday at 8:30 PM at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.