East Coast Conference Tournament Semifinals
No. 4 (#1 seed) Daemen Wildcats (28-1, 16-0 ECC) vs. (#5 seed) D'Youville Saints (8-17, 7-9 ECC)
Saturday, March 7 | 5 PM | Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium
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TOURNAMENT TIME
The Daemen men's basketball team, ranked No. 4 in the NABC Division II poll and leading all NCAA Division II teams in wins (28), opens up postseason play on Saturday, March 7 in the 2026 East Coast Conference Tournament against No. 5 seed D'Youville at Lumsden Gymnasium on the campus of Daemen University. The reigning ECC tournament champion Wildcats come in with a 28-1 overall record and 16-0 ECC record. D'Youville advanced to championship weekend for the first time in program history after collecting an 86-60 win over No. 4 seed Molloy on Wednesday night, marking the first ever ECC men's basketball playoff victory for the Saints.
REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS
Daemen earned the top seed in the tournament and hosting rights after winning their second consecutive ECC regular season title with a perfect 16-0 record in conference games, becoming the first ECC team to post back-to-back undefeated conference seasons since Philadelphia Textile in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons. This marked the Wildcats' fourth ECC regular season title in program history, adding to banners from 2013-14, 2018-19, and 2024-25. Daemen has won 38 straight ECC games, which includes an average victory margin of more than 20 points per game. The Wildcats own an all-time ECC record of 178-43 (.805 winning percentage).
DAEMEN IN THE ECC TOURNAMENT
The Wildcats have played in the ECC Tournament every season since joining the conference and becoming postseason eligible in the 2015-16 season. Over 10 seasons of postseason play, Daemen is 11-9 all-time in the tournament and has won their semifinal match up six times in program history. Daemen has advanced to the ECC title game in each the last five seasons (2020-21 to 2024-25). This season marks just the second time that the Wildcats have hosted the conference tournament. In the 2025 tournament, Daemen cruised to an 80-68 victory over Staten Island in the semifinals and narrowly beat longtime postseason rival St. Thomas Aquinas 88-80 in the championship game to capture the program's first ever ECC tournament title. It marked the first win for the Wildcats in the ECC championship game after five runner-up finishes (2016, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).
ALL-CONFERENCE CATS
Four Wildcats earned All-ECC accolades and Daemen collected three major awards, the league announced on Tuesday afternoon. Junior guard
Zach Philipkoski (New Hartford, N.Y.) was named the ECC Player of the Year, redshirt senior forward
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) collected ECC Defensive Player of the Year honors, and head coach
Mike MacDonald was named the ECC Coach of the Year. Philipkoski, Hemphill, and redshirt junior center
Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) all earned First Team All-ECC accolades, while senior guard
Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) was named to the Second Team. This marks the 10th season that the Wildcats have earned a major conference award, and the first time that Daemen has earned Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year in the same season. The Wildcats previously earned Player of the Year and Coach of the Year in 2025 (
Benjamin Bill) and 2019 (Andrew Sischo), and earned Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 (Andrew Sischo POTY and Sean Fasoyiro DPOTY).
COACH OF THE YEAR
In his 12th season at the helm of Daemen men's basketball and his 29th season of collegiate coaching, head coach
Mike MacDonald was named ECC Coach of the Year for the third time. Leading the Wildcats to another storybook season, MacDonald guided Daemen to another undefeated ECC season (16-0) en route to the No. 4 ranked Wildcats' 28-1 record season mark. Daemen became the first ECC team since Philadelphia Textile (1992-93 and 1993-94) to tally back-to-back undefeated conference records. The Wildcats earned their fourth ECC regular season title in program history and has tied the program record for wins (28), set in 2024-25 in Daemen's record-breaking season. Under MacDonald's leadership, the Wildcats have won 38 consecutive ECC regular season games and a 56-2 overall record in the past two seasons. Ranked fourth in the latest NABC coaches' poll, Daemen has been ranked in the top-5 for 26 consecutive polls.
PHILIP-CLUTCH-SKI
Zach Philipkoski put together a standout junior campaign to earn ECC Player of the Year honors after leading the Wildcats offensively throughout the year. He is the third Daemen player over six seasons to earn Player of the Year honors (Andrew Sischo in 2019, 20, 21 and 22;
Benjamin Bill in 2025). Collecting First Team All-ECC accolades for the first time in his career, Philipkoski leads the Wildcats and ranks fourth in the league with 17.7 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field (seventh in the ECC). Daemen's biggest threat from beyond the arc, Philipkoski averages 2.3 triples per game (third in the league) and ranks second in the ECC shooting 40 percent from the three-point line. Averaging 7.2 rebounds per game (sixth in the ECC) and 3.7 assists per game (seventh in the ECC), the 6-foot-4 guard recorded four double-doubles this season and scored 20+ points in 12 games, including knocking down a season-high 28 points twice (vs. Staten Island on Jan. 11 and vs. D'Youville on Feb. 22). A three-time ECC Player of the Week and one time ECC Defensive Player of the Week this season, Philipkoski has scored in the double figures in all but two games this season and has been named to the Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List.
MR. EVERYTHING
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.
BIG MAN BEN BILL
Benjamin Bill earns First Team All-ECC honors for the second year in a row. Returning to the Daemen lineup after earning ECC Player of the Year and consensus All-American honors in 2025, Bill Bill picked up where he left off to begin the season, and was a three-time ECC weekly award recipient (Player of the Week x2, Defensive Player of the Week) early in the year before suffering an injury. The 6-foot-10 center left Daemen's game at Mercy on Dec. 12 and missed the next 11 games. He returned to the lineup Jan. 31 vs. Roberts Wesleyan and reached double figures in five of the last seven games. For the season, Bill is averaging 15.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, while shooting 66.7 percent from the field and posting seven double-doubles. The Daemen big man was named to the Bevo Francis Top 50 Watch List for the second straight season.
THE GLOVE FITS
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 11.4 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 112 games with 89 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.
DAEMEN IN THE NABC POLL
Preseason - 4
Nov. 25 - 3
Dec. 2 - 3
Dec. 9 - 3
Dec. 16 - 2
Dec. 23 - 2
Jan. 6 - 2
Jan. 13 - 2
Jan. 20 - 2
Jan. 27 - 4
Feb. 3 - 4
Feb. 10 - 4
Feb. 17 - 4
Feb. 24 - 4
March 3 - 4
ALONE ATOP THE REGION
Daemen sits at No. 1 in the official
NCAA Division II Men's Basketball East Region rankings released Wednesday afternoon, putting themselves in prime position for a potential bid to the 2026 NCAA Division II Championship. The NCAA announces 10-team rankings for each of the eight regions across the country for three successive weeks leading up to the NCAA Championship selection announcement, which will be made on Sunday, March 8. Daemen boasts a 28-1 overall record this season, including a 24-1 mark against regional opponents. Daemen's 28 wins this season matches the program record, set last year as the Wildcats put together a storybook 28-1 season after rattling off 28 straight victories. for The Wildcats have posted an impressive 9-0 record against teams included in the East Region rankings this week, with wins over No. 2 Felician, No. 3 Saint Anselm, No. 5 Assumption, No. 6 Adelphi, No. 7 Saint Michael's, No. 9 St. Thomas Aquinas (twice) and No. 10 Staten Island (twice). Daemen is 14-1 this season against ranked teams throughout the country, owning wins over several other regionally-ranked squads this season: Fairmont State (Atlantic No. 3), California (Pa.) (Atlantic No. 5), Charleston (W.Va.) (Atlantic No. 8), Lenoir-Rhyne (Southeast No. 2) and Alaska Anchorage (West No. 5).
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Daemen's success this season has been rooted at the defensive end of the court, where they're allowing just 66.1 points per game, ranking 18th nationally. Daemen's stingy defense includes the best shot-blocking numbers in Division II, averaging 6.0 blocks per contest. They also own a +9.8 rebounding margin per game (sixth in Division II) and are holding opponents to just 39.5 percent field-goal shooting (eighth in Division II). Daemen players are responsible for 10 of the 14 ECC Defensive Player of the Week selections this season, with five different players being recognized.
WIN AND YOU'RE IN
The winner of Saturday's semifinal games (#1 Daemen vs. #5 D'Youville, & #2 St. Thomas Aquinas vs. #6 Roberts Wesleyan) will advance to the 2026 ECC Men's Basketball Championship game on Sunday, March 8 at 3:30 PM.
SCOUTING THE SAINTS
Making the program's first ever postseason appearance, #5 seed D'Youville stunned #4 seed Molloy in their first round match up on Wednesday, beating the Lions 86-80 after scoring 50 points in the second half to advance to championship weekend for the first time ever. Led by fourth-year head coach Andy Stark, the Saints have been paced by the duo of Elisha Warren and Sean Reynolds. Warren, a redshirt junior guard from Woodhaven, Mich., leads the team in scoring (16.4 ppg) and has posted seven 20-point games. Reynolds leads the ECC with 64 three-pointers, and is producing 11.5 points per game. The 6-foot-1 freshman guard has been a three-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection. Junior guard/forward Dawson Matsell is chipping in with 8.3 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game, while junior guard Maxence Massadila is leading the ECC in assists per game (6.2).
SERIES HISTORY
The Wildcats own a 19-0 record over D'Youville in the modern era of the program (1986-present) and are 13-0 against the Saints since D'Youville joined the ECC in the 2020-21 season. Daemen handily won both match ups this season, 90-65 on Jan. 24 at Lumsden Gymnasium, and 90-67 on Feb. 22 at D'Youville's Saints Center Gym.
