Congratulations to Justin Hemphill (Seneca Nation), who poured in 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to propel the Daemen University Wildcats to the East Coast Conference Championship and earn himself Most Outstanding Player honors as well.
AMHERST, NY – Champions at last! For the first time in program history, the No. 1/2 Daemen University men’s basketball team secured the East Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Championship title as they downed longtime postseason nemesis St. Thomas Aquinas, 88-80, in the ECC Men’s Basketball Championship Game Sunday afternoon at Lumsden Gymnasium.
The Wildcats remained undefeated and improved to 27-0 while the Spartans dropped to 23-9. Today also marked the ‘Cats first postseason win against STAC in program history as well.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Redshirt sophomore forward Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) led Daemen with 23 points and notched a game-high three blocks
- Redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) poured in 21 points while knocking down 10 shots to propel the Daemen offense. The forward collected his team-leading ninth double-double of the year with 10 boards and seven assists. His performances over both games netted him ECC Championship Most Outstanding Player honors as well.
- Graduate student guard Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y) tallied 14 points and knocked down a game-high four 3-pointers while junior guard Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) added 10 points of his own.
- Derrick James led STAC with 18 points while Hartnel Haye grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in the loss.
UP NEXT
Daemen will prepare for the NCAA East Regional with the first game set for March 15. The opponent and the Wildcats seed will be revealed later tonight. Stay tuned!
