by AMHERST, N.Y. – Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) of the Daemen University men’s basketball team has been honored by the East Coast Conference for his play last week. Hemphill was selected the ECC Men’s Basketball Defensive Player of the Week for games played Feb. 20-26. The announcement of award winners was made via the league’s weekly sport report, which was released this afternoon. It marks the second-straight week and the third time this season Hemphill has earned the honor.
It also marks the fifth time in the past nine weeks that Daemen has produced the ECC Defensive Player of the Week. Hemphill has earned the honor three times and redshirt senior Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.) has been two-time honoree over that stretch.
Hemphill led the Wildcats to an 83-74 win over D’Youville in their regular season finale on Saturday at Lumsden Gymnasium. it marked the seventh-straight win for Daemen, which went 16-2 over its final 18 regular season games. Hemphill played 23 minutes off the bench on Saturday, tied for the team lead in rebounds with nine (6 defensive) and also totaled three steals and a career-high six blocks. He made 10-of-14 shots and scored a career-high 24 points in the win. It marked the second time in the past three games he has scored over 20 points, as he netted 21 points in an 83-57 win over ECC regular season champion St. Thomas Aquinas back on Feb. 17. He is shooting 70-percent (32-for-46) from the field and averaging 11.1 points and 8.0 rebounds during the current seven game winning streak.
A product of Cardinal O’Hara High School, Hemphill has proven to be a solid sixth man. Sidelined by injury most of his first two seasons, he has played in 25 of 26 games this season and is averaging 18.6 minutes off the bench. He totaled 13 points and 11 rebounds during a win over Alliance on Nov. 27 en route to his first career double-double. In a win over Roberts Wesleyan on Jan. 11 he scored 16 points and established a new career-high for rebounds (14) and assists (6). He is averaging 8.9 points per game and leads the team in offensive rebounds (64) and total rebounds per game (6.7). He ranks first among all ECC players in field goal percentage (91-149/.611).
