ECC Men's Basketball Player of the Year Benjamin Bill of Daemen Lands on NABC Division II All-America Team

Release courtesy of Max Sacco, Daemen University Sports Information AMHERST, NY – After getting tabbed to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District team, redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y) was named to the NABC Division II All-America Team, as announced Tuesday morning in a press release from the organization. Selections for the NABC Division II All-America Team were made by the association's member coaches from various Division II institutions.   Bill is one of 16 players across the country to earn the award and one of two players from the East Region along with Tray Alexander of Pace University (NE-10) to take home the honor. He is also one of three sophomores to earn the accolade along with Ethan Duncan (Lubbock Christian) and Wes Enis (Lincoln Memorial). The Hamburg, N.Y., native is the first member of the Wildcats to earn any All-American accolades since Andrew Sischo during the 2021-22 season. That year, Sischo was a consensus all-American as well.   Along with now being named to the NABC Division II All-America Team, Bill also was named the ECC Player of the Year, a D2CCA First Team selection, an All-ECC First Team honoree, NABC All-District First Team pick and was selected to the Bevo Francis Watch List Top 25 as well.   This season, Bill ended the year as the team leader in field goals made (209), field goal percentage (.708), points (488), ppg (16.8) and blocks (62) while playing less than 25 minutes per game. Bill also helped pace Daemen in bench points per game with an average of 38.2 which ranked second in the nation. The Hamburg, N.Y., native set the program record for field goal percentage in a season at .708, breaking a record that was set during the 1991-92 season by Stefan Van Duluitgaarden. Bill ended the 2024-25 campaign tied for the team lead in double-doubles with eight, highlighted by a 25-point, 11 rebound afternoon against Roberts Wesleyan (March 1). Across 29 games, the redshirt sophomore center eclipsed double-digits in all but three games and notched 10-or-more rebounds eight times. Bill joined redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) as the first Daemen duo to score 20-or-more points since Dylan Fasoyiro (23 points) and Joey Atkins (20 points) accomplished the feat against the District of Columbia on Feb. 22, 2024 as they combined to score 44 of Daemen's 88 points in the ECC Championship against St. Thomas Aquinas to propel the Wildcats to their first postseason conference title. This season, Bill earned six weekly awards as he was named the ECC Player of the Week on four occasions (Dec. 2, 9, 23 & Feb. 15) and the ECC Defensive Player of the Week twice (Dec. 9 & Jan. 13).    Bill is joined on the NABC Divison II All-America Team by Alexander, Duncan, Ennis, Jarrett Adderton (Columbus State), Majok Deng (Colorado School of Mines), Jeremy Dent-Smith (Cal St. Dominguez Hills), MJ Iraldi (Nova Southeastern), Antwan Kimmons (Concordia St. Paul), Jojo Murphy (Chico St.), Tommy Murr (Alabama-Huntsville), Nick Reid (Upper Iowa), Kollin Tolbert (Concord), Marcus Tomashek (Michigan Tech), Caleb Van De Griend (Minot State) and Donald Whitehead Jr. (Cal (Pa)). Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts. Follow the Daemen University men's basketball program on X and Facebook at @DaemenMBB.
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