Men's Basketball | 3/4/2025 10:05:55 AM
The Empire 8 Conference announced its 2024-25 Men’s Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team on Tuesday, March 4. Utica University graduate student Damien Call was named Empire 8 Tournament Most Valuable Player after leading the second-seeded Pioneers to their second straight E8 title and third in program history on March 1.
Call averaged 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 59.3 percent from the floor (16-of-27) in three of postseason contests. He scored 15 points to go along with 10 boards and five assists in Utica’s E8 quarterfinal win on Feb. 22 over No. 7 seed Houghton University. On Feb. 26, Call did it all with 10 rebounds, seven assists and seven points in the 85-79 win over No. 3 Nazareth in the Empire 8 Semifinal In Saturday’s championship game, Call scored 12 of his 18 points in the first half, leading the Pioneers to an 89-76 win over No. 4 SUNY Poly in a battle of Utica institutions to claim the E8 title.
Utica junior forward Liam Teague joined Call on the All-Tournament Team after averaging 17.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game in the three wins, while shooting 57.5 percent from the field (23-of-40) in just 60 minutes of play. Teague had 22 points and nine boards in the semifinal win over Nazareth, while scoring 18 points to go along with eight rebounds and four blocks in the title game Saturday.
Cheickne Toure, a senior guard, averaged 23.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists, while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor, while playing 117 minutes in three games for runner-up SUNY Poly to earn All-Tournament Team accolades. He scored 25 points in the title game against Utica. Sophomore guard Alex Tavarez of SUNY Brockport and junior guard Jaylen Savage of Nazareth University were also named to the All-Tournament Team. Savage, who was named the 2024-25 Empire 8 Player of the Year, averaged 28.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in a pair of tournament games, while leading the Golden Flyers to the semifinals. Tavarez tallied career-high totals of 31 points and nine rebounds for top-seeded Brockport in the semifinals against Poly. He shot 59.3 percent from the floor (16-of-27) in the two tournament games.
2024-25 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team
Alex Tavarez, So., G, SUNY Brockport
Jaylen Savage, Jr., G, Nazareth
Cheickne Toure, Sr., G, SUNY Poly
Damien Call, Gr., G/F, Utica *
Liam Teague, Jr., F, Utica
* Named Most Valuable Player
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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