Men’s Basketball | 6/10/2025 9:59:51 AM

Luke Insley of the Nazareth University men’s basketball team was named the 2024-25 Empire 8 Male Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year, based on a vote by the conference Faculty Athletic Representatives (FARs). The award honors a male student-athlete who best exemplify what it means to be a dedicated scholar and athlete over the course of their collegiate careers.
 
A 2024-25 All-Empire 8 First Team selection and two-time United States Basketball Writers Association Rochester Area First Team pick, Insley helped lead the Golden Flyers to a 57-24 record and two trips to the Empire 8 Championship game in his three seasons played. In addition, Insley led the nation (Divisions I, II and III) in assist-to-turnover ratio with an impressive 6.75:1 ratio in 2023-24 and was second in the nation in assists per game (6.5). In 2024-25, Insley was second in Division III, averaging 6.7 assists per game, while scoring 10.8 points per game, a career best.
 
Insley, a point guard, played 79 in games over three seasons for the Golden Flyers, averaging 8.3 points, 5.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 49.7 percent from the floor and 76.7 percent from the foul line. He had a remarkable career 4.99-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
In 2025, Insley won Nazareth’s prestigious Jeff Van Gundy Award. Named for former Nazareth basketball standout and Sports Hall of Famer Jeff Van Gundy, who was renowned for his work ethic and passion for his team and for his school. The award recognizes those characteristics as well commitment to Nazareth athletics in and out of season.
 
“Luke exemplifies what it means to be a true student-athlete,” said Nazareth men’s basketball head coach Kevin Broderick. “I am most impressed by Luke’s consistency, work ethic, and leadership. He is always the fittest player in our program, thanks to his year-round commitment to conditioning. Luke is a prominent campus leader, actively involved as a SAAC representative for two years. He is always one of the first to volunteer for community service projects and is genuinely concerned about the well-being of his teammates and classmates.”
 
A native of Webster, NY, Insley earned his bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Nazareth, while carrying a 3.98 cumulative grade-point average. Insley was an eight-time member of the Empire 8 President’s List for student-athletes with GPAs of 3.75 and a two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Men’s Basketball Academic All-District selection in both 2023-24 and 2024-25. In addition, Insley won the 2023-24 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Torchbearer Award for academic excellence.
 
“Luke embodies the true student-athlete and has done so at such a high level,” said Joe Venniro, Empire 8 Senior Associate Commissioner. “He has emerged as one of the best true point guards in the nation over the last few seasons. In addition, what Luke has accomplished in the classroom, with an incredibly demanding major, while emerging as a leader of the Nazareth University SAAC and campus community is truly remarkable.”
 
In addition, Insley served in a variety of community service roles in his four years at Nazareth, serving as a two-year member of Nazareth’s SAAC, while volunteering with Nazareth’s LifePrep program for students with intellectual disabilities. He also served as a referee for Special Olympics Basketball at Nazareth in 2023 and 2024, volunteered at Brighton Food Pantry and helped deliver Thanksgiving meals to local pantries.
 
“Beyond his measurable achievements, what truly distinguishes Luke is his character,” said Michael Huson, Clinical Associate Professor at Nazareth. “He is a natural leader focused, humble, and driven to help others. In the classroom, he sets a high standard for himself and his peers. His effort and maturity are evident in everything he does, and he balances the intense demands of a doctoral program and collegiate athletics with remarkable grace and perseverance.”
 
2024-25 Empire 8 Male Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year Finalists
Will LaMastus, Alfred University – Swimming and Diving
Ryan Trenholm, Elmira College – Baseball
Adam Harris, SUNY Geneseo – Ice Hockey
Garrett Frost, Hartwick College – Lacrosse
Graham Cook, Houghton University – Tennis
Luke Insley, Nazareth University – Basketball
LaMarqus Merchant Jr., SUNY Poly – Basketball
Kaiden Simpson, Russell Sage College – Track and Field
Brady Mason, St. John Fisher University – Lacrosse
 
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.
 
EMPIRE 8 SOCIAL MEDIA
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Ben Bishop, the 6-foot-7-inch goaltender who backstopped the University of Maine’s hockey team to its last Frozen Four appearance in 2006-07, is one of five athletes who will be inducted into UMaine’s Sports Hall of Fame in September.

The other inductees are former Black Bear women’s ice hockey standout Meagan Aarts, football’s Brandon McGowan, baseball’s Brian Seguin and pole vaulter Bill Schroeder.

Three teams will also be inducted: the 1977-78 champion women’s swim team and the 1963-64 men’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams that swept the Yankee Conference meets.

The induction ceremony will be held on Sept. 26 at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.

During his three years at UMaine, Bishop compiled a 55-35-7 record, a 2.29 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. He also had five shutouts. He was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team in 2006 and to the league’s second team in 2008.

He is currently third in career saves at UMaine with 2,399, fourth in games played (99) and lowest goals-against average and fifth in save percentage and wins. His 2.14 GAA and .923 save percentage during that 2006-07 campaign ties him with Frank Doyle for fifth in those single-season categories.

He is also fifth in saves in a single season with 915 in 07-08.

The former third round draft choice (85th overall) in 2005 of his hometown St. Louis Blues went on to have a stellar National Hockey League career for five teams. He was a three-time finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the league’s best goaltender.

He finished second twice and third once.

In addition to the St. Louis Blues, he also played for the Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars, but a knee injury ended his career in 2021.

Bishop now works for the Dallas organization.

In 413 career regular season NHL games, he posted a 222-128-36 record with a 2.32 GAA and a .921 save percentage. In 52 playoff games, he went 29-21-0 with a 2.27 GAA and a .924 save percentage.

Bishop called his upcoming induction a “great honor.

“It’s really special. There are a lot of great memories and it jumpstarted my hockey career,” Bishop said Tuesday afternoon. ”The university meant a lot to me, and I’m proud to be an alumni.”

He gave a lot of credit to UMaine assistant and goalie coach Grant Standbrook and noted the long list of UMaine goalies coached by Standbrook who wound up in the NHL. That includes Jimmy Howard, Mike Dunham, Garth Snow and Scott Darling.

Aarts had an outstanding career for UMaine’s women’s hockey team, racking up 61 goals and 64 assists for 115 points in 127 career games. She is fourth in career goals and assists. The 2004 graduate had a terrific 2001-02 season in which she notched 25 goals and 22 assists in 35 games.

The former first team All-Hockey East pick went on to have a 10-year pro career in the National Women’s Hockey League and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, including a 20-goal season for the Vaughan Flames in 2008-09.

She played 242 games in the two leagues and had 71 goals and 59 assists.

McGowan was an exceptional defensive back for the UMaine football team.

He was an AP Division I-AA All-American choice and a two-time all-conference selection, as a second teamer in 2003 and a first teamer in 2004.

He led the Black Bears in tackles both seasons, registering 85 in 2003 and 101 in 2004.

He was twice tied for the team lead in fumble recoveries and was second on the team in interceptions once.

McGowan signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Chicago Bears and spent part of four seasons with the Bears and one with the New England Patriots. He concluded his NFL career with 184 tackles, 10 pass deflections, four forced fumbles and two interceptions.

Seguin, who is also going to be inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame this year, was a three-time all-conference shortstop who still owns the school records for hits (91) and singles (74) in a season, longest hitting streak (27 games) and most games played in a season (66).

He was the team’s leading hitter in 1992 at .317 and was a career .311 hitter at UMaine, with 126 runs batted in, 156 runs scored, 37 doubles, five triples and 11 homers. He is ranked in the top 10 in career hits with 261 career hits.

He helped lead UMaine to two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Schroeder, a 1958 UMaine graduate, capped an outstanding track career at UMaine by sweeping the Maine, Yankee Conference and New England pole vault championships his senior year. He set the UMaine indoor and school, state and Yankee Conference outdoor records in the pole vault.

A team captain, Schroeder also ran hurdles and set a UMaine record for the 65-yard low hurdles his senior year.

Coach Jeff Wren’s 1977-78 women’s swim team won the New England championship and was the most successful one in school history. The title was the first of six New England championships during a 10-year span.

At the New Englands that season, future UMaine Sports Hall of Famer Julie Woodock claimed five individual titles and swam legs for two triumphant relay teams and Jill Puzas won the 200 breast-stroke.

Beth Carone, another UMaine Sports Hall of Famer, was also an important contributor to the team.

The team went undefeated in dual meets.

The 1963-64 season was a memorable one for the men’s cross country and track teams.

The cross country team got things started in the fall by capturing the Yankee Conference title and then the indoor track and field teams won the conference title spanning the fall and the spring semesters. The outdoor track and field team won the conference title in the spring.

The captain of all three teams was Jerry Ellis, who was inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.

UMaine captured five state outdoor Yankee Conference meets from 1961-65.

MIAMI — President Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens from a dozen countries took effect Monday with relative calm, as some travelers with valid visas reported extra scrutiny at American airports before being allowed entry.

The ban targeting mainly African and Middle Eastern countries kicked in amid rising tension over the president’s escalating campaign of immigration enforcement. But it arrived with no immediate signs of the chaos that unfolded at airports across the U.S. during Trump’s first travel ban in 2017.

Vincenta Aguilar said she was anxious Monday as she and her husband, both Guatemalan citizens, were subjected to three different interviews by U.S. officials after arriving at Miami International Airport and showing tourist visas the couple received last week.

“They asked us where we work, how many children we have, if we have had any problems with the law, how we are going to afford the cost of this travel, how many days we will stay here,” said Aguilar, who along with her husband was visiting their son for the first time since he left Guatemala 22 years ago.

She said they were released about an hour after their flight landed, greeting their waiting family members in Florida with tears of relief. Guatemala is not among the countries included in the new ban or flagged for extra travel restrictions.

New ban shouldn’t revoke previously issued visas

The new proclamation that Trump signed last week applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don’t hold a valid visa.

The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Travelers with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the U.S. even after the ban takes effect.

Narayana Lamy, a Haitian citizen who works for his home country’s government, said he was told to wait after showing his passport and tourist visa Monday at the Miami airport while a U.S. official confirmed by phone that he was allowed into the country to visit family members.

Luis Hernandez, a Cuban citizen and green card holder who has lived in the U.S. for three years, said he had no problems returning Monday to Miami after a weekend visiting family in Cuba.

“They did not ask me anything,” Hernandez said. “I only showed my residency card.”

Ban appears to avoid chaos

During Trump’s first term, a hastily written executive order ordering the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the policy.

Many immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application process.

Trump said this time that some countries had “deficient” screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the U.S. after their visas expired.

Trump also tied the new ban to a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. U.S. officials say the man charged in the attack overstayed a tourist visa. He is from Egypt, which isn’t on Trump’s restricted list.

Critics say travel ban sows division

The ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees.

“This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief organization.

Haiti’s transitional presidential council said in a statement that the ban “is likely to indiscriminately affect all Haitians” and that it hopes to persuade the U.S. to drop Haiti from the list of banned countries.

In Venezuela, some visa holders changed U.S. travel plans last week to get ahead of Trump’s restrictions. For those without visas, the new restrictions may not matter much. Since Venezuela and the U.S. severed diplomatic relations in 2019, Venezuelans have had to travel to neighboring South American countries to obtain U.S. visas.

José Luis Vegas, a tech worker in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, said his uncle gave up on renewing an expired U.S. visa because it was already difficult before the restrictions.

“Paying for hotels and tickets was very expensive, and appointments took up to a year,” Vegas said.