Dec. 30, 2005

Box Score

Staten Island, NY - Behind a monster game from junior center Durell Vinson (Vineland, NJ / St. Augustine Prep), in which he scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for his third career double-double, the Seahawks led from start to finish and fought to hold off a resilient Stony Brook squad 67-54 earlier tonight at the Spiro Sports Center.

For Head Coach Mike Deane it marked his 375th career win as he upped his NCAA coaching record to 375-254 in his 22 years as a head coach. The win also was the eighth straight home victory for Wagner.

With the victory the Seahawks close out the non-conference portion of their schedule and move to 7-2 on the season. The seven wins equal the most non-league wins for the program since moving to Division I in 1976-77. Wagner posted a 7-4 mark in 1991-92. Stony Brook remains winless at 0-9 with the loss.

Up 35-27 with 16:43 to go in the second half, the Seahawks went on a 10-4 run to open up their biggest lead of the game at 45-31 on the strength of seven Vinson points, including one powerful dunk, over the next 3:48.

However the Seawolves would not go away as they cut the lead to eight with 10:35 to go with an 8-2 run of their own. Wagner then pushed the lead back to 14 at 56-42 with six-straight points, only to see Stony Brook score seven unanswered to make it 56-49 with 4:39 remaining. From that point on, it was all Green & White as they closed out the game on an 11-5 run on their way to a decisive 67-54 win.

Showing no signs of rust following a nine-day layoff the Seahawks opened the game with a 4-0 lead on a pair lay-ups from sophomore forward James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ / Camden Catholic) on their way to an early 20-11 lead. The Seawolves would claw their way back to 26-23 with 2:51 remaining in the half. Bolstered by a rowdy crowd, the Seahawks would come to life scoring the final five points of the period to head into halftime up 31-23. Redshirt-junior forward Matt Vitale (Brooklyn, NY / St. Edmund's) sparked the Seahawks in the first half with nine points on three three-pointers off the bench.

Ulrich had a strong game matching Vinson with a career high 12 rebounds of his own to go along with eight points. Sophomore guard Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) and senior guard DeEarnest McLemore (Cary, NC / Cary) rounded out the Seahawks in double-figures with 11 points and 10 points respectively.

Tre Cunningham paced three double-figure Seawolves scorers with 14 points.

The Green & White, winners of 18 of their last 22, hit the road for their Northeast Conference (NEC) opener at Robert Morris on Monday, Jan. 2 at 7:30 pm. ~SEAHAWKS~