Jan. 14, 2006

Box Score

Staten Island, NY - The Seahawks of Wagner College had their nine-game home court winning streak stopped by Sacred Heart 70-62 at the Spiro Sports Center tonight. Wagner falls to 8-5 overall and 1-3 in the Northeast Conference.

Durell Vinson (Vineland, NJ / St. Augustine's Prep) led all scorers with 19 points while senior DeEarnest McLemore (Cary, NC / Cary) added 12 points, but it was not enough for Wagner as they lost at home for the first time since January 17 of last season.

The Seahawks started out hot building up a 16-8 advantage five minutes into the game. The Pioneers (7-8; 4-2 NEC) who ended a three game road losing streak, rallied to pull within 16-14 just three minutes later. Wagner would then run off 10 straight points, including six from Vinson, that was highlight by an alley-op dunk that put the home team up 24-14 with just under 10 minutes left in the period.

The lead stood at 32-22 with five minutes remaining when the Wagner shooting went south. Sacred Heart closed the half on a 12-2 run for a one point (35-34) Seahawk lead. The drought continued in the second half as the visitors 46-37, 5:30 into the second period.

A layin by red-shirt freshman Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD / Towson Catholic) at 12:38 end a 1-of-14 field goal stretch by the Seahawks that covered 12 minutes of game time. Wagner closed the gap to two-points on three separate occasions and trailed by one (56-55) after a three point play from sophomore Jason Rudakas (Jupiter, FL / Dwyer) with 4:54 to play.

Wagner missed their next three shots and Sacred Heart pieced together a 14-4 run that included two threes from Jarrid Frye to seal the game.

Vinson, a junior, shot 9-14 from the field and added six rebounds and two blocks to go along with a game high six assists to just one turnover for McLemore.

Drew Shubik led the Pioneers with 17 points as Kibwe Trim, Frye, and Brice Brooks all scored 10 each.

The win was the first ever for Sacred Heart in the Spiro Sports Center as they held a 33-30 advantage in rebounds and shot .481 from the floor to .453 for the Seahawks. Wagner also hit just 3-12 from three despite entering the game hitting a NEC best .409 from three.

The team returns to action on Thursday at they host St. Francis (PA) at 7:00 pm on Anaconda Rock night.

~ wagnerathletics.com ~