Jan. 11, 2007
Box Score
Staten Island, NY - The Wagner Seahawks men's basketball team fell at home to visiting Quinnipiac by a score of 80-72 earlier tonight at the Spiro Sports Center. The loss ends a three game home winning streak for the Seahawks which slide to 4-11 overall and 1-3 in the Northeast Conference. The Bobcats won their second straight road game while moving to 4-10 on the year and 2-3 in the NEC.
Behind a career high 5-7 effort from three, junior guard Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ / St. Augustine's Prep) paced Wagner with 22 points. Porter, who also had six assists, recorded 18 second half points, but it wasn't enough to erase a 13 point deficit at halftime.
Quinnipiac assumed control of the game early on in the first half. With the scored tied at 8-8 the Bobcats rattled off eight straight points. Adam Gonzalez got it going with an old-fashioned three-point play, followed by a three from Van Crafton. After a pair of Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD / Towson Catholic) free throws cut the deficit to six the Bobcats went back up 21-10 with 9:11 to go. Quinnipiac would continue to extend their lead as they used a 10-1 spurt to take their largest lead of the half at 33-15 with 4:32 to go. However Wagner, as they have done all year, came back with a vengeance ripping off seven straight points fueled by a Matt Vitale (Sr., Brooklyn, NY / St. Edmund's Prep) three pointer, to cut the lead to 11. Quinnipiac would then get the lead back to a 40-27 lead at intermission.
In the second half Quinnipiac managed the lead up to as many as 16 (55-39) with 15 minutes left. The Seahawks stayed in the game hitting 11-18 (61.1 percent) from three in the second half. One of Porter's five three pointers brought Wagner to within seven (67-60) with three minutes remaining, but four straight points from DeMario Anderson, who ended the night with a game high 25 points, stopped the rally.
After Porter three other players reach double figures led by junior forward James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ / Camden Catholic) with 14 points. Sophomore Justin Drummond (Baltimore, MD / McDonogh) added 12 points while classmate Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS / Olathe East) chipped in 11. Wagner shot 40 percent for the game, but connected on just 33 percent in the first half.
Quinnipiac out rebounded the Seahawks 43-30 led by a 16 point, 17 rebound effort from Victor Akinyanju. Adam Gonzalez scored 19 points for the Bobcats, which hit 49.2 percent from the floor.
Wagner is back on the road on Saturday at St. Francis (NY) in a game televised live on Fox Sports NY at 2:00 pm.
~ wagnerathletics.com ~
