Feb. 19, 2007
Box Score
Moon Township, PA -The Seahawks will have to wait until another day to clinch a spot in the Northeast Conference Tournament as they suffered a 71-63 loss at Robert Morris tonight. The defeat puts Wagner College into a tie for seventh place with Monmouth at 7-8 in the NEC. The Colonials move into fifth place with a 7-8 NEC record with the win as the team split the season series.
Sophomore Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS / Olathe East) came alive late in the second half knocking home four of his five three pointers in a late three minute stretch to cut what was once a 15-point lead to just four with 4:06 remaining. The teams would exchange baskets in the next minute before four consecutive free throws on the next Robert Morris (16-8 overall) possession put the Colonials up by eight (63-55) and decided the game.
Junior Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ / St. Augustine's Prep) also had a big game scoring 16 points while dishing out eight assists against just two turnovers in 39 minutes of action. Classmate James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ / Camden Catholic) added 16 points as well and a team-high seven boards while Mundweiler ended the night with 15 points to round out the double-figure scorers for the Green & White.
The Seahawks (10-16 overall) struggled shooting the ball early as they started out just 1 of 12 from the field. Wagner would fall behind 19-8 after a three from Tony Lee at 12:16 in the first half. Freshman TJ Czeski (Amsterdam, NY / Amsterdam) then started a 6-0 spurt for the Green and White with a floater in the lane as the Seahawks closed the score to 19-14 at the 10:29 mark. Robert Morris quickly went back up by 10 (26-16) before heading into half time up 32-25 after a pair of free throws in the final minutes from Porter.
The shooting miscues continued in the second half as the Colonials built up a 15 point advantage following a jumper by Lee in the paint at the midway point of the stanza. With Wagner then down 14 and just seven minutes left, Mundweiler's three-point barrage highlighted a 14-4 run that put the Seahawks back to within four before the final outcome.
Wagner ended the night hitting 35.0 percent from the field after a 29.0 percent outcome in the first half. The Seahawks were just 1-9 from three in the opening half, but rallied to hit 7-14 after halftime highlighted by Mundweiler's hot hand.
Lee led the Colonials with 25 points and shot 9-12 from the line as Robert Morris hit on 78.9 percent for the game, including a 15-16 (93.8 percent showing the in the second half. Four players reach double figures as they shot 51.0 percent for the game and held a 41-32 advantage in rebounding.
Wagner returns home on Thursday when they host Mount St. Mary's at 7:00 pm.
~wagnerathletics.com ~
