Feb. 22, 2007

Box Score

Staten Island, NY - The Wagner College Seahawks took an 82-77 defeat from visiting Mount St. Mary's University earlier tonight at the Spiro Sports Center. The Northeast Conference decision leaves Wagner at 7-9 in the league and 10-17 overall. The Mount sweeps the season series form the Seahawks while improving to 9-8 in the NEC and 10-18 overall.

Sophomore Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD / Towson Catholic) put up a 20 point effort and junior James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ / St. Augustine's Prep) added his fifth double-double of the year with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but Wagner was unable to clinch a berth in the NEC Tournament as Mount St. Mary's ended a three game losing streak.

In the first half Mount St. Mary's opened up an eight point lead with a 12-3 run that put them up 23-15 at the nine minute mark. After senior Matt Vitale (Brooklyn, NY / St. Edmund's Prep) answered with a three, Smith took over scoring the next eight points to spark a 10-0 run. The run gave the Seahawks their second lead of the game at 25-23 with five minutes to go in the half. The teams would exchange baskets over the next four minutes until Mychal Kearse gave the Mount the lead at 1:16, which was then extended to 33-30 at the half.

Back to back threes from Mundweiler and Vitale sparked an 11-2 Wagner stretch at the start of the second half giving them a 41-39 lead at 17:33. Later in the half the Seahawks were held without a field goal for a five minute stint as Mount St. Mary's turned a two point deficit into an 11-point advantage using a decisive 15-2 run.

Wagner climbed back to with in six (60-54) after a three from junior Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ / St. Augustine's Prep) with 6:43 remaining, but the Mount would remain in control until another late charge from the green and white. Down 75-65 with 1:16 to play, the Seahawks would close the gap to three behind a three from sophomore Justin Drummond (Baltimore, MD / McDonogh) and two more triples from Porter. With the score at 80-77 and 12 seconds left Chris Vann sealed the win at the foul line to account for the final margin.

Wagner shot 58.3 percent in the second half, but ended the game hitting on 44.6 percent of their attempts. With his late threes, Porter ended the game with 17 points and seven assists to go along with five steals. Sophomore Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS / Olathe East) was also in double figures with 10 points

Vann shot 11-12 from the foul line and totaled a game high 23 points to lead Mount as four players reached double figures. Kearse added a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds to aid in a 36-30 advantage in rebounding. The Mount shot 50.9 percent for the game.

The Seahawks close out their regular season home schedule on Saturday when they host Fairleigh Dickinson at 7:00 pm.

~wagnerathletics.com ~