FINAL STATS

Staten Island, NY - The Wagner College men's basketball team dropped a 73-67 contest to Lafayette in the 2008-09 season opener despite 17-point outings by seniors Llew Radford (Newport News, VA/ Heritage) and Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic). 

Radford's 17-point outing was a career-high as were his 13 rebounds as he registered his first career double-double. Smith added nine rebounds to his 17-point outing while freshman guard Chris Martin (Sicklerville, NJ/ Apex Academies) and junior center Michael Orock (Hoboken, NJ/ Hoboken) added nine and eight points, respectively. 

After trailing 37-36 at halftime, the Seahawks surged out to a 45-41 lead on a Smith layup with 16:11 left in the game. The Leopards countered with an 11-2 run capped by a pair of free throws by guard Andrew Brown, to build a 52-47 lead with 11:47 left. Wagner would draw to within one point at 56-55 on a Martin three-point jumper but Lafayette answered with a 9-2 spurt to build the lead back up to eight. 

Brown led all scorers with 22 while Jeff Kari added 15 points for the Leopards. Lafayette out-shot Wagner 41.5%-36.7% as the Seahawks were just 4-of-23 from three-point range. Wagner out-rebounded the Leopards 43-38. 

NOTES - Orock made the first start of his career while junior guard Doug Elwell (Staten Island, NY/ Monsignor Farrell) made his second career start. Also gaining a starting nod in first collegiate game was freshman guard Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario/ Eastern Commerce).