Feb. 12, 2008
Final Stats
Hamden, CT - Junior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe East) hit a three-point jumper with 18 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 62-62 and then scored eight of his game-high 19 points in overtime as Wagner ran past Quinnipiac 82-70 in overtime.
In winning their second straight OT road thriller, which came on the heels of last Thursday's heart-stopper at Mount St. Mary's, the Seahawks improved to 17-6 overall and moved into a second-place tie with Robert Morris with a 10-2 Northeast Conference record.
In addition to clinching a berth in next month's NEC Tournament, the victory sets up a showdown with first-place Sacred Heart on Thursday at the Spiro Sports Center. The Pioneers, who the Seahawks knocked off 70-63 back on Jan. 5, enter Thursday's game with a conference mark of 11-2.
Senior guard Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep), who was named the NEC Player of the Week earlier in the day, turned in yet another outstanding, workhouse performance. Following his career-high 44-minute outing during a 25-point outing in the win at Mount, Porter set another career high tonight by playing all 45 minutes, scoring six of his 18 points in OT while dishing out eight assists with just one turnover.
Quinnipiac was playing without the services of the NEC's second-leading scorer in 6-4 senior guard DeMario Anderson, who was not in the building due to the death of his grandfather. Without Anderson and his 20.9 ppg. average, the Bobcats radically altered their approach, electing to play a deliberate, half-court style which caused fits for the Seahawks all evening.
This well-executed strategy successfully negated Wagner's advantage in athleticism, as Quinnipiac methodically built a 31-26 in the waning seconds of the first half. But Porter shook loose for a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Wagner a spark and just a 31-29 halftime deficit heading into halftime.
Wagner, which is generally at its best when the tempo is faster, got out to a quick second half start on a pair of three-pointers by Mundweiler and junior swingman Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic), sandwiched around a Porter lay-up. This spurt gave the Seahawks a quick 37-31 lead but Quinnipiac's undersized, yet ultra-quick and skilled backcourt combo of 5-8 Casey Cosgrove and 5-10 Bryan Geffen continued to cause havoc for the Seahawks.
Without their usual big gun in Anderson, Quinnipiac continually frustrated Wagner by deftly passing the ball around the perimeter, while making a habit of hitting driving lay-ups late in the 35-second shot clock. With Cosgrove and Geffen brilliantly executing this tactic, Quinnipiac went on a 16-6 run to re-gain the lead at 48-46 with 9:20 left in regulation on a pair of Cosgrove field goals.
From this point on, neither team would lead by more than three points as the tense final minutes unfolded. Wagner took a 59-58 lead with 2:16 left when senior center Durelll Vinson (Vineland, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep) made 1-2 free throws. The gritty, gutty Bobcats fought back again, reeling off four straight points on an old-fashioned running hook shot that banked off the glass by Geffen, followed by a pair of Cosgrove free throws.
This 4-0 splurge put the Bobcats up 62-59 and set up Mundweiler's late-game heroics. Vinson and fellow senior post player James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ/ Camden Catholic) crashed the offensive boards on Wagner's final possession, continually giving Wagner offensive chances.
When a deep three by Mundweiler missed, the ball was tipped out by Ulrich. Porter then missed a three-point try with Vinson's hustling back-tap keeping the possession alive. The ball eventually wound up back in Porter's hands. The senior then drove down the lane and kicked the ball to a wide open Mundweiler who was beyond the arc on the right wing. Mundweiler then capped the wild sequence by coolly burying the three-pointer with 18 seconds left.
Following a timeout, Cosgrove missed a running, contested lay-up in the lane with three seconds left, with Ulrich grabbing the rebound as the teams headed to overtime. In the OT session, Ulrich hit two free throws before Mundweiler nailed another three to make it 67-62. After Quinnipiac cut it to 67-64 on two free throws by Evann Baker, Wagner took a commanding 71-64 lead on a Porter steal and lay-up, followed by a perfectly-executed Porter to Smith alley-oop dunk with 2:07 left.
Cosgrove led Quinnipiac with 16 points while Geffen added 15 on 7-9 shooting while center Karl Anderson added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Wagner, meanwhile, placed five players in double figures. In addition to Mundweiler's 19 and Porter's 18, Smith tossed in 17 points while Vinson and Ulrich added 11 points apiece. With 13 rebounds, Ulrich posted his second double-double of the season and eighth of his career.
NOTES - Mundweiler has moved into third place on the Wagner all-time three-point shooting list with 196. Vinson, with 773 career rebounds, is five shy of surpassing Jermaine Hall (1999-2003) and moveing into 10th place on the Wagner all-time list. With a 9-4 road record, Wagner equals the nine road wins achieved by the NCAA Tournament team of 2002-03. The school record for road wins in a season is 11, set by the 1958-59 team that went 11-5.
