Feb. 28, 2008
Final Stats
Staten Island, NY - Junior swingman and captain Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic) poured in a season-high 20 points and senior inside forces James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ/ Camden Catholic) and Durell Vinson (Vineland, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep) recorded double-doubles as Wagner held off Fairleigh Dickinson, 78-67.
Locked in a two-point game with the scrappy Knights midway through the second half, Wagner (21-7, 14-3 NEC) scored inside, outside and from the free-throw line to pull away for the victory. It was the Seahawks 21st win of the season, tying a school record. The Seahawks can set the school record for victories in a season on Saturday at 7:00 pm when Quinnipiac visits the Spiro Center on Senior Night.
Coupled with an 82-69 win by Robert Morris (24-6, 15-2 NEC) at Sacred Heart (16-12, 13-4 NEC), the Seahawks (21-7, 14-3 NEC) clinched the second seed for the upcoming NEC Tournament and will host No. 7 seed Long Island on Thursday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m.
FDU's Manny Ubilla scored on a lay-up with 10:05 left to cap a 13-6 run which saw the visitors cut a 43-34 Wagner lead to 49-47 midway through the second half. The Seahawks responded with a 23-12 run over an 8:00 spell to go up 72-59 with 2:07 left. The run included 7-for-8 shooting from the free throw line and was capped by a jumper from senior guard Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep).
Vinson scored five points during the run, while Porter had eight. Junior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe East) and Smith combined to knock in three jumpers from beyond the arc during the run.
Smith's 20-point outing come on 6-9 shooting from the field, including 4-5 from three-point range. Vinson and Ulrich led Wagner on the boards, grabbing 14 and 15 rebounds, respectively, as the Seahawks out-rebounded the Knights by a commanding 51-28 margin. Ulrich's 13-point and career-high 15-rebound effort marked his fourth double-double of the season and 10th of his career. For Vinson, his 11-point, 14-rebound affair was his 12th double-double of the season and 26th of his career.
Porter, who was held scoreless in the first half, didn't get his first basket until scoring on a driving lay-up with 10:30 left in the game. As has been his custom all season, Porter was at his best down the stretch, finishing with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Ubilla, the second-leading scorer in the NEC coming into the game at 20.5 ppg., finished with 29 points on 11-for-21 shooting from the field to lead FDU (7-20, 3-14 NEC).
Wagner opened the game quickly on two early three-point jumpers by Smith and eight points on 4-4 shooting from Ulrich. When junior forward Llew Radford (Newport News, VA/ Heritage) drained a three-pointer with 13:41 left in the half, it capped a 9-0 run and gave Wagner a sizeable 17-5 lead.
Still leading by 12 points at 22-10 on a free throw by Ulrich with 11:11 left in the half, FDU responded with a .15-8 run. Ubilla notched eight points during this stretch to cut the deficit to 35-30. A jumper by Vinson with 1:15 left in the half gave Wagner a 37-30 cushion at intermission. Smith paced the Seahawks in the opening stanza with 12 points on 4-5 shooting.
NOTES - Porter became just the second NEC player to record 500 rebounds and 500 assists in a career, joining Gregory Harris of Mount St. Mary's (1996-2000). He now has 506 rebounds and 502 assists. He also moved into 11th on the Wagner all-time scoring list with 1,519 career points. Vinson moved into fourth on the Wagner all-time rebounding list with 851. He also moved into ninth place on the all-time NEC rebounding list. Vinson moved up to 27th on the Wagner all-time scoring list with 1,100 points. Ulrich needs nine points to join Porter and Vinson in the 1,000-point club. The 14 NEC wins are tied for the second-most in school history with the 2002-03 team that went 14-4. The 2001-02 team went 15-5, the last season when the NEC played a 20-game league schedule before shifting back to an 18-game schedule.
