March 1, 2008

Final Stats

Staten Island, NY - Wagner jumped out to an early 17-4 lead and then withstood a second half Quinnipiac rally in registering its school-record 22nd victory of the season, a 77-68 decision over the Bobcats in front of a loud, celebratory crowd on hand for Senior Night at The Spiro Center.

The win improved the Seahawks' record to 22-7, 15-3 in the Northeast Conference. The 22 wins eclipsed the previous school record of 21 that was achieved three times and the 15 NEC victories ties the school record for most conference wins in a season (15-5 in 2001-02).

The victory also gives Wagner a perfect 9-0 home NEC record, marking the first time the Seahawks have ever gone undefeated at home in league play. Wagner's previous best home NEC record was 9-1 in 2001-02.

Wagner's three seniors were honored in a pre-game ceremony and each came through with huge performances. Center Durell Vinson (Vineland, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep) totaled 21 points and 13 rebounds, marking his second consecutive double-double, 13th of the season and 27th of his career.

Forward James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ/ Camden Catholic) tallied 13 points and four rebounds and, in the process, became the 37th player in Wagner history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark as he now stands at 1,004. Wagner's third senior, Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep), also had a stellar game, scoring a team-high 24 points while dishing out 10 assists. With seven rebounds, Porter was just three boards shy of a triple-double.

Porter carried the Seahawks in the second half, scoring 16 points after intermission. As has been his custom all season, Porter was clutch at the free throw line late, going 8-8 from the charity stripe in the final 1:31.

Junior swingman Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic) and junior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe East) each tallied eight points for the Seahawks. Justin Rutty and Baker added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Bobcats.

This one seemed destined to be a rout early as Porter hit a pair of three-point jumpers in Wagner's 17-4 game-opening run but Quinnipiac (15-14, 11-7) had other ideas. The Bobcats whittled the lead to 39-27 at the half as senior guard DeMario Anderson, the NEC's leading scorer, totaled 10 of his game-high 27 points in the opening half.

Much like in the first half, the Seahawks came out hot in the second half, as a pair of Vinson lay-ups staked Wagner to its biggest lead of the game at 43-27 just 1:10 into the second half. Quinnipiac responded by out-scoring Wagner 34-20 in crawling back to within two points on a pair of Evann Baker free throws with 4:04 left.

Porter then took matters into his own hands, scoring 10 of Wagner's final 14 points, including the 6-6 stretch from the line, as the Seahawks pulled away for the nine-point victory.

Wagner shot a crisp 52% from the field, while the Bobcats shot 43%. Despite Vinson's productivity in the low post, Quinnipiac held a 34-30 edge in the rebounding department as four different Bobcats corralled five or more rebounds.

Wagner is next in action on Thursday, March 6 when the No. 2 seeded Seahawks host No. 7 seeded LIU in the quarterfinal round of the Northeast Conference.

Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

NOTES - With a 22-7 record, Wagner boasts the best record of all New York City metro area schools...Porter moved into the top-10 on Wagner's all-time scoring list as he now stands 10th with 1,543 points...The double-double was his third of the season and fifth of his career. Vinson's 329 rebounds rank seventh on the Seahawk single-season list. Already fourth all-time in Wagner history with 864 career rebounds (a figure that ranks ninth all-time in NEC history) Vinson moved up to 26th all-time in Wagner career scoring with 1,121 points. In Wagner's 15 NEC wins, 14 have come either by single digits or in overtime, with the lone double-digit win recorded in regulation coming at Monmouth (77-62) on Jan. 10....Wagner finished the regular season with home-and-home sweeps over six schools - Sacred Heart, Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac, FDU, Monmouth and Saint Francis (PA). The Seahawks are 13-1 in games decided by single digits or in overtime and are 13-0 in games decided by 4-10 points...Wagner is 15-0 when scoring 70 or more points. Porter and Ulrich are now tied for fifth-place all-time in games played with 116, while Vinson is seventh with 115 games played. Porter's 148 steals ranked ninth all-time...Vinson's 113 blocks ranks fourth all-time while the 6'2" Porter is eighth with 82 blocks...Mundweiler's 74 three-pointers made are tied for seventh on the Wagner single-season list...Despite having an overall won-loss record 15 games over .500, Wagner has out-scored its opponents by a scant seven points on the season (2,020-2,013).