March 9, 2008
Final Stats
Staten Island, NY - Sacred Heart held off a furious Wagner rally to defeat the Seahawks, 55-49, in the Northeast Conference (NEC) semifinals Sunday night before a packed house at the Spiro Sports Center to advance to the NEC championship game against Mount St. Mary's.
Mount St. Mary's (16-14) upset top-seeded Robert Morris (26-7) 83-65, earlier in the day, and will play at Sacred Heart (18-13) on Wednesday night in a game that will televised to a national audience on ESPN2.
Drew Shubik led Sacred Heart with 13 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, while Ryan Litke also had 13 points and Chauncey Hardy had 12.
"Wagner's just been unbelievable in the close games and they got it to two points and we had to do something right to not let it happen, so we're just grateful that we came out on top," said Scared Heart head coach Dave Bike. "The didn't shoot particularly well in the first half and I think we had something to do with that. We didn't shoot it particularly well either but I thought we played a good team defensive game."
Senior guard Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep) led Wagner with 13 points, while junior swingman Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic) added 10.
In its lowest scoring half of the season, Wagner shot just 5-25 from the field (20%) in falling behind 26-15 at halftime. Wagner's previous low output for a half was 17 in the second half of a 74-52 loss at Robert Morris on Feb.23. The Seahawks' previous low first first half this season was 21 at Kansas St. (101-59 loss) on Dec. 29.
"We put ourselves in a hole in the first half that we had trouble digging out of," said Wagner head coach Mike Deane. "They made some timely shots, we did a good job defensively in the second half. And yet, not quite good enough.
"Their inside guys didn't get a point in the second half but the guy I voted for player of the year in the league, Drew Shubik, demonstrated why I thought so much of him," Deane added. "I thought he played an exceptional game, a heady game. Give them credit, they out-played us tonight, however I think we deserve credit for battling back in the second half to get within two and have a chance."
The Seahawks (23-8) had won both regular-season meetings against Sacred Heart, but never led in this one, making just one of their first 13 shots in falling behind by an 18-4 count. Sacred Heart used a 15-1 run, capped by two three-pointers by Ryan Litke, to break a 3-3 tie, the only one of the game.
After trailing by as many as 16 points early in the second half, the Seahawks started to knock down some shots and rallied behind senior center Durell Vinson (Vineland, NJ/ St. Augustine Prep) and junior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe East). Vinson, who scored all nine of his points in the second half, made a fast-break dunk off a feed from Justin Drummond (Baltimore, MD/ McDonogh) with 8:30 to play to get Wagner to within six at 39-33. Mundweiler then drained two three-pointers, the second one making it 44-39 with 6:44 left.
After Sacred Heart got its lead back up to 49-40 on a three-pointer by Corey Hassan with 5:59 left, Wagner went a 7-0 run to cut it to 49-47. It started with a Jamal Smith three-pointer from the left corner with 5:48 left. Senior forward James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ/ Camden Catholic) made an acrobatic and athletic tip-in of a Porter miss with 5:21 left, then Mundweiler was fouled in transition off a turnover and his two made free throws made it 49-47 with 4:53 left.
After the teams traded baskets, Litke was called for a charging foul with 2:15 remaining. With Wagner trailing 51-49 and 1:34 left, SHU's Drew Shubik missed the front end of a one-and-one Following a Sacred Heart turnover with 40.4 seconds left, Wagner had a chance to take the lead on a three-pointer by Smith from the left corner, but it bounced off the rim and Shubik grabbed the rebound. Vinson then fouled Shubik with 27.6 seconds left, and Shubik sank both free throws to extend the Pioneers' lead to 53-49.
After Porter had his shot blocked on a drive to the basket, Hardy was fouled by Smith and sank two free throws with 11.2 seconds left to account for the final score.
In addition to being so cold from the field in the first half, the Seahawks were also out-rebounded 25-19 in the opening stanza. Wager's defense limited the Pioneers to 32% shooting in the opening half as Sacred Heart was just 11-34 from the field. Porter led the Seahawks with six first-half points.
The rebounding battle finished in a dead heat at 38-38 while the Pioneers wound up out-shooting Wagner 40%-30%.
