FINAL STATS
Staten Island, NY – In a Senior Night send-off that could not have been scripted any better, the Wagner College men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 62-59 win over first-place Robert Morris in front of an electric crowd of 1,635 at the Spiro Center.
Following a pre-game ceremony where all four departing seniors were honored, the Seahawks went to work, led by those seniors. Fifth-year senior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe East) led the way with 17 points on the strength of 4-of-9 three-point shooting while senior forward Llew Radford (Newport News, VA/ Heritage) added 12 points. Fifth-year senior point guard Justin Drummond had eight points, five assists and three steals while fifth-year senior forward Jamal Smith (Baltimore, MD/ Towson Catholic) played a solid floor game with seven points, a game-high 10 rebounds, five assists, no turnovers and two steals.
The game-winning sequence occurred with 25 seconds left in the game when Smith was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Drummond grabbed the offensive rebound in traffic and laid it in with 22 seconds remaining to give Wagner the lead for good at 60-59.
Tonight's victory avenged a 104-56 loss at Robert Morris on Jan. 17, improved the Seahawks' record to 14-13 overall and 6-10 in the NEC and kept their hopes alive of gaining a berth in next month's NEC Tournament. Wagner is now tied for eighth place with Fairleigh Dickinson and one game ahead of 5-11 Monmouth. Only the top eight teams in the 11-team NEC qualify for the tournament. With the loss, Robert Morris fell to 19-10 overall, 13-3 in the NEC.
The ultra-athletic Colonials were in control with a 51-41 lead at the 9:41 mark of the second half following a three-pointer by Jimmy Langhurst. Wagner then went on a game-ending 21-8 run, highlighted by six points apiece from seniors Mundweiler, Llew Radford and redshirt junior guard Doug Elwell.
Elwell started the rally with a pair of three-point jumpers that cut the deficit to 51-47 with 8:21 to go. Langurst countered with a three at the 7:44 mark to make it 54-47. Following a free throw by Radford which made it 54-48, both teams caught fire from beyond the arc with three consecutive three-pointers in less than a minute. Mundweiler nailed a three to cut it to 54-51 with 6:13 to go, a salvo that was quickly answered by a Jeremy Chappell three-pointer at the 5:47 mark. Mundweiler then nailed another trifecta 12 seconds later at 5:35 to make it a 57-54 game.
A pair of Radford free throws with 4:50 left made it a one-point at 57-56. Following an RMU turnover, Radford hit a driving layup off a pretty feed from Elwell to give Wagner a 58-57 lead 4:07 remaining. . An offensive foul was called on Radford but the ref ruled that the ball had left his hand before the contact was made.
After a nearly two-minute dry spell, Dallas Green put RMU back on top 59-58 by sinking two free throws with 2:26 left. Following a series of missed opportunities by both teams, Smith was fouled with 25 seconds left and missed the front end of a one-and-one, leading to Drummond's game-winning offensive rebound and put back.
Smith made the second of two free throws with 16 seconds to go to increase the lead to 61-59. Robert Morris missed an opportunity to tie when Green missed a contested shot in the lane with four seconds left. Radford corralled the rebound and was fouled with one second left. He then made one-of-two free throws to fashion the final score at 62-59.
Robert Morris took a 29-23 lead following a defensive-minded first half that saw each team shoot 40 percent from the field. Mundweiler paced the Seahawks in the opening half with eight points while Smith grabbed eight first-half rebounds. Chappell led the Colonials with eight first-half points.
Chappell, an NEC Player of the Year candidate, led all scorers with 19 while Langhurst finished with 12. For the game, Wagner out-shot the Colonials 45 percent to 40 percent and the rebounding numbers were even as both teams came up with 33 boards.
Wagner travels to Quinnipiac on Thursday, February 26 before playing at Monmouth in the regular season finale on Sat, Feb. 28 at Noon.
NOTES – Wagner's four seniors – Drummond, Mundweiler, Radford and Smith – on their collective careers have combined for 3,635 points, 1,591 rebounds and 618 assists.
