BOX SCORE / DAN HURLEY POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

Staten Island, NY - Wagner shot a blistering 55.3 percent (26-47) from the floor, including a scorching 58.3 percent (7-12) from beyond the arc, while holding off a late Bucknell rally for a 77-73 win at Sojka Pavilion. Freshman Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)) led four double-digit scorers for the Seahawks with 20 points while junior Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario / Eastern Commerce) narrowly missed a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

The Green & White improve to 3-2 on the year while the Bison fall to 2-6.

For the game, Wagner shot a season-best 55.3 percent (26-47) from the floor, including 58.3 percent (7-12) from beyond the arc, while converting on 90.0 percent (18-20) from the charity stripe. The Seahawks shot 55.6 percent from the floor in the first half and a nearly identical 55.0 percent in the second while putting together their first complete 40-minute game of the season. The Green & White also won the battle of the boards for the first time all season by a 28-26 count.

Rivers, who earlier in the day garnered his second Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week accolade of the year, scored a team-high 20 points, on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Murray was next up at 16 points with 10 rebounds while becoming the first Seahawk to notch double-figures in boards on the season while also adding seven assists. Freshman Orlando Parker (Orlando, FL / Orlando Christian Prep) had his best game to date, hitting for a career-high 12 points, on 6-of-9 shooting, while junior Chris Martin (Sicklerville, NJ / Apex Academies) matched Parker with 12 points while adding four rebounds and four assists.

In the early going it looked as though Bucknell might dictate the tempo of the game after jumping out to an early 12-8 lead at the 14:39 mark of the first half. The Bison extended their lead out to 17-12 with 11:46 to go until halftime before Wagner struck for six-straight points, taking an 18-17 lead at the 9:38 mark. After Bucknell momentarily stopped the Seahawk offense with four free throws, Wagner ripped off an 8-0 run while taking its largest an insurmountable 26-21 lead with 6:03 until halftime as the Seahawks would not trail again for the rest of the evening.

The Bison would cut the lead to two on two occasions only to have Wagner answer each time as the Green & White went into halftime up 36-32. While the Wagner offense was the story in the first half, connecting on 56.7 percent (15-27) from the floor, the defense was a close second, limiting Bucknell to just 28.0 percent (7-25) from the floor. After the Bison hit on five of its first 10 shots, the Seahawks held the Bison without a field goal over the next 9:30 while forcing the home team into nine missed shots and four turnovers. All told over the final 14:39, Bucknell hit on just 2-of-15 shots (13.3 %) thanks to a suffocating Wagner defense but managed to stay in the game by connecting on 15-of-17 shots (88.2 %) of its shots from the free throw line.

The beginning of the second half was a nip-and-tuck affair as Bison pulled to within three points on four occasions over the first four minutes only to have Seahawks answer each time. Bucknell cut the deficit to 44-41 at the 16:22 mark with a Darryl Shazier lay-up before Wagner  ripped off of an 11-2 run, highlighted by a pair of Danny Mundweiler (So., Overland Park, KS / Olathe East) three pointers and one from Martin, extending the lead out to 12 at 55-43 with 11:58 to play.

The Bison rallied with seven-straight points to get it to within five only to have the Seahawks rally with a 13-5 spurt as the Green & White took their largest lead of the game at 68-55 with 4:42 to go in the game. Bucknell would continue to fight but could not overcome an overpowering Wagner attack that took the Bison's best shots all night while answering each threat. Bucknell had its best chance to make it a game when after cutting the lead to 70-65 with 1:58, forced a turnover but could not convert on two three-point attempts and Rivers nailed two from the line for his 19th and 20th points of the night. In the last minute of the game, the Seahawks connected on 7-of-8 from the charity stripe, closing out the win.

Bucknell, shot 57.7 percent (15-26) in the second half but was just 8-of-14 (57.1 %) from the charity stripe after knocking down 88.2 percent in first half. Mike Muscala paced the Bucknell attack, notching a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor.

Wagner will have little time to savor the win as the Seahawks make the short trip to St. John's on Wednesday, December 1 at 7:00 pm.

NOTES: WIth the win Wagner avenged a 24-point drubbing at the hands of Bucknell a year ago ... That makes it three victories this season over teams that bested the Wagner a year ago ... In those three losses a year ago to Lafayette, Stony Brook and Bucknell the Green & White allowed an average of 79.3 points per game, fueled by 42.7 percent shooting, including 34.4 percent from beyond the arc ... This season, that numbers has fallen to 61.7 points per game on 34.0 percent shooting, including 25.0 percent from long range ... Wagner went 2-1 against the Patriot League this season and is now 7-4, all-time, against Bucknell having won three-of-four ... The last time the teams met at Sojka Pavilion was exactly two years to the day on November 29, 2008 as the Seahawks won by an 83-79 count ... Rivers is now averaging 24.0 points per game while shooting a blistering 57.1 percent (8-14) from beyond the arc and converting all 16 of his free throw attempts ... His back-to-back 20-point games are the first by a Wagner freshman since Dedrick Dye notched 21 points at Mount St. Mary's (2/19/00) and 23 against Sacred Heart (2/22/00) ... The Seahawks are shooting a NEC-best 83.2 percent (79-95) from the line on the year, including 83.9 percent (67-75) in games decided by five points or less ... In the last five minutes of games decided by five points or less Wagner is hitting on a blistering 96.2 percent (25-26) with Rivers going 10-for-10 and Martin 9-for-10 ... The Seahawks are now 3-1 in games decided by five points or less after going 3-8 last season ... Wagner also bettered its non-conference win total of two a year ago and won its third game of the season ... A year ago, the Seahawks didn't pick up win number three until January 21, 2010 at LIU, in the team's 21st game ... Murray and Rivers are now averaging a NEC-best 34.0 points per game and are the highest scoring duo in the league while shooting a combined 48.1 percent (26-54) from beyond the arc and 95.2 percent (40-42) from the charity stripe ... Parker's 12 points tripled his season total of four, nothed over the first four games on the year ... He was 6-of-9 from the floor after going 2-for-9 previously ... Junior Clayfell Harris (London, England / Bridgton Academy (ME)) scored four points, hitting the scoring column for the first time since notching three at Monmouth on February 28, 2009 ... He missed all but one game last year due to injury.