BOX SCORE

Hamden, CT - Junior Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario / Eastern Commerce) scored a career-high 28 points, including five-straight late in the game to put Wagner in front for good as the Seahawks bested defending Northeast Conference (NEC) Regular Season Champion and preseason pick Quinnipiac 73-68 at the TD Bank Sports Center.



With the win, the Green & White win their second-straight game for the first time all year while improving to 6-7 and a perfect 2-0 in the league and have now exceeded last year's win total of five. In defeat, the Bobcats fall to 9-3 and 1-1 in the NEC.

In a game that more resembled a boxing match, there were nine ties and nine lead changes as each team threw body blows only to have the other respond with punches of their own.

After playing to a 32-32 stalemate in the first half, the teams would continue to jostle for positioning in the second half. After junior Chris Martin (Sicklerville, NJ / Apex Academies) tied the game up for the eighth time of the night at 39-39 with a three pointer at the 17-minue mark of the scond half, Quinnipiac's Jamee Jackson responded with a traditional three-point play, giving the Bobcats a 42-39 lead with 16:13 to play. Murray immediately answered with a pair from the line before freshman Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)) hit a three and sophomore Danny Mundweiler (Overland Park, KS / Olathe East) a lay-up, capping a 7-0 run while staking the Seahawks to a 46-42 lead with 14:30 to play.

After Quinnipiac briefly quelled the run with a three pointer, Murray hit a free throw before freshman Naofall Folahan (Benin Republic (West Africa) / Wilbraham and Monson Academy) and sophomore Josh Thompson (Richland, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) each knocked down jumpers, capping a 12-3 spurt while pushing the lead out to six again at 51-45 with 11:12 to play.

Down but not out, the Bobcats used an 8-0 spurt to reclaim the lead at 60-56 with 6:00 to play following a Dominique Langston free throw. Wagner would cut the lead to one only to have Langston drill a three pointer before James Johnson picked off an errant Wagner pass with just over three minutes to go.

Langston then tried to force a pass into reigning NEC Player of the Year Justin Rutty, who was harrassed all night by a relentless Seahawk defense, only to have to Murray tip and steal the pass. Following a timeout by the Green & White, Murray drilled a three pointer off a pass from Martin. Rutty then missed a pair of free throws on the other end and Murray scored on lay-up off a nifty pass from Rivers, giving Wagner an insurmountable 66-65 lead with 2:07 to play.

On the ensuing possession, the Seahawk defense forced James Johnson into a missed free throw and freshman Orlando Parker (Orlando, FL / Orlando Christian Prep) corralled the rebound. Martin then whittled the shot clock down to four before shaking free and hitting a baseline jumper, extending the lead to 68-65 with just over a minute to play. Quinnipiac would miss a pair of shots and Rivers split a pair from the line, making it a two-possession game at 69-65 with 37 seconds to play. The Bobcats would turn the ball over on the next play and the Green & White would go on to close out 73-68 victory.

Over the last three minutes of the game, Wagner converted all three field goal attempts while forcing Quinnipiac into just 1-of-5 shooting and two turnovers. The perfect ending to the game capped an outstanding second half that saw the Seahawks connect on a season-best 57.1 percent (12-21) from the floor.

The Green & White started the game off with three-straight made baskets and connected on six of its first nine in assuming a 16-11 lead at the 14:16 mark as Murray led the charge, draining three triples. The Bobcats battled back, ripping off a 9-2 run in assuming a 20-18 lead with 9:53 to play in the first,. As he would do all night, Murray answered with a four-point play, draining the three pointer and the subsequent free throw. After Quinnipiac again battled back to tie the game at 24-24, Martin and Rivers hit a pair of three pointers, pushing tthe Wagner lead to a game-high six at 30-24 with just 5:50 until halftime. Just when the Seahawks appeared to take control of the game, the Bobcats busted off an 8-2 run, to tie the game up at 32-32 at halftime.

Murray's scored his game-high 28 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor - including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc - and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe while pulling down a team-best eight rebounds with three steals in 37 minutes. He is now averaging a team-best 16.9 points per game while shooting a NEC-leading 50.9 percent (28-55) from beyond the arc. Rivers added 12 points with seven assists while not turning the ball over in 32 minutes of action and Martin notched 11 points and five assists, rounding out the Wagner double-figure scorers.

James Johnson led Quinnipiac with 15 points, on 6-of-14 shooting, while adding five assists. Rutty notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds but went just 5-of-14 from the floor while turning the ball over four times. Twyman rounded out the double-digit scorers for the home team with 14 points.

For the game, Wagner hit on 45.3 percent (24-53) from the floor and used a 19-4 advantage in points off turnovers to help corral the Bobcats. The Seahawks also shot 45.8 percent (11-24), including a blistering 53.8 percent (7-13) in the first half. Quinnipiac hit on 42.1 percent (24-57) of its shots but hit on just 57.7 percent (15-26) at the free throw line and 31.3 percent (5-16) from outside the arc. The Bobcats managed to stay close thanks to winning the battle of the boards (41-31), leading to a 28-14 advantage in points in the paint.

Wagner, now just one of three teams in the NEC with a perfect 2-0 record, returns to action on Thursday, January 6 at 7:00 pm when the Seahawks welcome defending league champion Robert Morris to the Spiro Sports Center.

NOTES: Wagner improves to 2-0 in league play for the first time since the 2007-2008 season in which the Seahawks won a school-record 23 games ... The Seahawks also won back-to-back games for the first time since the end of the 2008-2009 season when the Green & White won at Quinnipiac (2/26/09) and Monmouth (2/28/09) ... The Bobcats won both meetings a year ago by an average of 10.5 points per game ... Since scoring a season-low four points at Texas A&M, Murray has scored 45 points (22.5 ppg) while shooting 65.0 percent (13-20) from the floor and 87.5 percent (7-8) from beyond the arc ... His previous career-high of 23 was set earlier in the year against Sacred Heart ... Thus far in NEC-play, Murray is averaging 25.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 3.0 apg and 3.0 spg while shooting 63.6 percent (14-22) from the floor and 66.7 percent (8-12) from outside the arc ... Rivers has now handed out 14 assists over the last two years as the Seahawks have notched 42 assists against just 22 turnoveres over the last two wins ... Oakland A's pitcher, two-time American League All-Star and 2006 Wagner graduate Andrew Bailey was in attendance.