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Princeton, NJ - On a night in which the Princeton Tigers unveiled their 26th Ivy League banner following last year's magical run to the NCAA Tournament, it was the Wagner Seahawks that stole the show in putting together a dominating 73-57 win at Jadwin Gym.


Junior Josh Thompson (Richland, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to go along with nine rebounds as three different Wagner student-athletes notched double-figures in the season opener for both teams. With the score tied at 38-38 following a Ian Hummer layup, the Seahawks ripped off an impressive 26-6 run over the next 12:02 in helping terminate the nation's 13th longest winning streak at 16 games, which dates back to the 2009-2010 season.

Preseason All-Northeast Conference (NEC) selection senior Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario / Eastern Commerce) led the way for Wagner with 15 points to go along with four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Joining Murray and Thompson with double-digits was sophomore Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms), who had 12 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists, against no turnovers, despite being saddled by foul trouble for most of the night.

The tenacious Seahawks forced the Tigers into 28 turnovers, which was helped generated by 14 steals, leading to a 27-12 advantage in points off turnovers. Last year, the most miscues a Princeton committed was 27 against Duke (11/14/10) while the Green & White's high for steals was 11 against Columbia (12/7/10).

Up five at the half, Wagner forced Princeton into three-straight turnovers to start the second while scoring the first four points on buckets by Naofall Folahan (So., Cotonou, Republic of Benin / Wilbraham and Monson Academy (MA)) and Jonathon Williams (Jr., Richmond, CA / C.C. of San Francisco), extending the lead out to 38-29 at the 18:20 mark. As the Seahawks appeared poised to put the game out of reach, the defending Ivy League Champions rattled off nine-straight points in just over two minutes to tie the game up at 38-38.

On the next possession, Murray missed a layup and Folahan tipped the ball in to quell the rally. Princeton failed to tie or take the lead on its next two possessions, before Rivers sank his second three of the night in pushing the lead to five. The Seahawk lead would grow to seven before Ian Hummer drilled a three to draw the Tigers to 48-44 with 12:32 to play. From that point, it was all Green & White.

Folahan hit a lay-up to spark a game-changing 16-0 run over the next 8:19 as five different players contributed to the cause, led by six points from Thompson. When the spurt was over, Wagner led by a game-high 20 at 64-44 with 3:50 to play, leaving little doubt that Princeton's 16-game home winning streak would come to an end. During the game-changing push, the Tigers missed eight shots while turning the ball over four time and going 8:57 without a point and 9:47 without a field goal.

Thompson put the exclamation point on the win with a fast-break lay-up with 33 seconds remaining, capping his 10-point second half while providing the final 73-57 tally.

Wagner shot a blistering 50.0 percent (16-32) in the second half en route to connecting on 45.9 percent (28-61) for the game, including 45.5 percent (5-11) from beyond the arc. Princeton, meanwhile, managed to connect on 46.5 percent (20-43) from the floor, including 53.8 percent (7-13) from long range, and won the battle of the board (37-35). However, the Seahawks dominated the offensive glass to the tune of 15-8, leading to an 11-5 margin in second-chance points against a Tiger team that led the Ivy in offensive rebounding a year ago.

Hummer, a Second Team All-Ivy pick a year ago, paced Princeton with 19 points and nine rebounds while Douglas Davis had 12 points.

Wagner took a 34-29 lead into intermission thanks to 10 first-half points from Murray and by forcing 15 turnovers that led to 15 points.

The Seahawks will have little time to celebrate as they return to action on Monday, November 14 against the defending National Champion and fourth ranked UConn Huskies at 7:30 pm in Gampel Pavillion. The game will be shown regionally on SNY and can be watched online via ESPN3 by clicking HERE. Just a reminder for all updates on Wagner Basketball follow on twitter at @WagnerAthletics or on their sport specific twitter domain at @WagnerHoops.

NOTES:
* Tonight's win marked the first time that Wagner had posted season-opening wins in back-to-back years since the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 campaigns ... It is also the first time that the Seahawks have posted back-to-back season-opening wins against Division I teams since the 1984-1985 and 1985-1986 seasons.

* The Green & White's win comes one year to the day (11/12/10) that Dan Hurley picked up his first collegiate win against Lafayette by a 63-58 score.

* Wagner's win was its first-ever vs. Princeton, against three losses ... It also snapped the Seahawks' five-game losing streak against Ivy Competition while improving the Green & White's all-time record against the "Ancient 8" to 19-24.

* Wagner is now 53-38, all-time, in season openers.

* Ortiz notched seven points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists in an impressive debut for the Seahawks. He sat out last year after transferring from Southern Mississippi. Fellow transfer Williams, had seven points, on just four shots, but saw scant playing time in the second half due to foul trouble.

* Princeton had been 9-2, all-time, against the NEC in Jadwin Gym.

* The Seahawks, who collected 14 steals, ranked seventh in their conference (5.9 spg) a year ago.

* Ironically, the Princeton won the shooting, three-point shooting, rebounding and assist battles against Wagner.

* Rivers missed his first free throw attempt of his sophomore season. Last year he connected on his first 31 of the season.

* Thompson was an impressive 7-of-9 from the floor in garnering 14 points.

* The Seahawks spoiled the head coaching debut of 1998 Princeton graduate Mitch Henderson, who is most remember for THIS photo when his Tigers' team defeated defending UCLA in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

* The game was played on "Carril Court," which is named after former Princeton Basketball Coach Pete Carril, who guided the Tigers to 13 Ivy League titles before serving as an assistant coach to current Wagner assistant Bobby Hurley with the Sacramento Kings.

* Wagner will be looking to defeat an affiliated BIG EAST team for the third time in school history on Monday ... The only other times the Seahwaks bested teams in the 16-team conference was in 1993-1994 at Miami and in 1995-1996 at Rutgers.

*Just a reminder that Red Zone Media and Joey Wahler will bring you all the action on Monday for free. Click HERE to listen starting at 7:20 pm.