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Stephen Slade

Men's Basketball

Red-Hot Shooting Lifts Wagner To 74-57 Win Over The Mount

Box Score / Box Score (PDF) / Highlights

Staten Island, NY -
Wagner converted 15 of its first 25 shots and used a 19-2 first-half run in building up a lead that would extend to 24 points in the second, while collecting its 21st win of the year by a 74-57 count over Mount St. Mary's. The Seahawks also move to 12-2 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) while the Mountaineers fall to 6-19 and 4-10 in the league.

Junior Jonathon Williams (Richmond, CA / Kennedy / CC of San Francisco) scored a game-high 19 points, on 7-of-10 shooting, while sophomore Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)) added 15, on 6-of-12 shooting, as the pair paced four double-digit scorers for the Green & White.

Wagner's 21 wins match the 1967-1968 (21-8), 1978-1979 (21-7) and 2002-2003 (21-11) teams for the second-most victories in school history and are two behind the 2007-2008 (23-8) team for the most victories in school history. 

In the first half with the Mount holding a slim 11-10 lead at the 15:33 mark, Williams converted this jumper, off the second of sophomore Kenneth Ortiz's (Newark, NJ / Science Park / Southern Mississippi) game-high seven assists, before senior Chris Martin (Sicklerville, NJ / Apex Academies) drained this three pointer directly out of the first media timeout. Junior Josh Thompson (Richland, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) then drilled this jumper with the shot clock expiring, extending the Seahawk advantage to 16-10 with 13:27 to play.

The Mountaineers called a timeout after turning the ball over on the ensuing possession, but the stoppage did nothing to quell the Green & White's momentum. Rivers buried a jumper before Danny Thompson momentarily stopped the bleeding with a pair from the line. On the other end, Rivers responded with this triple from the left corner, before senior Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario / Eastern Commerce) converted a pair from the line. After a MSM turnover, Williams sank this three pointer and Rivers capped the 10-0 spurt with a jumper, extending the lead out to 28-12 with 9:11 to play in the opening half.

All told, Wagner busted off runs of nine and 10-straight points, fueling a 19-2 run that turned a one-point deficit into an insurmountable 16-point advantage. During the game-changing spurt, the Seahawks parlayed six turnovers into 12 points while holding the Mount without a field goal (0-4) for just over seven minutes of action

Thanks to a relentless defense and a potent offense, the lead would rise to as high as 19 points for the Green & White, before Wagner entered intermission up 43-28, thanks to converting on 55.2 percent (16-29) from the floor, including 50.0 percent (5-10) from long range. The Mountaineers, meanwhile, made good on a respectable 43.5 percent (10-23), but was just 1-for-6 from long distance.

The second half was a rugged affair that saw the teams combinefor 24 fouls and 27 free throw attempts.

Mount St. Mary's cut the deficit to 13 with the first bucket after intermission but would get no closer the rest of the way. The Mountaineers, however, did manage to hang around before the Seahawks ripped off an 11-1 run that extended their advantage to a game-high 24 at 62-38 with 8:45 to go in the game. Freshman Mario Moody (East Orange, NJ / East Orange Campus) converted three free throws before freshman Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC / David W. Butler) drained this jumper. Following an Ortiz free throw, Murray recorded this dunk, his second of the season, after picking the pocket of a MSM player. Ja'Colby Wells briefly slowed the Green & White before Murray capped the run with his only three ball of the night while for all intents and purposes ending any chances of a Mountaineer comeback.

MSM would continue to fight and trim the lead to 16 but never seriously threatened as Wagner would win going away by a 74-57 count for its 14th double-digit victory of the season.

Joining Rivers and Williams in double-figures was the senior duo of Martin and Murray as each player notched 11 points. On the strength of his 11 markers, Martin is also now just 23 points shy of joining Murray as a member of the exclusive Seahawk 1,000-point club.  Ortiz added seven points while recording team-highs in rebounds (4) and assists (7) as the Green & White are now a perfect 10-0 when the 6-0 point guard paces the team on the glass.

Wagner shot 53.2 percent (25-47) from the floor, 50.0 percent (8-16) from long range and 88.9 percent (16-18) from the line while winning the battle of the boards (25-24). The Seahawks improved to 18-0 when holding the opposition under 70 points, 15-1 when scoring at least 70 points and an eye-popping 21-1 when leading with five minutes to play. The Green & White also used a 29-9 advantage in points off turnovers while limiting the Mount to 42.9 percent (18-42) shooting, including 27.3 percent (3-11) from deep.

Raven Barber paced the Mountaineers with 16 points off the bench while Chad Holley added 12 points.

Wagner, which has won six-straight and 14-of-15, will look for its 22nd victory on Thursday, February 16 at 7:00 pm against Monmouth in the Spiro Sports Center.
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