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Staten Island, NY - Wagner (12-8; 6-3 NEC) will be looking for its fourth-straight win against Quinnipiac (8-13; 4-5 NEC) today at 4:00 pm, after besting Sacred Heart 84-78 in overtime on Thursday. For highlights of that game please click
HERE. Tomorrow's game will be streamed free of charge through
NEC Front Row with
WFAN Update Anchor Joey Wahler providing the call.
QUICK HITS
* The Seahawks are 6-1 at home this season and 18-4 over the last two years, including posting a 12-3 mark against NEC opposition.
* All-time, the Green & White is now 117-65 (.643) at the renovated Spiro Sports Center, which opened in February of 1999.
* Following Thursday's 84-78 win over Sacred Heart, Wagner is now in a four-way tie for second place in the NEC at 6-3 with LIU Brooklyn, Sacred Heart and Robert Morris. Bryant leads the NEC with a 7-2 record with Central Connecticut and St. Francis Brooklyn tied for sixth at 5-4 as the seven aforementioned teams are separated by just two games.
* The Seahawks collected their fourth-straight home overtime win this season against the Pioneers, and have outscored the opposition by a staggering 50-21 count during that time.
* With one more OT victory, Wagner will match the 2007-2008 squad that won five-straight overtime games.
* Head coach
Bashir Mason improved to 12-6 in his career thanks to defeating the nation's second-longest tenured coach in Dave Bike, who is in his 35th year at Sacred Heart. Earlier this season, Mason squared off the with the nation's longest tenured coach in Jim Boeheim (37 years).
* Mason is one win away from matching the school's Division I school-record total of 13 victories by a first-year Seahawk coach, held by
Dan Hurley and
Mike Deane.
* All 12 eligible players were active for the first time since the Syracuse game (11/18) against the Pioneers, a span of 18 games.
* Junior
Latif Rivers notched double-figures for the 52nd time in his 72-game Wagner career with 14 markers against Sacred Heart and now has 980 ... With 20 more points, he will become the 40th member of the Seahawks' 1,000-point club.
* Classmate
Kenneth Ortiz paced the Seahawks in scoring for the sixth time this year against the Pioneers with 17 points to go along with eight assists, six rebounds and three steals while helping force reigning NEC Player of the Week Shane Gibson into just 6-of-20 shooting, including 2-of-8 from long range.
* The reigning NEC Defensive Player of the Year has been a stat stuffer all year, ranking among the league leaders with 11.3 points (20th NEC), 5.0 assists (4th NEC), 1.9 steals (3rd NEC) and 4.0 rebounds per game.
* Junior
Naofall Folahan blocked one shot against Sacred Heart and now has 130 rejections, leaving him just five behind
Miladin Mutavdzic for second place in the all-time Wagner rankings. On the year he leads the NEC and ranks 77th with nationally with 1.8 blocks per game.
* After missing the last game, sophomore
Mario Moody grabbed a game-high eight rebounds with six points and three steals over just 20 minutes. Moody is second in the NEC with 1.5 blocks per game and 14th with 1.4 steals per game.
* Senior
Jonathon Williams wore #10 instead of his usual #23 against the Pioneers and finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three steals. He continues to rank among the league leaders in scoring (14.6 ppg) (10th NEC), rebounding (7.2 rpg) (8th NEC), field goal percentage (.503) (7th NEC) and free throw percentage (.800) while playing an average 30.8 minutes per game (19th NEC).
* Williams scored 10 of his 16 points over the final five minutes and in overtime. This season, the Golden State native is averaging a team-best 3.8 points per game over the final five minutes of games while shooting 61.3 percent (19-of-31) from the floor. Ortiz is not far back with 3.5 points per game on 42.1 percent (16-of-38) shooting from the field as the duo has combined to go 35-of-69 (.507) with the rest of the team making good on just 35-of-89 (.393).
* Ortiz, Moody, Williams and senior
Josh Thompson all recorded three steals while helping force a season-high 22 turnovers and record a season-best 16 steals against Sacred Heart.
* Sophomore
Marcus Burton played for the first time since January 5 against the Pioneers and scored five points on perfect 2-for-2 shooting.
* Wagner improved to 4-0 this season when scoring 70 points or more and is 23-1 over the last two years.
* The Seahawks also moved to a perfect 11-0 when leading or tied with five minutes to play and are 36-1 over the last two years. Additionally, the Green & White is now 6-0 when holding a halftime lead and is 27-2 when leading at the half over the last two seasons.
* Wagner has seen 13 of its 20 games decided by 10 points or less or in overtime, going 9-4 in those games. Since the start of last season the Seahawks are 19-8 in games decided by 10 points or less or in overtime.
* The Green & White is also 10-0 when outshooting the opposition this season and are 29-3 over the last two years.
* Wagner won for the first time this year against the Pioneers when failing to win the rebounding battle, losing the previous four times.
* The Seahawks finished up the month of January with a 6-3 record and is 13-4 over the last two seasons.
* Entering today's game with the Bobcats, the Green & White hold a 16-12 advantage in the all-time series and have won the last three meetings.
* At home, Wagner is 8-6 against QU and has won six of the last nine match-ups at the Spiro Sports Center.
* Today's game is fifth of six games for the Seahawks will play teams that will be changing conferences next season.
* The teams are the top-two ranked teams in rebounding in the league with Quinnipiac ranking first in rebounding offense (42.0), rebounding defense (32.5) and rebounding margin (+9.5) with Wagner placing second in rebounding offense (38.0), fourth in rebounding defense (33.2) and second in rebounding margin (+4.8).
* The Seahawks continues to lead the league and rank among the nation's leaders in field goal percentage defense (.396) (52nd), blocks per game (5.1) (34th) and scoring defense (63.2) (102nd).
* Wagner is the NEC's highest ranked team in the RPI rankings at 141 while the Bobcats are 234th.
* Mason continues to be the youngest head coach in the Division I ranks at 28 years and 357 days and is the lone head man in the nation under 30.
* The Seahawks, which went 7-1 in February a year ago, are 5-5 when playing on Groundhog day since moving to Division I ranks for the 1976-1977 season.
* Wagner concludes its three-game homestand on Wednesday, February 6 against Mount St. Mary's in a game that will be televised by
Fox College Sports (FCS) and
ESPN3.
* Former Seahawk coach
P. J. Carlesimo is 13-5 since being named as the interim coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
* Freshman
Eric Fanning became the first member of the Green & White to capture a
Choice Hotels/NEC Rookie of the Week citation this year after averaging a team-best 13.5 points and 6.0 rebounds over a pair of road wins at Mount St. Mary's and Saint Francis U.
* Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department, @WagnerHoops for news and updates on the men's basketball program and @bashirmason to follow the Seahawks' first-year head coach.
Photography by Dave Saffran
