LIVE STATS / LIVE STATS (MEDIA)
 

LIU Brooklyn	Roster	Schedule	Notes
Wagner	Roster	Schedule	Notes

Staten Island, NY - Wagner (15-11; 9-6 NEC) returns to action in a nationally televised ESPNU affair with LIU Brooklyn (15-12; 10-5 NEC) on Sunday, February 24 at 8:00 pm. Those wishing to watch online may do so by clicking HERE. Click HERE to find out how to get access to the online stream. For the Seahawks' free audio stream click HERE.

QUICK HITS
* This will be the third time that the Seahawks have played on ESPNU, previously defeating No. 15 Pitt by a 59-54 count on December 23, 2011, before losing to the Blackbirds by a 73-66 count on January 21, 2012.

* Prior to the game, the Green & White will recognize Josh Thompson and Jonathon Williams in a pre-game ceremony for Senior Day.

* Wagner will be looking to sweep the season-series from LIU Brooklyn after claiming the first meeting back on January 10 by an 86-75 count.

* In that meeting, the Seahawks set a NEC record by converting on 90.0 percent (9-of-10) from long range, while breaking the previous mark of 88.9 percent (8-of-9) set by Marist against St. Francis Brooklyn on February 21, 1991.

* The Green & White also snapped the Blackbirds 31-game winning streak at the Wellness, Recreation & Athletic Center.

* In a battle of two of the NEC's top point guards, junior Kenneth Ortiz scored 19 points while handing out a career-high 11 assists in notching his third career double-double. Ortiz, the reigning NEC Defensive Player of the Year, also had four steals while holding Jason Brickman, who leads the nation in assists (8.5/game), to just seven points and seven helpers.

* The victory also snapped Wagner's four-game losing streak to two-time defending NEC Champion LIU Brooklyn.

* Since defeating the Blackbirds in the NEC Tournament in 2007-2008, the Seahawks have lost seven of nine in the all-time series, including each of the last four meetings at the Spiro Sports Center.

* LIU Brooklyn holds a 54-39 lead in the all-time series, but just 36-35 since Wagner moved to the Division I ranks for the 1976-1977 season. The Seahawks are also 8-6 against the Blackbirds at the Spiro Sports Center, which opened in February of 1999.

* Bashir Mason, who is the nation's youngest head coach at 29 years and 13 days, will be looking to improve to 5-0 against first-year NEC coaches.

* Sophomore Mario Moody is averaging 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game over two career games against LIU Brooklyn and went for 19 points and nine rebounds in the team's first meeting.

* Junior Naofall Folahan and Moody have combined to give the Green & White one of the top frontcourts in the NEC as Folahan leads the league with 1.5 blocks (121st NCAA) per game while Moody is third at 1.4 rejections (140th NCAA) per game.  Folahan has 133 blocks for his career and with two more would match Miladin Mutavdzic for second place on the all-time Wagner rankings.

* The Seahawks have claimed four of their last five at home and are 9-2 at the Spiro Sports Center this season and 21-5 over the last two seasons.

* All-time, Wagner is 120-66 (.645) at the Spiro Sports Center since its opening in 1999.

* The Seahawks return to action after dropping a heartbreaking 76-75 decision at St. Francis Brooklyn on Dre Calloway's layup with 2.8 seconds to play.

* In defeat, the Green & White set a school-record with its 133rd block of the year, bettering the previous mark of 132 set by the 1998-1999 team.

* The loss snapped Wagner's 31-game winning streak when either leading or tied with five minutes to play, dating back to December 10, 2011.

* St. Francis Brookyn became just the fourth team over the last three years to sweep both regular season match-ups with the Seahawks. The other three times came at the hands of LIU Brooklyn (2010-2011, 2011-2012) and the Terriers (2010-2011).

* Despite the loss, the Green & White committed a season-low eight turnovers and has posted a stellar 1.8 assist/turnover ratio over the last three games, led by Ortiz and sophomore Marcus Burton, as the point guard duo had 26 assists, against just 10 turnovers.

* Also during that time, Burton has notched double-figures in all three games while averaging 16.3 points per game on 53.3 percent (16-of-30) shooting, including 40.0 percent (6-of-15) from deep, while handing out 12 assists, against just one turnover, over 78 minutes off the bench.

* In his five previous games, Burton had just 17 points, on 25.0 percent shooting from the field (5-of-20) and long range (2-of-8).

* Burton leads the Wagner reserves this season with 8.3 points per game when coming off the bench. The Seahawk reserves are outscoring (+4.0) and outrebounding (+4.3) their counterparts this season.

* Williams paced the team in scoring with 16 points against the Terriers and has now paced Wagner in scoring and rebounding a team-best 12 times. Over 52 career games on Grymes Hill, the California native has led the way on offense 23 times.

* Williams made good on both of his free throws with 3:50 remaining against St. Francis Brooklyn and has converted 26-of-28 (.929) over the last five minutes/overtime in games decided by less than 10 points or in OT.

* Williams and junior Latif Rivers have each recorded double-figures in scoring over each of the last eight games with the latter averaging a team-best 17.1 points per game while shooting 52.9 percent (46-of-87) from the field and 52.4 percent (22-of-42) from long range. Over his first nine games, Rivers averaged just 9.8 points per game on 34.1 percent shooting from the field (29-of-85) and long range (14-of-41).

* Over his last three Saturday games, Rivers is averaging 22.0 points per game in the second half while shooting 71.0 percent (22-of-31) from the field and 75.0 percent (12-of-16) from deep.

* Rivers has also hit for 20 points this year four times and 14 times in his stellar two-plus year career on Grymes Hill. With his 10 points on Thursday, the Garden State native is now 32nd in school history with 1,092 points, including 21st in the D-1 era. New up is Greg Clay (1,099), Tony Rice (1,001) and Harry Orlando (1,017).

* Thanks to the return of Rivers, Wagner has outshot eight of its last nine opponents and is averaging 73.0 points per game on 46.7 percent shooting from the field and 35.7 percent from long range. During non-conference play, the Seahawks notched just 58.4 points per game on 38.2 percent shooting, including 27.6 percent from deep.

* In the aforementioned recent nine-game stretch, the Green & White is averaging 78.6 points per game while shooting a sizzling 50.1 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from long range.

* Wagner is 7-3 this season following a loss and 11-3 over the last two years.

* Despite its most recent loss the Seahawks are 20-11 in games decided by 10 points or less or in overtime in the last two seasons.

* Wagner is second among NEC in the most recent RPI rankings at No. 133 while LIU Brooklyn is No. 205. Robert Morris the top conference team, checking in at 129.

* Freshman Dwaun Anderson notched a career-best nine points and seven rebounds against the Terriers and is now averaging 7.6 points per game while shooting 48.4 percent (15-for-31) from the floor over the last five games.

* Wagner continues to lead the NEC and ranks among the national leaders in blocks (5.1) (28th NCAA), field goal percentage defense (.405) (79th NCAA) and scoring defense (66.2) (169th NCAA) while also placing among the top-100 in rebounding margin (+4.1) (67th NCAA) and steals (8.1) (61st NCAA).

WELCOME BACK
The 2002-2003 incarnation of the Wagner Seahawks will be honored for the 10th anniversary of the program's lone NEC Championship.

ISN'T THAT CONVENIENT
Providing the color commentary for ESPNU will Dereck Whittenburg, who was the head coach of the aforementioned NEC Championship team. The former Wagner and Fordham head coach is also being recognized by ESPN in the coming months as his NC State team that won the 1983 National Championship will be spotlighted in a '30 for 30' documentary. Providing the play-by-play is Bob Picozzi.

SETTING THE SCENE
Wagner returns to action with an extremely important game against LIU Brooklyn as the Seahawks are currently one game behind the visitors in fifth place. A win today would go a long way in helping the Green & White garner a home game in the upcoming NEC Tournament.

BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
Wagner last swept the season series from LIU Brooklyn in the 2006-2007 season and has done so nine times in the series history.

DID YOU KNOW???
Mason played for coach Bruiser Flint at Drexel while assistant coach Mike Babul played for Flint at UMass. Babul, who was a Parade All-American, was originally a John Calipari recruit.

BLOCK PARTY
Against Bryant, eight of the nine Seahawk players that saw action recorded at least one rejection in the game as the Green & White recorded a NEC-best matching 11 rejections. The 11 blocks were the most by a Wagner team since notching 11 in a 72-62 victory over Saint Francis U on February 13, 1999.

OVER HIS LAST FOUR GAMES ...
Ortiz is averaging 14.8 points, 6.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. On the year, the Garden State native ranks among the NEC and national leaders with 12.0 points (18th NEC), 5.1 assists (4th NEC) (60th NCAA) and 2.0 steals (3rd) (67th NCAA) per game.

DURING HIS TWO YEARS ON GRYMES HILL ...
Ortiz, a Southern Mississippi transfer, has over 500 points, 200 assists, 200 rebounds and 100 steals.

LEADING THE WAY
Williams, like Ortiz, ranks among the NEC and national leaders in scoring (14.5 ppg) (9th NEC) (248th NCAA), rebounding (6.6 rpg) (9th NEC) (247th NCAA), field goal percentage (.509) (9th NEC) (70th NCAA) and free throw percentage (.792) (t-5th NEC) (165th NCAA).

INTERESTING
Wagner is a perfect 5-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points and has won 20-straight games when notching when hitting the number dating back to the 2009-2010 season.

WE'RE HALFWAY THERE
The Seahawks are a perfect 9-0 when leading at halftime this season and 30-2 over the last two years.

CLOSING IT OUT
The trio of Williams, Ortiz and Rivers have accounted for 63.6 percent of the Green & White's scoring (222/349) in the final five minutes of games this season.

MR. ESPN
Anderson recorded his third ESPN Top-10 dunk against Central Connecticut (#10) before notching his second against St. Francis Brooklyn (#6) and his first at Wagner's Madness Before Midnight event (#6).

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
With their 101 points in a win over the Blue Devils, the Seahawks cracked the 100-point plateau for the first time since besting Sacred Heart in a double-overtime thriller on February 14, 2008.

ADDITIONALLY ...
Wagner's 61.4 percent conversion rate from the field against CCSU was the Seahawks' best performance from the field since making good on 64.7 percent in an 89-70 win over Saint Francis U on January 15, 2005.

THE LAST TIME ...
The Green & White recorded 100 points in a regulation game was in a 105-86 win over Maryland Eastern Shore.

FIRST HALF FURY
Wagner notched a season-high 52 first-half points against Central Connecticut while shooting a season-best 69.0 (20-for-29) from the field. The 52 points also was better than or matched the Seahawks' scoring output in six games this season.

BENCH LIGHTS IT UP
The Green & White reserves recorded a season-high 44 points, on 65.2 percent shooting (15-for-23), with 20 rebounds in the aforementioned win over CCSU.

BURTON'S BIG GAME
Leading the bench was Burton, who hit for a career-high 23 points and seven assists, against no turnovers, over just 24 minutes against the Blue Devils. He also converted on 6-of-9 from the floor, 3-of-5 from deep and 8-of-9 from the line.

MASON TURNS ... 29
Head coach Bashir Mason turned 29 years old on Monday, February 11th. With his victory over the 66-year old Howie Dickenman of Central Connecticut, Mason improves to 3-2 this season against senior citizens.

DURING LEAGUE PLAY ...
The trio of Rivers (13.9 ppg), Williams (13.4 ppg) and Ortiz (13.1 ppg) have combined for 50.4 percent (552/1095) of Wagner's scoring.

OVERTIME
The Seahawks played their school-record sixth overtime game against Robert Morris, bettering the previous mark of five set during the 2007-2008 season.  The Seahawks four wins are also the second-most behind the 2007-2008 squad's five victories.

OT DOMINANCE
The Green & White is 7-3 in overtime games since the 2010-2011 season and 13-5 over the last six seasons.

DID YOU KNOW?
In the program's first 31 years of action at the Division I level, Wagner was just 13-28 in OT games.

OT SPLITS
Over four overtime games at home this season, the Seahawks are 4-0 while outscoring the opposition by a 50-21 count and shooting 52.4 percent (11-for-21) from the floor. In two road overtime games, both losses, the Green & White has been outscored 17-9 while shooting just 17.6 percent (3-for-17).

TALE OF TWO HALVES
Wagner is averaging 35.8 points per game in the second half on 46.1 percent shooting from the floor, compared to just 28.7 points per game in the first half on 40.9 percent shooting.

BROOKLYN STATE OF MIND
Former Seahawk head coach P.J. Carlesimo is currently 19-8 since being named as the interim coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Carlesimo ushered the Green & White program to the Division I level in 1976-1977 and was the head coach for six seasons.

UP NEXT
Wagner heads to Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday, February 28 at 7:00 pm.

FOLLOW ON TWITTER
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 Joe Epstein/Dave Saffran Photography