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Pictured Above: Freshman Guard Jo Jo Cooper (Photo by Dave Saffran) 

Staten Island, NY – Behind a surging second-half effort, in which the Seahawks took their first lead of the game with 1:43 remaining in the game, the Wagner men's basketball team completed a 64-61 comeback win over the University of Pennsylvania Quakers, 64-61, in front of a loud, raucous crowd of 1,876 this afternoon at the Spiro Sports Center.

With the victory, Wagner improves to 2-3 on the young season while Penn falls to 0-5.



The backcourt combination of 6-0 senior Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) and 6-0 freshman JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) led the way for the Seahawk. Burton finished with a game-high 17 points, which included a 7-of-10 effort from the free-throw line, while Cooper tossed in a career-high 15 points, highlighted by a five-point output during a 1:16 stretch of the second half. The physical, former high school football standout shot 6-of-10 from the floor and equaled his career high in rebounds with five, while dishing out three assists in a spirited and productive 23-minute outing. 

Bruising 6-8 sophomore power forward Greg Senat (Elmont, NY/Elmont) chipped in seven points, including a clutch 15-foot baseline jumper with 14 seconds left to play, while pulling down a team-high six rebounds.

Penn was led by 6-11, 265-pound junior center Darien Nelson-Henry who scored 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting and 5-of-7 marksmanship from the free-throw line. Nelson-Henry also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds in 29 minutes of action. Greg Louis and Matt Howard each contributed nine points on a combined 7-of-12 shooting for the Quakers. Penn opened this contest on a 12-2 run over the game's first four minutes of the contest, with Nelson-Henry getting loose in close for six of those points. On the other end of the floor, Penn held the Seahawks to just 1-of-6 during with Wagner's two points coming on a Cooper layup at the 18:04 mark.

The Seahawks found themselves in a 14-2 hole when Burton hit a layup at 11:55 to make it 14-4, a bucket that started a run that saw Wagner answer back with seven of the next nine points over the next three minutes which cut the deficit to 16-9.

Burton connected for five of his seven first-half points during this stretch. After falling behind by that early14-2 count, that 7-2 Seahawk burst seemed to have a steadying effect as Wagner, outscored Penn 24-17 over the final 11-plus minutes of the half in trimming the Quaker lead to 31-26 at the intermission. The formula for Wagner's success over the second part of the opening half was a combination of 9-of-18 shooting from the field, which included a trio of three-pointers, along with an increased defensive intensity which forced Penn into committing 11 turnovers. The Green & White were as close as three points, at 29-26, before a put-back layup by Sam Jones narrowly beat the halftime buzzer, sending the visitors into the break with that five-point lead. 

The opening minutes of the second half served as a harbinger of the wild things to come, as 6-10 sophomore forward Nolan Long (Waterford, CT/South Kent Prep) got thing started by muscling his way in the lane, en route to converting a heavily-contested layup chance that brought the home team within three, 31-28.  On the ensuing Quaker possession, Tony Hicks was able to curl around a screen and hit a spot-up jumper that increased the lead to 33-28. Penn outscored Wagner, 7-5 over a three-minute span that widened its lead to seven, at 40-33, with 15:51 left.

The Seahawks then began to attack the basket and create scoring chances for themselves, embarking on a 10-5 spurt over four minutes that saw the Penn lead slip to just a single basket, 45-43. The Quakers were able to thwart the Wagner run after Howard completed one-of-two from the charity stripe, kick-starting a 10-4 Quaker run that found them up 55-47 at the 7:57 mark, holding the Wagner offense to just 2-of-6 shooting and 0-of-2 from long range during this segment.  

Burton sank a long-distance trey that cut the lead to 55-50 with 6:40 to go, as the home faithful rose to its feet. After Nelson-Henry made one-of-two from the line, Cooper, primarily a defensive specialist and a top assist man in Wagner's first three games, (11 assists vs. SUNY Old Westbury on 11/20), fired up a three-pointer that found the back of the net, bringing the lead down to just 56-54, with 5:25 left.

After Penn's Darnell Foreman connected on a pair of free throws, Cooper took the game over. He was first able to drain a mid-range jumper for his 12^th point of the contest and followed that up with an old-fashioned three-point play, sinking a remarkable layup after spinning away from his defender, while being fouled, tying the game at 58-58 with 1:43 to go.

Cooper then completed the three-point play, with his free throw giving Seahawks their first lead of the contest, 59-58. That's the way score remaining until freshman guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic), penetrated the lane before kicking the ball to a wide open Senat on the left baseline and the sophomore forward calmly nailed a 15-footer, increased the Wagner lead to four, 62-58.

With seven seconds to play, Senat converted one-of-two from the line to make it 63-58. Penn quickly inbounded the ball. Darnell Foreman hustled the ball across mid-court and found Sam Jones in the deep right corner from where the 6-7 freshman drained a three-pointer with two seconds left to make it 63-61. Penn was then forced to foul Burton and the career 80.0 percent free-throw shooter, made one-of-two from the stripe, to make it a 64-61 game, and Penn was unable to get off of a last-second shot as the final horn sounded.

For the contest, Wagner shot 44.4 percent from the field while converting 22 points off of 22 Quaker turnovers.  Penn shot a blistering 57.6 percent from the floor and ou-trebounded the Seahawks, 29-22, while converting nine fast break points to Wagner's two.

The Seahawks will embark on a three-game, three-state road trip, beginning on December 2 as when the Green & White head to Orono, Maine to tangle with the University of Maine.  Tip off from the Alfond Arena is slated for 7:00 p.m.
The road swing continues with road tests vs. Lafayette on December 6 and vs. Vermont on December 14.

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 head coach Bashir Mason (@BashirMason) for news on the third-year head coach.