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Staten Island, NY - Senior Orlando Parker (Orlando, FL / Orlando Christian Prep) scored a career-high matching 16 points with 10 rebounds in recording his first double-double since his rookie campaign in leading Wagner to a 74-62 workmanlike victory over Sacred Heart at the Spiro Sports Center.

Parker's third career double-double helped the Seahawks clinch a Northeast Conference (NEC) tournament berth and improve to 14-11 and 8-4 in the league with their season-best fourth-straight win. In defeat, the Pioneers fall to 4-23 and 1-11 in the league.

Junior Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC / David W. Butler) paced the Green & White in scoring for the sixth time this season with 19 points off the bench, highlighted by a pair of acrobatic lay-ups in the first half. Reigning NEC Co-Player of the Week senior Kenneth Ortiz (Newark, NJ / Southern Mississippi) again facilitated the offense with another outstanding effort, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers. Classmate Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)) rounded out the double-digit performers for the victors with 12 points.

Sacred Heart was in control for most of the first half and grabbed its largest lead of the game at 24-17 following Louis Montes' three pointer with 8:31 until halftime. Wagner's offense, which was stagnant up to that point, then came to life thanks to a pair of big plays from Burton. The Charlotte native converted a three-point play before finishing off an impressive reverse layup off an Ortiz steal with Parker tying the game up at 24-24 with a layup of his own.

The Pioneers briefly regained the lead on an Evan Kelley layup only to see the Seahawks jump in front for good with layups from Parker and freshman Nolan Long (Waterford, CT / South Kent Prep). SHU's Steve Glowiak briefly stopped the bleeding with a free throw before Long converted hit a pair from the line with Parker and Burton hitting layups in capping a game-changing 17-3 run. All told, the Green & White limited Sacred Heart to just 1-for-10 shooting over the final eight-plus minutes while forcing five turnovers in assuming what would prove to be an insurmountable 34-27 halftime advantage.

In the opening stanza, Burton scored 12 points off the bench while Parker hit for 10 points with seven rebounds as the duo combined to convert on 9-of-14 from the floor with the rest of the team making good on just 3-for-21.

After halftime, the Pioneers would continue to fight and cut the deficit to four on three occasions the last of which came on a Glowiak three pointer with 14:48 to play to make it a 44-40 game. SHU had a chance to further dent the lead but was forced into three-straight missed shots and would not get any closer the rest of the way.

Rivers answered with a pair of free throws while sparking a 12-1 run that took just over three minutes before capping the spurt with a three pointer that extended the Seahawk lead to 56-41 with 9:33 remaining. The advantage would grow to a game-high 17 before the Green & White prevailed by a 74-62 count due to a couple of late SHU buckets.

Wagner shot a blistering 52.0 percent (13-of-25) in the second half en route to finishing up at 41.7 percent (25-of-60) for the game. The Seahawks also converted on 86.4 percent (19-of-22) from the line while posting a +10 advantage on the glass (45-35).

Sacred Heart, which was led by Montes' game-high 27 points, shot just 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the floor and was done in by allowing 16 offensive rebounds that led to a 19-11 advantage in second-chance points for the Green & White.

Wagner turned in another outstanding defensive performance, limited the opposition to less than 40 percent shooting for the 30th time in Bashir Mason's 56-game tenure. Additionally, the Seahawks improved to a perfect 12-0 during that time when holding teams to less than 35 percent from the field.

Rounding out the top performers was Long, who notched six points and nine rebounds over 16 minutes - all of which were career-highs.

Wagner will look to make it five in a row against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, February 22 at 4:00 pm in the friendly confines of the Spiro Sports Center.

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