Box Score  | Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) | Highlights | Latif Rivers Dunk

Staten Island, NY - Senior Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)) scored all 14 of his points after halftime while classmate Kenneth Ortiz (Newark, NJ / Southern Mississippi) added a game-high 21 points in lifting Wagner to a 71-66 win over Mount St. Mary's in Northeast Conference (NEC) action at the Spiro Sports Center.

Ortiz's sixth career 20-point performance was also aided by seven rebounds, four assists and two steals over a season-high 38 minutes.

With their fifth-straight victory, the Seahawks improve to 15-11 and 9-4 in the NEC while the Mountaineers fall to 11-15 and 7-6 in the league.

The Green & White also improved to a perfect 13-0 when limiting the opposition to less than 70 points

After Wagner jumped out to a three-point halftime lead, Mount St. Mary's rallied to tie the game at 40-40 on Rashad Whack's layup off an inbounds pass with just over 14 mintues remaining in the game. With the Mountaineers threatening to take their first lead of the second half Rivers quickly stifled that possibility. The Garden State native delivered this electrifying dunk for his first collegiate slam while almost single-handedly sparking a game-changing 18-5 run.

Following Rivers' dunk, the Mountaineers briefly answered with a free throw before Rivers converted a layup and a pair of free throws. Ortiz then intercepted the pass on the ensuing pass and Rivers found sophomore Dwaun Anderson (Suttons Bay, MI / Michigan State) for the first Seahawk three pointer of the game while staking the Green & White to a 49-41 lead with 10:22 to play.

Following a Mount timeout, the visitors scored on its next two possessions but was unable to make up any ground as Wagner answered each time. After Sam Prescott hit a jumper to trim the deficit to 51-45 with 9:19 remaining, junior Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC / David W. Butler) canned his only three pointer of the game. Rivers then hit a layup before grabbing the rebound on the ensuing possession and finding senior Orlando Parker (Orlando, FL / Orlando Christian Prep) for a fast break dunk in extending the lead out to 58-45 with 7:34 remaining.

All told, during the 18-5 spurt that took exactly six minutes Rivers scored 10 points while assisting on Anderson's three and Parker's layup.

The lead would hit 13 on two more occasions, the last of which came with 4:04 remaining after Ortiz hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 62-49. Mount St. Mary's, however, would not go quietly into the night and outscored the Seahawks 12-2 over the next two-plus minutes while trimming the deficit to 64-61 with 1:40 remaining following a Julian Norfleet three pointer.

As he has done throughout his career, Ortiz answered with another big late-game performance. The Wagner floor general ran the shot clock down to one on the ensuing possession before hitting a layup with 1:06 to play. The Mountaineers would trim the deficit to three on one more occasion but never had a chance to tie or go ahead as the Seahawks converted on 5-of-6 from the line in the 35 seconds to close out the hard-fought 71-66 victory.

Wagner shot a blistering 55.2 percent (12-of-23) from the field after halftime, led by Rivers who scored 14 of the Seahawks' 37 points.

Rouding out the Green & White performers in double-figures was Anderson, who finished with a career-best matching 12 points and six rebounds.

Rashad Whack paced the Mount with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds while Norfleet and Prescott each added 14.

In the opening stanza, Wagner parlayed 12 offensive rebounds into an 18-10 advantage in second chance points while grabbing a 34-31 lead at the break.

For the game, the Seahawks shot 47.4 percent (27-of-57) while posting a 39-28 advantage on the glass and scoring 46 points in the paint. The Mountaineers shot a respectable 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the field, but just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) from long range.

Wagner will now look to make it six in a row at Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday, February 24 at 7:00 pm.

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