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Men's Basketball

Seahawks Set For Showdown With Sacred Heart

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Fairfield, CT - Wagner (12-11; 5-4 NEC) will be in search of its third-straight win over Sacred Heart (4-20; 1-8 NEC) on Saturday, February 8 at 2:00 pm. As always, fans can watch the game for free through NEC Front Row with Joey Wahler bringing you the the free audio broadcast through Red Zone Media beginning at 1:50 pm.

Top Storylines
#1 - Wagner returns to the road looking for its second-straight victory.

#2 - Bashir Mason picked up his 30th career win on Thursday against FDU.

#3 - Mason, who is the nation's youngest coach, will be coaching his final game as a 29-year old.


Quick Hits
* Wagner will be in search of its third-straight win over Sacred Heart on Saturday, February 8 at 2:00 pm.

* The Seahawks lead the all-time series between the teams by a 16-12 count, including posting a 16-10 record since ascending to the D-I ranks for the 1976-1977 season.

* When playing in Fairfield, the Green & White holds a slim 7-6 advantage, including claiming three of the last four games.

* Wagner graduate manager Obie Nwadike played for Sacred Heart first-year head coach Anthony Latina and assistant Kevin Papacs at CCSU.

* The last time these teams met, the Seahawks defeated the Pioneers 84-78 in overtime behind  senior Kenneth Ortiz's 17 points, eight assists, six caroms and three steals.

* Senior Latif Rivers is averaging 16.0 points over four career match-ups with SHU and hit for 20 points at the Pitt Center as a freshman.
* Wagner defeated Fairleigh Dickinson for the sixth-straight time on Sunday and has now won 14 of its last 15 meetings against colleges from New Jersey while also improving to 19-7 over the last three years following a loss.

* The Seahawks also won for the first time this season when being outshot after losing the previous nine occurrences.

* Senior Naofall Folahan recorded five blocks against the Knights and now has 201 for his career while becoming the fifth player in NEC history to record at least 200. Over his last three games, Folahan is averaging 4.3 blocks and 6.0 rebounds each time out while pacing the Wagner defense. He broke Frantz Pierre-Louis' 14-year school-record for blocks at CCSU, and ranks 25th nationally with 2.7 per game.

* Folahan's five-block performance vs. FDU also marks the 15th time in his career that he has blocked at least four shots with the Seahawks going 11-4 during that time.

* Leading the charge on offense was Rivers, who scored a team-best 20 points while going 10-for-10 from the line.

* He has now notched at least 20 points on 17 occasions while pacing the squad 34 times with the Green & White going 14-3 and 22-12 during that time, respectively.

* The Garden State native also cracked the 1,400-point barrier while moving past Fred Klittich into 14th place with his 1,415 markers, which also ranks fourth among active NEC players.

* Rivers has notched double-figures 78 times in his 101-game career and is among the league leaders scoring (14.4 ppg-9th), assists/game (1.8-5th), field goal percentage (.464-12th), free throw percentage (.813-6th) and three-point percentage (.390-8th).

* Junior Jay Harris added 15 points vs. Fairleigh Dickinson and is averaging 14.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists over his last three games.

* He ranks among the NEC leaders in scoring (10.1-26th), assists (2.8-12th), three-point percentage (.398-4th) and three-pointers/game (2.1-7th).

* Ortiz scored 11 points against the Knights - highlighted by a monster slam dunk over Xavier Harris - with eight assists, against just three turnovers. Ortiz has now recorded at least seven assists on 19 occasions with Wagner going 16-3 during that time.

* The Southern Mississippi transfer ranks among the league leaders in scoring (12.4-14th), assists (4.3-7th), steals (1.7-3rd) and free throw percentage (.717-15th) while posting a 1.52 assist/turnover ratio (9th NEC) and has notched 920 points, 420 assists, 389 rebounds and 164 steals over four collegiate seasons.

* Sophomore Dwaun Anderson rounded out the double-digit scorers  against FDU with a career-best matching 12 points and is averaging 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game during NEC play.

* Senior Orlando Parker grabbed a game and career-best matching 12 rebounds against Fairleigh Dickinson and has now notched double-figures on the glass six times in his career. Since entering the starting line-up five games ago, the Sunshine State native is averaging 9.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

* The 12 caroms also marked the sixth time in his career that Parker, who ranks sixth in the circuit with 5.8 caroms per game, has paced Wagner on the glass with the Seahawks going 5-1.

* Thanks to Parker, the Green & White won the rebounding battle the last time out by a 42-32 count and has notched at least 40 rebounds in seven of its nine NEC games while limiting the opposition to less than 40 caroms eight times.

* Folahan, Ortiz, Parker and Rivers comprise the Wagner senior class, which has registered 68 wins since descending on Grymes Hill and has accounted for 48.7 percent (776-of-1592) of the team's offense this year.

* The 68 victories are the second-most by a senior class since the college moved to Division I for the 1976-1977 season and just one off the school-record of 69 set by the Class of 2005, which claimed the 2003 NEC Title while advancing to the 2005 Championship tilt. The Class of 1969 has the all-time record of 72 victories.

* Junior Marcus Burton continues to lead the bench in scoring and is second among NEC reserves with 10.3 points per game (25th NEC) while pacing the circuit at the line with a 88.7 percent (47-of-53) conversion rate. During league play, his scoring average jumps to 11.9 points each time out.

* In the final five minutes of games decided by 10 points or less, the Seahawks have converted 79.1 percent (72-of-91) from the line, led by Burton (12-of-12).

* Thanks to the quartet of Ortiz, Rivers, Harris and Burton, the Green & White guards have accounted for 68.9 percent (1097/1592) of the team's scoring. 

* Rounding out the double-figure scorers for Wagner is junior Mario Moody, who is among the NEC leaders in scoring (9.5-28th), rebounding (6.5-4th) and blocks (1.3-8th). During league play, his numbers go up to 11.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game to go along with an impressive 59.1 percent (39-of-66) shooting clip.

* Led by Burton and Moody, the Seahawk bench has outscored its counterparts in seven of the Green & White's nine NEC games by an average of 13.51 points each time out. The reserves are averaging 32.0 points per game on 46.5 percent (101-of-217) shooting from the field, including 38.4 percent (28-of-73) from deep.

* Freshman Greg Senat has come on strong of late, averaging 4.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in just 10.5 minutes each time out over the last two games.

* Since Mason took over at the start of last season, his teams have limited the opposition to less than 40 percent shooting in 28 of the Seahawks' 53 games. Additionally, Wagner is a perfect 11-0 when limiting teams to less than 35 percent during that time.

* Mason, who was a finalist for the CollegeInsider.com Joe B. Hall First-Year and Ben Jobe Minority Coach of the Year awards last season, is 30-23 in this his second year.

* For the second season in a row, Mason, who is 29 years and 362 days old, is the youngest Division I head coach as well as the lone head man under the age of 30. In 2012-2013, Mason led the Seahawks to a 19-12 record (12-6 NEC) in 2012-2013. Both his overall and NEC win totals represented school-records for a rookie coach.

* The Green & White is 27-8 at home (17-4 NEC) over the last three years and 125-69 (.644), all-time, at the renovated Spiro Sports Center (since 1999).

* Since the start of the 2011-2012 season, Wagner, which was picked to win the 2014 NEC Championship by the league's coaches, is 55-29, including 32-13 during conference play Additionally, the Seahawks are 29-16 in games decided by less than 10 points or in OT, 50-2 when leading with five minutes remaining, 42-2 when limiting opponents to less than 70 points, 37-9 when scoring at least 70, 41-3 when leading at the half and 32-4 when shooting 45 percent or higher.

* Wagner has been solid on defense this season, leading the NEC in rebounding (38.5), blocks (5.9) (20th NCAA), field goal percentage defense (.405) (58th NCAA) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.328) (110th NCAA).

* Leading the way for Sacred Heart is senior Louis Montes, who is averaging a team-best 13.0 points per game, including 15.4 during league play. Rounding out the double-figure scorers for the Pioneers is the juinor trio of Evan Kelley (12.4 ppg), Chris Evans (11.5 ppg) and Steve Glowiak (10.8 ppg).

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 Bashir Mason for news on the second-year coach. Photography by Dave Saffran.
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