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Staten Island, NY - Mount St. Mary's opened up a double-digit lead early in the second half before withstanding a myriad of Wagner rallies in posting a 77-72 victory in the semifinals of the Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament at the Spiro Sports Center.

The Seahawks see their nine-game winning streak snapped while falling to 19-12 as the Mountaineers improve to 15-16 and will next play in Tuesday night's NEC Championship Game at Robert Morris.

Senior Kenneth Ortiz (Newark, NJ / Southern Mississippi) paced all players with a career-high 26 points while converting on 8-of-16 from the floor and 9-of-11 from the line.

Rashad Whack led four double-figure scorers for the Mount with 21 points while Julian Norfleet and Sam Prescott each added 16 points.

Trailing by 10 with 16:15 to play in the game following three Whack free throws, junior Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC / David W. Butler) immediately answered with a deep three pointer while triggering a 10-4 run to trim the deficit to 47-43 with 14:14 to play. In the spurt, Burton scored eight-straight points before junior Mario Moody (Jersey City, NJ / East Orange Campus) capped the push with a dunk off a nifty pass from senior Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)).

Gregory Graves briefly quelled the Wagner momentum with a dunk before Moody answered him with a slam of his own. Then after trading possessions, Ortiz grabbed the defensive rebound before converting a layup on the other end to make it a 49-48 game with 12:19 remaining.

The Seahawks, however, were unable to further dent the lead as Prescott hit a three pointer and Norfleet converted a fast break layup in pushing the lead back out to six at 54-48 with 11:38 to play.

With the lead still at six and just under five minutes to play, Mount St. Mary's appeared to be on the verge of finishing the Green & White. However, Ortiz picked the pocket of Norfleet in the backcourt before hitting a layup to get Wagner to within four at 66-62 with 4:35 remaining. The teams would then trade scores over the next two-plus minutes of action before Ortiz hit a layup with 1:40 remaining and again turned Norfleet over on the ensuing possession. Ortiz then drove the lane, drew the foul and hit a pair to make it a one-point game at 71-70 with 1:04 to play.

Prescott then answered with a pair from the line to extend the Mountaineers' advantage to 73-70 with 46 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, Wagner was unable to convert a pair of three point attempts and wouldn't get any closer in falling 77-72.

For the game, the Mount shot 50.0 percent (28-of-56) from the floor, including 31.6 percent (6-of-19) from long range, and 78.9 percent (15-of-19) from the line while posting a 35-33 advantage on the glass.

The Seahawks, meanwhile, shot 42.6 percent (26-of-61) from the floor, including 30.8 percent (4-of-13) from deep, and 80.0 percent (16-of-20).

Wagner earned a 35-31 lead at the break thanks to a half-ending 8-0 run and shot 50.0 percent (14-of-28) from the floor.

Burton rounded out the double-digit scorer for the Seahawks with 13 points while senior Orlando Parker (Orlando, FL / Orlando Christian Prep) notched his sixth double-digit rebounding performance of the year with a game-high 10 caroms to go along with eight points. Rounding out the top performers for the Green & White was classmate Naofall Folahan (Cotonou, Republic of Benin / Wilbraham & Monson Academy (MA)), who notched six points, nine rebounds and five blocks.

Folahan, Ortiz, Parker and Rivers end their career with the school record for wins by a class with 76.

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