Game Notes: Bryant | Wagner

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Staten Island Advance Game Preview

Staten Island, NY – The Wagner men's basketball team wraps up its 2015 regular season home slate on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. vs. Bryant on Senior Night as Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) and Hugo Naurais (Nimes, France/Elan Chalon) will be honored in a ceremony prior to playing in their final regular season games on Grymes Hilll.

During their respective careers, Burton and Naurais have contributed to one of the most successful eras in program history, as each have been a part of 72 victories, the second-highest four-year win total in school history.

Tonight's contest marks just the 10th all-time meeting between these two schools with the Bulldogs leading the head-to-head series, 6-to-3. In their last meeting, back on January 15, the Seahawks dropped an 81-73 decision in Rhode Island  despite a career-high 31-point effort by Burton.

The battle within the battle will be between Burton and Bryant's Dyami Starks, who  are each vying for the Northeast Conference (NEC) scoring title with Burton entering the game averaging 18.7 points per outing while Starks checks in with an 18.0 average.

Both teams have clinched NEC Tournament berths. The Bulldogs are currently tied with Robert Morris for the secnd plaue standings with 9-5 league marks, while the Seahawks are sitting in seventh place with a 7-7 conference mark.
 THE COACHES
Wagner:                              
Bashir Mason:
47-40, Third Season
Overall Record at Wagner: Same
All-time against Bryant: 2-2
 
Bryant:
Tim O'Shea
189-233, 14th Season
Overall Record at Bryant: 69-138
All-time against Wagner:  3-6
 
 LAST TIME OUT FOR WAGNER...

• Senior guard Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) poured in a game-high 31 points, his third 30-point performance of the year, while junior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan/Rhode Island) tossed in 20 points and pulled down a career-high 23 rebounds, in leading the Green & White to an 83-79 overtime win over Fairleigh Dickinson today on Saturday at the Spiro Sports Center.
• The victory clinched a berth in next month's eight-team NEC Tournament for Wagner which, in addition to improving to  7-7 in league. ran its record to 9-16 overall. In dropping their 12th straight game, the Knights fell to 2-12 in the NEC and 7-18 overall.
• For Burton, the 31-point outing tied for the second-highest scoring game of his career, matching the 31 he tallied at Bryant (1/15/15).  The 6-0 sharp-shooter's career-high was a 38-point affair in an 83-80 overtime win over the defending NEC champion Mount St. Mary's back on January 5.
• For Aaman, his 23-rebound performance marks the first time that a Wagner player has hit the 20-rebound plateau since Durell Vinson corralled 20 caroms in a 71-67 win on the road against Fairleigh Dickinson on January 27, 2008.  It also marks the most rebounds ever recorded by a Seahawk in conference play, as the previous NEC-best by a Wagner player were the 22 rebounds pulled down by Frantz Pierre-Louis vs. LIU Brooklyn (1/17/96). In addition, Aaman's career-day on the glass is the new high water mark by an NEC player this season, and ties for the third-best rebounding effort in the nation this season. The Seahawks also received solid contributions from 6-6 junior forward Stedman Allen (Bronx, NY/Labette (KS)) and 6-3 freshman combo guard Romone Saunders (Temple Hills, MD/Mt. Zion Prep,) as they each tallied 10 points while Allen added five boards.

 
ALL-TIME AGAINST BRYANT...

• Tonight's contest is just the 10th all-time meeting between the schools with the Bulldogs leading the series, 6-to-3.
• In their last meeting back on January 15, the Seahawks dropped an 81-73 decision in Rhode Island to Bryant despite senior guard Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) pouring in a game-high 31 points for the visitors.

 
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS...

• Dyami Starks, a 6-2 senior guard and a transfer from Columbia, is the reigning NEC Player of the Week, marking the seventh NEC Player of the Week award of his career and comes after a pair of stellar shooting performances.
• The Duluth, MN native averaged 24.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while shooting 59.3 percent from the floor and 52.9 percent from three-point range, where he made 9-of-17 attempts. Starks dropped a season-high 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, 5-of-10 from long distance and 8-of-8 accuracy from the line in Bryant's 74-71 win at FDU on Thursday.  Starks followed with a team-high 18 points in Saturday's 75-68 setback at Mount St. Mary's.  He converted 7-of-13 shots from the field, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, while adding three rebounds and four assists for the second-place Bulldogs. 
• Dan Garvin and Joe O'Shea average 10.8 and 10.5 points per game, respectively, while Garvin is the team's leading rebounder at 7.6 caroms per contest. 

 
NEC TOURNAMENT FIELD NEARLY COMPLETE

• With two weeks remaining in the regular season, remarkably there is just one open spot left in the eight-team NEC Tournament.
• Last week  saw six teams join St. Francis Brooklyn (12-2) in the postseason with Bryant (9-5), Robert Morris (9-5), LIU Brooklyn (8-6), Mount St. Mary's (8-6), Saint Francis U (8-6) and Wagner (7-7) all earning NEC playoff bids.
• The last spot comes down to Sacred Heart and Fairleigh Dickinson.  The Pioneers (6-8) lead the Knights (2-12) by four games with four to play.  An SHU win or FDU loss would clinch the berth for the Pioneers.
• Another race brewing is for one of the top four seeds and the right to host an NEC quarterfinal game. Only two games separate the second through seventh-place teams in the standingst, so the last two weeks could bring a wild race to the finish line.
• Of the seven teams that have qualified for the 2015 tourney, only LIU Brooklyn didn't participate last year.
• Central Connecticut is the only team that has been eliminated from NEC Toirnament contention, snapping a 16-year streak of qualifying for the NEC Tournament.  That streak was the second-longest in league history, behind FDU's 18 straight from 1984-01.

 
AT THE HELM...

• Third year head coach Bashir Mason sports a 47-40 career record as he is in his third season manning the sidelines for the Seahawks.
• Mason, who was the youngest coach in Division I Men's Basketball prior to the start of this season (Dana Ford: Tennessee State), has led the Seahawks to back-to-back NEC semifinal appearances.
• On the opposite bench, Tim O'Shea is in his seventh season at Bryant, serving as the program's first head coach since reclassifying to the Division I level. As head coach of the Bulldogs, he has posted a 69-138 record, which includes back-to-back double-digit win totals (19 in 2012-13 and 18 in 2013-14).
• In his 14-year head coaching career, after serving the first seven at Ohio University; O'Shea owns a career mark of 189-233.

 
AAMAN BRINGS "A" GAME

• In a game in which he didn't even start, the end results on Saturday vs. FDU were pretty remarkable for Wagner junior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan (URI)).
• In 32 minutes off the bench, Aaman finished with 20 points and an astounding 23 rebounds, both of which were career-highs for the Hazlet, NJ native, as the Seahawks downed the Knights, 83-79, in overtime at the Spiro Center.
• When all was said and done, Aaman's night brought about a string of superlatives with the 23 rebounds tying for third on the NEC's single-game list and the most since Saint Francis U's Earl Brown snared 25 versus CCSU on January 13, 2013.

 

• The 23 rebounds were the most by a Wagner player since Durell Vinson grabbed 20 against FDU on January 27, 2008.      
• The Aaman's 20-20 game was the first by an NEC player since LIU Brooklyn's Julian Boyd finished with 21 points and 20 rebounds against FDU on February 23, 2012
• The 23 rebounds tied for the third-best rebounding game in the nation this season behind Baylor's Rico Gathers (28) and Villanova's Daniel Ochefu (24).
• Aaman's 14 offensive rebounds were the most in NCAA Division I player since Fordham's Chris Gaston grabbed 15 against La Salle on February 25, 2012.
• Since returning from an injury against Sacred Heart on January 29, Aaman has averaged 11.3 ppg and 12.6 rpg while logging 23.3 minutes per contest.

 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME...

• All-time, Wagner is 139-74 at the Spiro Center, which include a 8-4 this season.
• Senior guard Marcus Burton is averaging a team-leading 20.4 points per game at home this season while freshman guard Romone Saunders is tallying 10.0 points.

 
BURTON SCORING BONANZA CONTINUES...

• Wagner senior guard Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) is showing no signs of slowing down his torrid offensive output as of late.
• On Saturday, he posted his third 30-point performance of the season as he dropped 31 in an 84-79 overtime win over Fairleigh Dickinson.  The outing tied for the second-highest scoring game of his career, matching the 31 he tallied at Bryant on January 15.  The 6-0 sharpshooter's career-high was a 38-point effort in an 83-80 overtime win over Mount St. Mary's on January 5th.
• Burton currently leads the NEC in scoring at 18.7 ppg, but has been even better in league play where he is averaging 21.8 ppg.

 
TIP INS...

• The Seahawks rank first in Rebounding Margin and Offensive Rebounds in conference-only contests, pulling down 14.43 offensive caroms per NEC game and posting a +6.0 in rebounding margin.
• Over their first 10 games of the season (2-8 overall record), the Seahawks were only converting 60.9% from the free-throw line.
• Over the next 15 games (7-8 record), Wagner is shooting 73.0% from the charity stripe.
• In Thursday contests, Wagner is 3-4 on the season, 3-1 at home.  Burton, in those seven games, is averaging 22.4 points per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor and 47.2 percent from beyond the arc while hitting 81.5 percent from the free-throw line.
• On Saturdays, the Seahawks are 5-5 while posting a 4-2 home record and more importantly, 3-1 against NEC teams. As a team, they are a +5.8 on the glass while Burton is averaging 17.7 points on Saturdays. 
• In close games (3 points or fewer), the Seahawks are 2-2 this season.
• In games decided by 15 points or more, Wagner is 2-5 this season.
• Since returning from injury on January 29, junior forward Mike Aaman is averaging 11.3 points and 12.2 caroms per game. 
• When senior guard Marcus Burton scores in double-figures, the team is 10-11 on the year. Burton is a two-time NEC Player of the Week honoree, the first Seahawk to win the accolade in consecutive weeks.
• When freshman guard JoJo Cooper has five or more helpers, the team is 7-6 on the season.

 
UP NEXT FOR WAGNER...

• The Seahawks will play their final three games on the road, as they first travel to LIU Brooklyn on Saturday, February 21.
• From there, Wagner will make the long trek to Moon Township, PA to tangle with the Robert Morris Colonials before concluding the NEC regular season in Emmitsburg, MD against defending NEC champion Mount St. Mary's. 

Follow Wagner Athletics on Twitter (@wagnerathletics) for all the latest news and updates on the athletic department and on the men's basketball program and head coach Bashir Mason (@BashirMason) for news on the third-year head coach.