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Staten Island Advance Recap (Cormac Gordon)

Head Coach Bashir Mason Opening Comment

Moon Township, PA –The #7 seeded Wagner College Seahawks' season came to an end in the 2015 Northeast Conference Quarterfinals on Wednesday as they fell to the #2 seed, Robert Morris University, 91-68, at the Charles L. Sewall Center.

With the loss, the Seahawks, who will return 10 of their 12 letterwinners next season, finish the year with a 10-20 overall record that includes an 8-10 NEC mark. The Colonials, who advance to the NEC semifinals against #3 seed, Bryant University on Saturday, improve to 17-14 on the season. During the year, RMU's #2 seed was achieved by virtue of its 12-6 conference mark.

The Seahawks were led this evening by 6-0 senior guard and recently named All-Northeast Conference First Team selection Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC/David W. Butler) and 6-8 junior power forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan/Rhode Island), who each tallied a team-high 19 points on a combined 13-of-31 from the field while pairing up to connect on a perfect 11-of-11 from the free-throw line (Aaman finished 7-of-7). 

Burton, who played in his 112^th career game, finishes his illustrious career with 1,137 career points, which ranks 29^th all-time on Wagner's career scoring list, as he surpassed Oliver Featherson's ('69) total of 1,129 points. For Aaman, it marks the seventh time that he has netted double-figures on the season. With his team-leading eight rebounds, this is the ninth time this season that the burly forward has pulled down five or more rebounds in a game.

Four Colonials placed in double-figures led by Lucky Jones, who scored a game-high 27 points, including a stretch in which he converted on three straight three-pointers.  Marcquise Reed added 22 points while Rodney Pryor contributed 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while dishing out a game-high seven assists. Kavon Stewart added 10 points in 33 minutes of play.

Wagner opened the contest with an early 3-0 lead after junior Stedman Allen (Bronx, NY / Eagle Academy (Labette CC) completed an old-fashioned three-point play after banking in a contested layup. The Colonials took their first lead of the contest at 5-3 when Reed drained a three-pointer from the top of the key.

After freshman guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) buried a mid-range elbow jumper, the Colonials went on a 13-4 run to take a 20-9 lead as they held Wagner to just 1-of-4 shooting over this 3:28 stretch.

Wagner cut the deficit to 20-15, when Burton, the NEC's No. 2 scorer on the season, drive the lane and laid it in off the window. The Colonials countered with a 19-5 run in taking a 39-20 lead before the Seahawks closed the half on an 8-0 run, keyed by a Henson three-pointer, in pulling to within 39-28 at the intermisson. \

The Seahawks trimmed the RMU lead back down to nine, 45-36, after the Green & White was able to outscore RMU, 8-to-4, over a three minute period thanks to four points apiece from Aaman and Burton.  The Colonials ignited a 14-to-2 run over the next 3:42 to take a 21-point advantage, 59-38, thanks to a trio of three-pointers from Jones.  The Colonials went 5-of-5 from the field, including an unblemished 4-of-4 from downtown thanks to Jones and Pryor. Wagner freshman forward Japhet Kadji (Douala, Cameroon/IMG Academy (FL)) scored the lone basket as he converted the alley-oop, layup attempt off the feed from Burton.

For nearly six minutes, the Seahawks nearly brought the contest back to within single-digits, but Wagner was only able to cut the lead down to 13, 69-56, after outscoring RMU, 18-to-10 thanks to an efficient 5-of-8 shooting performance with once again Aaman and Burton leading the charge with nine points apiece during this latest run.

The Colonials used a 22-to-12 run to seal the victory as down-the-stretch; RMU shot 6-of-9 from the floor and an impressive 8-of-10 from the free-throw line with Stewart and Reed pouring in seven and five points, respectively.

For the contest, Wagner shot 41.4 percent from the field and converted on 89.5 percent from the free-throw (17-of-19) line.  The Colonials finished the game shooting 53.6 percent from the field (30-of-56) while hitting 60.0 percent from the outside and holding a 34-to-29 edge on the boards.

In the other NEC quarterfinal matchups tonight, top-seeded St. Francis Brooklyn knocked off LIU Brooklyn 79-70, fifth-seeded Saint Francis U upset fourth-seeded Mount St. Mary's, pulling away from the defending NEC champions for a 73-58 win, while third-seeded Bryant staved off sixth-seeded Sacred Heart 91-85 in a wild, double-overtime affair. Robert Morris will host third-seeded Bryant in the semifinals of the 2015 NEC Tournament on Saturday, March 7 at Noon with top-seeded St. Francis Brooklyn hosting fifth-seeded Saint Francis U in the other semifinal matchup in a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.

Notes:

• Burton recorded his 23^rd double-digit scoring performance tonight while finishing the year with 508 points on the year.
• He was174-of-434 shooting from the field (.401) with the 434 field goals attempted the sixth highest single-season total in Wagner men's basketball history.
• Burton finished 61-of-190 from three-point range with the 190 three-point field goals attempted tying Tony Rice (1994-95) for 10th on the single-season list.
• The loss in the quarterfinals marks the first time that Wagner has been eliminated in the first round of the NEC Tournament since the 2010-2011 campaign in which the Seahawks were the #6 seed opposite #3 seed Robert Morris back on March 3, 2011.