Staten Island, NY - The top-seeded Wagner Seahawks continue Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament play in the semifinals as they welcome sixth-seeded LIU Brooklyn to the Spiro Sports Center in a 4:00 p.m. tip with each vying for a spot in Tuesday night's nationally-televised championship game. 

Wagner advanced to its 14th semifinal appearance with a  hard-fought 59-50 win over defending league champion and No. 8 seed Robert Morris. LIU Brooklyn earned its fifth trip the semis in the last eight years by upsetting No. 3 seed Sacred Heart 84-76 on Wednesday.

When the Seahawks and Blackbirds clash, it will mark the sixth all-time meeting between the two schools in the semifinals with Wagner holding a 3-2 edge.  LIU Brooklyn, however, took the last meeting, 94-82, en route to capturing the 2012 championship. 

Wagner, which earned homecourt advantage by winning the regular season title with a 13-5 league mark, have won six straight games, are bidding for their second-ever NEC crown. The Blackbirds, who are the only team in league history to win three straight NEC championships (2011-13), are looking for title No. 6, which trails only Robert Morris for the most in NEC history. 

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Bashir Mason Named 2015-16 Jim Phelan Northeast Conference Coach Of The Year; Carey & Henson Named To Second Team 

• On the eve of the 2016 Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament, the league office has announced that fourth-year head coach Bashir Mason was named the 2015-16 Jim Phelan Coach of the Year.  
• Additionally, junior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) and sophomore wing Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) were named to the All-NEC Second Team.

INSIDE THE SERIES:

• Today's contest marks the 102nd all-time meeting between Wagner and LIU Brooklyn with the Blackbirds holding a 57-44 edge in the head-to-head matchup.
• Wagner is looking for its first win over LIU this year, after dropping both regular-season meetings (71-70 at home on 1/14; 82-69 at the Steinberg Wellness Center on 2/11). Since that loss at LIU Brooklyn, the Seahawks have reeled off six straight wins. 
• Saturday marks the 14th semifinal appearance for Wagner, who holds a record of  3-10 in the semifinals.
• Wagner made it to three straight NEC semis (2013-14 Lost to Mount 77-72); (2012-13: Lost to LIU Brooklyn, 94-82); (2011-12: Lost to Robert Morris 71-64). 
• All-time, Wagner is 3-2 against the Blackbirds in the NEC Tournament.

SCOUTING THE LIU BROOKLYN BLACKBIRDS:

• LIU Brooklyn took both regular season meetings against Wagner this season. 
• In the first matchup between the two squads, the Blackbirds rallied back from 17-points down in the second half to escape Staten Island with a with 71-70 victory.
• The second contest, in Brooklyn, the Blackbirds held a 51-33 advantage on the boards en route to an 82-69. 
• LIU took the last meeting between them and Wagner in the NEC Tournament semifinals, a 94-82 victory at the Spiro Sports Center on March 9, 2013.
• The Blackbirds are looking for its fourth title in the last seven years after they became the first team in NEC history to win three straight tournament titles from 2010-13. 
• Entering Saturday's contest, the Blackbirds are 15-20 as a lower seed but are 8-6 in the semifinals. 

UP NEXT FOR WAGNER:

• If Wagner wins; the Green & White will host the NEC Championship game on Tuesday, March 8 at 7:00 pm, in a game to be televised live on ESPN2. 
• If Wagner loses, the Seahawks will play in the Postseason National Invitational Tournament (NIT), which they qualified for by winning the NEC regular season title. 

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME:

• As the top seed, Wagner will host games as long as it remains alive in the tournament.  That's a good thing for the Seahawks, who are 12-3 at home this season and 53-17 at the Spiro Center over the last five years.
• Sophomore guard Corey Henson is pouring in 14.8 ppg in 15 games at the Spiro Sports Center this season while shooting 44.2 percent from the floor and 37.2 percent from three-point range in 31.3 minutes a contest.
• Junior guard Michael Carey is averaging a double-double at home this season, recording 13.1 ppg and 11.0 rpg in 15 games, eleven of which he has started.  The Nassau, Bahamas native is shooting 48.6 percent from the field.
• Under fourth-year head coach, Bashir Mason, the Seahawks are 41-14 at the Spiro Sports Center. 
• In home-NEC games this season, Wagner is 6-3 while outscoring its opponents by a +7.2 margin. 
• All-time, Wagner is 152-79 since the Spiro Sports Center opened on February 20, 1999, in which the Seahawks played Fairleigh Dickinson to a 78-56 victory.

THE THING ABOUT NO.1 SEEDS:

• With Wagner's quarterfinal win over Robert Morris on Wednesday evening, No. 1 seeds in the NEC Tournament are now 33-0 in their opening game since the league scrapped a divisional format in 1984. 
• All-time as a No. 1 seed, Wagner is 4-0. 

NATIONAL STATISTICS:

• Through games of 3/3/16, Wagner ranks among the top 50 in the NCAA in six statistical categories.
• The Seahawks are 11th in the NCAA in Offensive Rebounds Per Game, pulling down 13.97 caroms a contest, which leads the conference and trails former-NEC and current Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) member, Quinnipiac, by 2.63 offensive rebounds as the Bobcats are pulling down 16.60. 
• The Green & White are 15th in the nation in Scoring Defense, allowing 63.2 points per game. Wagner, who leads the conference in scoring defense, have only allowed 3.8 more points than the nation's leader, Wichita State, who has yielded just 59.4 ppg.
• The Seahawks' rebounding margin is a +7.5, good for 21st in the nation. Michigan State is the leader at 12.0.  
• Speaking of rebounding, Wagner is 32nd nationally in total rebounds per game at 39.97, and 35th in total rebounds, with 1,199, which trails only UT Arlington by 107. 
• The Green & White are 41st in field-goal percentage defense at 40.3, trailing national-leader San Diego State, who has held its opponents to 37.3 percent. 
• The Green & White have averaged 39.79 total rebounds per game, which is 36th in the nation. Quinnipiac holds a 4.04 edge over Wagner as the nation's leading rebounding team at 43.83 per contest.
• Wagner has corralled 1,111 total rebounds on the year, good for first in the NEC and 48th in the nation. BYU has grabbed only a 134 more than the Green and White.

WAGNER RANKINGS VIA KENPOM:

• As of 3/3/16, KenPom has junior guard Michael Carey and sophomore guard Corey Henson on its Northeast Conference all-kenpom.com team, with Carey garnering the top spot and Henson fourth. Rounding out the list: Sacred Heart's Cane Broome (2), Rodney Pryor (3) and LIU Brooklyn's Jerome Frink in fifth.
• Henson is sixth in effective field goal percentage at 53.9 percent while Carey is 9th at 51.5. This statistic is computed from (FGM + 0.5*3PM)/FGA. This differs from conventional field goal percentage by taking into account the extra value of a made 3-pointer.
• Redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) is second in Offensive Rebounding  Percentage at 13.3 percent.  Carey ranks 5th in the same category at 12.2 percent. Conversely, Carey is second in the NEC in Defensive Rebounding Percentage at 24.5 percent.  Aaman is ranked tenth at 19.1 percent. This statistic measures the percentage of possible defensive rebounds a player gets and computed PlayerDR [%Min * (Team DR + Opp. OR)].
• Sophomore guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) is sixth in Assist Rate Percentage at 24.1
• Graduate forward Henry Brooks (New Orleans, LA/Miller Grove [University of Pennsylvania]) is 7th in Block Percentage, at 5.41 percent.  Block Percentage is the percentage of opponents' two-point shots that are blocked by the player while he is on the court. It is computed by Blocks/(%Min * Opponents' two-point attempts).
• Carey is 9th in Free Throw Rate at 51.5. FTRate: Free throw rate is calculated by 100*FTA/FGA. This measures a player's ability to get the line relative to how often he attempts to score.

WAGNER EARNS TWO VOTES IN COLLEGEINSIDER.COM MID-MAJOR POLL:

• In the February 29 edition of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Men's Basketball Poll, Wagner, which stood at 20-9 and 13-5 in the Northeast Conference, earned two votes. 

AAMAN'S BLOCK PARTY: 

• Redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan [University of Rhode Island]) swatted a career-high five blocks in Wagner's NEC quarterfinal victory over Robert Morris (3/2/16).

#SWISSARMYKNIFE:

• Junior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) has a team-leading 13 double-doubles on the season, the last coming on February 27 when he went for 23 points and a career-high 17 rebounds versus Robert Morris.
• Carey ranked third in the Northeast Conference (NEC) in double-doubles. Carey's is averaging 14.5 ppg and 12.4 rpg when he produces a double-double.