Pictured Above: Junior guard
Devin Liggeons (Credit: Ricky Bassman)
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West Hartford, CT – Sophomore guard
Blake Francis tossed in 17 points, while junior guard
Devin Liggeons and senior guard
JoJo Cooper added 14 and 13 points, respectively, to carry the Wagner men's basketball team to its third straight victory, a convincing 72-50 wire-to-wire triumph at Hartford on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Seahawks improve to 4-1 on the season while the Hawks, who compete in the America East Conference, fall to 3-4. Today's victory sealed the Seahawks best start to a season under sixth-year head coach,
Bashir Mason.
"Good win for us. I thought my guys grew up tonight in terms of playing a full, complete 40-minute game," commented coach Mason. "I thought that we address some of the areas that was concerning for us so."
The Green & White harassed the Hawks into 27.5 percent shooting (14-of-50) overall, while limiting them to just 15 percent (3-of-20) accuracy from three-point range.
Hartford rallied to draw within 32-28 at the intermission and the Hawks hung tough early in the second half. When Jason Dunne knocked down a three-pointer with 15:43 to play, Wagner's lead was down to one at 37-36. A layup by freshman forward
Nigel Jackson at the 13:49 mark, made it a 39-36 game and ignited a 13-3 run over the next 5:56, capped by a jumper from graduate student forward
Nick Madray, that gave the Seahawks a comfortable 52-39 lead that the Seahawks wouldn't surrender.
Francis' 17-point outing came on 6-of-12 shooting, which included 3-of-6 marksmanship from beyond the arc. Cooper, who was coming off of a career-high 20-point outing in Tuesday's win over CSI, added a team-high eight assists, along with five rebounds, to go with his 13-point effort while Liggeons pulled down a game-high six rebounds.
"I thought Devin was huge for us out of the gate," said Mason. "He made shots for us and defended the ball while playing with a certain level of confidence that was very inspiring for the other guys on the team to see."
Jackson finished with seven points on the day, junior swingman
Elijah Davis and redshirt junior forward
AJ Sumbry added six apiece, while redshirt freshman forward
Jamar Brown and Madray added five and four points, respectively.
John Carroll paced Hartford with a game-high 21-point outing while John Dunne, who was coming off a career-high 20-point effort vs. Bryant, finished with 15.
Wagner outshot Hartford, 48 percent to 27.5 percent, with the Seahawks' shooting average boosted by a 10-of-19 effort from three-point range. The Seahawks held a 24-8 edge in points off turnovers, while rebounds (32-32) and points in the paint (20-20) were even. Wagner held the Hawks to a season-low 15.0 percent from three-point range (3-of-20) while connecting on a season-best 52.6 percent from the outside.
The Green & White will next be in action on Friday, December 1 when the Seahawks host the Fairfield University Stags in a 7:00 p.m. start at the Spiro Sports Center.
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