Moon Township, PA – Junior guard
Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) led all scorers with 20 points but it wasn't enough as the men's basketball team saw its season-best four-game win streak snapped at Robert Morris, 50-48, on Saturday afternoon in a gritty, defensive-minded contest.
With the loss, the Green & White are now 12-12 overall and 8-6 in league play. Despite the outcome, Wagner has clinched a berth in the upcoming Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament for the fifth straight season under head coach
Bashir Mason and will appear in the yearly tournament for the seventh straight season. Robert Morris improves to 10-17 and 6-8 in conference play while currently in a tie for seventh with Bryant.
Henson's 20-point outing marked the second time this season in which the junior sharpshooter reached the plateau, with the first coming at home against Sacred Heart back on January 7 when he scored 24 points. Today also marked the 18th time Henson scored in double-digits and the 53rd time in his career.
Junior guard
JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) chipped in nine points in 33 minutes of play while redshirt sophomore forward
AJ Sumbry (East Windsor, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep [Quinnipiac]) scored eight and grabbed nine rebounds. Senior guard
Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) was held to just four points but cleaned up on the boards, grabbing a game-best ten in defeat. It is the tenth time this season that Carey has pulled down at least ten caroms and in the process marked the 27th time in his near two-year career. The Colonials, like the Seahawks, had just one player in double-figures as Isaiah Still led the way with 14 points. Aaron Tate and Kavon Stewart each had eight points apiece.
Wagner held a 24-20 halftime lead and led for the final time at 32-31 following a pair of Henson free throws with 14:50 left in the game. While the Colonials took the lead for good at 34-33 on a Braden Burke layup off a feed from Clive Allen feed, the biggest separation RMU would make the rest of the way was five, at 48-43, with 16 seconds left on a pair of Tate free throws.
The Seahawks then made things interesting when Cooper sailed in a three-pointer with 10 seconds to go to make it a 48-46 game. After Stewart had gone 1-of-2 at the line with six seconds remaining to make it 49-46, Cooper was fouled with two ticks left. Cooper made the first free throw, head coach
Bashir Mason called a timeout to strategize. The third-year guard then hit the second foul shot to make it 49-48.
Stewart was immediately fouled on the ensuing RMU possession. He made his first free throw to put RMU on top 50-48, before missing the second, giving the Seahawks one last chance to pull the game out. Sumbry gathered the rebound and kicked ahead the pass to freshman guard
Connor Ferrell (Conyers, GA / Rockdale County / DME Sports Academy), who immediately found fellow freshman guard
Blake Francis (Herndon, VA / Westfield) but the lefthander's halfcourt shot was off the mark as the Colonials survived.
Robert Morris opened this contest with five straight points before Henson lifted the visitors and trimmed the lead to within two, 7-5. Sumbry tied the game at 7-7 with two made free throws.
Sumbry's two freebies were part of a larger 16-0 run over a 9:09 span, that saw Wagner build an 18-7 lead. During this run, the Seahawks held RMU without a field goal (0-of-13) and 0-of-5 from beyond the arc. Francis capped the spurt for the visitors with a left-wing three-pointer off a feed from Henson. The Colonials responded with a 13-2 run of their own, which tied the game at 20 after Tate's putback bucket. Wagner closed out the stanza scoring the final four points to take a 24-20 lead. Henson paced the Seahawks with 11 first-half points.
For the game, Wagner shot 34.8 percent from the floor and 31.3 percent from beyond-the-arc while hitting 11-of-13 from the free throw line. Robert Morris shot 33.3 percent from the field but were held to just 21.1 percent from long range (4-of-19) and converted just 52.2 percent from the charity stripe. The Seahawks held a 41-34 edge on the boards (28-19 on the defensive glass) while RMU capitalized on Wagner's season-high 21 turnovers, scoring 16 points off those mishaps. This marked the third time this season that Wagner turned the ball over more than 20 times and the first since the Providence contest.
Wagner returns to the Spiro Sports Center on Thursday, February 16 for an ESPN3 telecast in which they will square off against NEC-leaders, the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
