Staten Island, NY - After winning three of four games on their recently completed season-high four game road trip, the Wagner men's basketball team returns home on Thursday night to host league-leaders, the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers, in a Northeast Conference (NEC) tilt featured on ESPN3. The Seahawks saw their season-high four game win streak snapped on Saturday, as the Green & White dropped a 50-48 decision at Robert Morris despite getting a team-high 20 points from junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic). Mount St. Mary's, who finished its non-conference season at 2-11, are 12-2 in NEC play and enter Thursday's contest with Wagner winners of four of its last five games, after completing the Western Pennsylvania sweep of Robert Morris and Saint Francis U. The Mount defeated SFU, 81-62, on Saturday. 

Last Time Out: 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 stand at 12-12 overall and 8-6 in league play. Despite the outcome, Wagner 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 year. Robert Morris improved 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. Saturday 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. 

All-Time Series: Thursday evening's affair marks the 57th all-time meeting between the Seahawks and the Mountaineers with Wagner holding a 35-21 edge in the head-to-head series.The Seahawks have won four of the last five meetings against Mount St. Mary's at the Spiro Sports Center and holds an all-time mark of 18-10 when facing the Mount on Staten Island. Both teams enter Thursday's contest 4-1 in their last five games, with Mount sweeping the Western Pennsylvania trip while the Seahawks split their Western PA swing, defeating Saint Francis U in overtime and falling to Robert Morris on Saturday by two, 50-48. The Mountaineers are looking for their first season sweep of the Green & White since the 2009-10 season, in which the Mountaineers took the February 4, 2010, contest, 69-44, in Emmitsburg and two days later defeated Wagner on Grymes Hill, 66-50. 

The Coaches: Wagner's Bashir Mason, the 2015-16 Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year, is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Wagner Seahawks, owning a career record of 83-67 and a conference-record of 53-31. Mason is 6-4 all-time against Mount St. Mary's. Mount's Jamion Christian, who is also in his fifth season as head coach of the Mountaineers, sports a career mark of 77-78. Christian is 53-31 all-time in NEC play and is 4-6 lifetime against Wagner. While both coaches are among the youngest in all of Division I, coach Christian has one NEC title under his belt, capturing the 2014 crown while Mason is still in search of his first after clinching the 2016 regular season title a year ago.

Last Time Out Against Mount St. Mary's (12/31/16):  The Wagner men's basketball team fought valiantly in coming back from a 15-point halftime deficit but couldn't hang on in the closing seconds as the Seahawks were defeated by the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers, 57-56, at Knott Arena back on December 31. Junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) led the way for the visitors, scoring a team-best 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field in 31 minutes of play.  Freshman guard Blake Francis (Herndon, VA/Westfield) scored all 11 of his points in the second half, which included 3-of-4 shooting from long range.  Senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College] chipped in ten points while grabbing a team-leading eight rebounds. The Mount also had three players score in double-figures, led by Miles Wilson, who poured in 13 points. Elijah Long scored 12 points while  Junior Robinson netted ten points while Chris Wray scored eight and grabbed a game-high ten caroms. The Seahawks staged a late run that was capped by a three-point basket by Francis, giving Wagner a 56-55 lead with 44 seconds left in the game. The Mount answered with a pair of clutch free throws by Elijah Long at the 28-second mark to put the Mountaineers back in front at 57-56. The Green & White used their final timeout with 24 seconds remaining. When play resumed, the Seahawks worked the ball around the perimeter before finding redshirt senior forward Mike Aaman (Hazlet, NJ / Raritan / Rhode Island) inside. The lefthander missed a layup in traffic with nine seconds showing on the clock.  Following a loose ball scramble, possession was awarded to Wagner. Following a Mount timeout, Henson took the inbounds pass from fellow junior guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE / Concord) and drove down the left side of the lane but his potential game-winning layup with 1.7 seconds left was blocked away by Wray as the Mount held on for the hard-fought win.

Scouting The Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers: The Mountaineers, who were predicted to finish tied for fourth in the coaches' preseason poll, have completely turned around their season and are currently the No. 1 team in the NEC standings. Finishing the non-conference season at 2-11 (wins at George Mason in overtime; and Coppin State), the Mountaineers are an NEC-best 12-2 in league play, which includes a win streak of eight games (January 7 through February 2). Winners of four of its last five, Mount St. Mary's recently completed a sweep of its Western Pennsylvania trip, defeating Robert Morris, 74-70, last Thursday and earned an 81-62 victory at Saint Francis U on Saturday. Three Mountaineers are scoring in double-figures, led by Elijah Long, who is pouring in 14.4 ppg, good for sixth among all-NEC scorers. Long has converted 40.9 percent from the field while third in the circuit in three-point shooting at 41.3 percent. He is also third on the team in rebounding at 5.3 per contest while dishing out 4.41 assists per game, which only trails FDU's Stephan Jiggetts (4.60 apg) for the league-lead. Junior Robinson, who became the 47th member of the Mount's 1,000-point club, is averaging 13.3 ppg (13th in the NEC) and is averaging a full pointer higher in NEC-only games. Miles Wilson ranks among the top-25 in scoring at 11.6 ppg while averaging 13.1 ppg in conference tilts. As a team, the Mountaineers are the third-best shooting team from the floor at 44.0% while placing second from beyond-the-arc at 36.5 percent. Mount St. Mary's have rejected a league-leading 4.30 blocks per game while accumulating 116 rejections for the season. 

Capper Note: Wagner alum and former men's basketball and baseball head coach, Tim Capstraw, returns to Grymes Hill as he along with John Schmeelk call tonight's action against the Mountaineers. "Capper" was originally recruited to play football, but turned to baseball following a knee injury that prevented him from playing on the gridiron. According to then head coach Joe Consagra, "Tim's fastball and an assortment of curves that included a knuckler, could be the missing pitcher we badly needed." In 1980, Capstraw, a junior co-captain, combined with sophomore hurler Eddie McCarthy, shocked everyone by sending Seton Hall home, 5-2, in the ECAC playoffs in which Capstraw threw 3.1 innings of scoreless ball and earned the save. Two seasons removed from All-ECAC NY-NJ pitching honors, Capstraw became head coach of the baseball program at 23 years old. He was also an assistant coach on the men's basketball staff under  Neil Kennett. Capstraw was 21-30-3 in his two years as head baseball coach and turned his attention back to the hardwood, being named the Seahawks' third head coach in the Division I era to start the 1989-90 season. In all, Capstraw compiled 117 wins as men's basketball head coach, the second-most in program history behind Herb Sutter' 352 wins. For the 1991-92 season, Capstraw was recognized as NEC Coach of the Year after guiding the Seahawks to a 16-12 record and 9-7 league mark after the team went 4-26 and 2-14 the season before. In 1992-93, Capstraw's Seahawks, after posting an 18-12 overall record and 12-6 conference mark, advanced to the championship game against Rider, in what will forever be known as "The Shot."

February Frenzy: Wagner recently completed a season-high four game road trip with stops in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Western Pennsylvania. The Seahawks posted a 3-1 mark over the four games, dropping a tough 50-48 decision in the final game of the trip at Robert Morris on Saturday. As a team, Wagner outscored their opponents by nearly five points a game while shooting 41.8 percent from the field and just 29.8 percent from beyond-the-arc. The Seahawks outmuscled their counterparts by almost five caroms a contest but turned the ball over 14.3 times a game.

Double-Double Trouble: In Wagner's 76-74 overtime victory against Saint Francis U last Thursday, redshirt senior Mike Aaman and senior guard Michael Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Lamar Consolidated [San Jacinto College]) recorded double-doubles in the victory. Aaman finished with a career-best 26 points and a game-best 13 caroms while Carey, who notched his 23rd career double-double in the win, ended the game with 12 points and ten rebounds. This marked the first time since February 18, 2016, in which a pair of Seahawks contributed double-double as Carey, and junior guard JoJo Cooper (Wilmington, DE/Concord) recorded the feat, as Cooper finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds while Carey added 11 points and 12 rebounds at Fairleigh Dickinson.

Controlling The Glass: Wagner has outrebounded its opponents in 18 of 24 games this season. The Green & White ranked 14th in the entire NCAA in rebounding margin at 7.7. Against local rival, Staten Island (12/22), the Green & White outmuscled the Dolphins by a staggering 32, 58-26 in its 52-point victory (94-42). Three times this season, the Seahawks and their opponents grabbed the same amount of boards, most recently at Fairleigh Dickinson (2/4/17) (37). The other two times: Nov. 30 @ UMass (31) and against Sacred Heart (1/7/17) (37). Last season, Wagner had outrebounded its opposition by double-figures in 17 games. The Seahawks rank first in rebounding offense (39.4) and rebounding defense (31.7) and are outmuscling their opponents by +7.7 in the Northeast Conference. 

Seahawks Tale Of Two Halves: In the first half of contests, Wagner is shooting 42.3 percent from the field, 33.8 percent from beyond-the-arc and 64.8 percent from the free-throw line while holding a +4.1 advantage on the boards (19.9-15.8). In the second half of play, the Seahawks are shooting 43.0 percent from the field, 29.9 percent from three-point range and 70.1 percent from the free-throw line while holding a +3.7 advantage on the boards (19.2-15.5).

Paint Production: Wagner has scored 694 of its 1610 total points from inside the paint, coming out to 43.1 percent of its total scoring. Twice this season, the Seahawks scored 40 points in the paint at Bryant (1/12/17), matching the production set on the road at American (11/22). For the 13th time this year, Wagner has scored at least 30 or more points from downlow and in seven of those eight contests have outscored their opponents, the last coming at Central Connecticut Blue Devils (2/2/17), 30-24. 

Getting A Second Chance: The Seahawks are thriving off second chance opportunities. For the season, Wagner is averaging 13.8 points off second chances while their opponents are tallying 9.3 points (331-224).

In The Final Five: In the final five minutes of the game, Wagner is shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from three-point land while connecting on 69.9 percent from the free-throw line. 

At The Half...: When leading at the half under fifth-year Bashir Mason, the Seahawks have posted an overall record of 62-13. This season, the Green & White have entered the intermission with the lead in 16 of the 24 games (9-7 record in these games).

Seahawks In The Pros....UPDATE:
Tyler Murray | Niagara River Lions | Canadian NBL:

16 GP, 5 GS, 18.9 MPG; 2.8 ppg; 1.4 rpg; 2.2 apg; 32.6 FG; 81.3% FT

Orlando Parker | PS Karlsruhe | German Pro B:

18 GP, 9 GS, 23.4 MPG; 13.7 ppg; 5.4 rpg; 47.2% FG; 84.0% FT

Durell Vinson | Starwings Basket Regio Basel | Swiss LNA:
14 GP, 14 GS, 31.7 MPG; 10.5 ppg; 10.2 rpg; 0.9 apg; 53.7% FG

Jonathon Williams  | VfL Kirchheim Knights | German Pro A:
21 GP, 20 GS, 34.4 MPG; 19.4 ppg; 6.8 rpg; 2.8 apg; 46.4% FG; 35.6% 3PT; 79.1% FT

Three-Ball Galore: The men's basketball team have connected on at least one made three-pointer in 392 straight contests. The last time the Seahawks didn't convert a three-pointer was back on February 28, 2004, at home against NEC-foe, Mount St. Mary's in which the Green & White was held to 0-of-13 from three. Against Central Connecticut (12/29), the Seahawks made a season-high 11 three-pointers.

Next Up For Wagner: The final road trip of the regular season is set for Saturday, February 18, as the Green & White makes the short trip across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn Heights, looking for the season sweep of the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m. at the Pope Physical Education Center.